Frank Marocco is transporting real estate buyers into the third dimension.

Tossing aside the conventional, two-dimensional floorplan diagram, the president of Edmonton-based Brainwave Inc. says he has a better idea for marketing new homes, condominiums or most other types of realty developments.

Utilizing computer-assisted drawing (CAD) tools, Marocco breathes new life into the traditional black-and-white floorplans that typically greet buyers interested in the latest construction projects. What was once just a flat drawing on a piece of paper now takes on a new form, giving the impression of depth, shadows and realism.

Marocco calls it the next best thing to walking through a showhome or showsuite.

Dan Riedlhuber, Business Edge
Brainwave president Frank Marocco and a computer-generated 3D Trump suites floor plan.

The product, which he and his team have been refining over the last 10 years, has even caught the eye of Donald Trump Jr., son of the U.S. millionaire of the same name. Marocco has been hired to work on the Trump Organization's Trump Park Avenue luxury condominium development at Park Avenue and 59th Street in New York City.

Brainwave has been contracted to create 3-D floorplans for suites that range in size from 770 sq. ft. to 7,132 sq. ft. The 770-sq.-ft. suites start at $1.3 million US, while the largest units start at $20 million US.

"People have trouble visualizing from flat two-dimensional blueprints and I think Brainwave's 3-D floor plans will make it easier for our customers to imagine the suites," Trump Jr. said in a news release.

While the Trump contract is a nice feather in his cap, Marocco says for now it's just another door being opened. "Six weeks (work on the Trump contract) is not normally a large contract for us," says Marocco, who pitched his company's virtual modeling service after being intrigued by the senior Trump's TV show, The Apprentice.

"We didn't do it just to get our name out there. It's a small contract - hopefully we'll do more for them in the future."

Marocco, whose background is in architectural drafting, says he got his brainwave for the project after realizing that the construction industry has, as long as he can remember, had difficulties using blueprints or plain floorplans as a selling tool. "It's always been a struggle for the project designer and the buyer to see the same picture, and the reason they're have difficulty is because they're using a two-dimensional line drawing."

To get around this, Marocco decided it was time to put all parties - the designer, builder and buyer - on the same page.

His three-dimensional CAD end product looks more like an overhead room view, complete with all the details: Hardwood flooring can be seen, walls are painted the appropriate colours and even the furniture is in place. Everything is identical to walking through an actual showsuite except for the fact that this drawing, if printed out, can be held in your hand.

"If a homebuilder can sell you a house without having to build it, that's a very profitable opportunity. He didn't have to put up a (costly) showhome. The realism is very important in gaining the confidence of a buyer.

"It's well known that a homebuyer would prefer to walk through a showhome as a means to make their decision, but if you haven't got a showhome this is the next best choice," says Marocco.

Brainwave client Stephen Anderson, marketing communications manager of Edmonton-based Growth Marketing Inc., says since both building techniques and materials have improved over the years, so should marketing techniques.

"What drew me to the product was the fact that it was hard for people to visualize off of a floorplan. They always want to see the house and walk through the unit," Anderson says. "He puts furniture in and that helps to scale the size of the unit. It really puts it into perspective for the prospective client."

Anderson, a repeat customer, first used Brainwave's services earlier this year for his client Lincolnberg Communities, developers of Silverberry Terrace, a multi-family walkup project in southeast Edmonton.

Costs for Brainwave's digital renderings start at $1,200 for an 850-sq.-ft. unit or room. But it's only one of the methods used to establish pricing, which is ultimately determined by the complexity of the design.

Brainwave can also go a step further with its work, adding interactivity to the drawings. For example, the finished 3-D computer drawing can be manipulated to show the same suite with carpeting instead of hardwood floors, or the kitchen cabinets or countertops can have several different finishes.

"We haven't really started pushing that," says Marocco. "We're working on its development so we can put a reasonable pricetag on it for the builder."

Marocco only sees a positive future for his product, especially with younger generations growing up in a computerized world. "They're used to computers and a 3-D virtual environment," he says. "Blueprints to them mean nothing. In our day, we had to use blueprints. Today, a 25-year-old knows there is more out there."

"A picture is worth a thousand words," he adds. "It's so much easier to sell a vision in a 3-D world than it is in a 2-D world."

(Laura Severs can be reached at laura@businessedge.ca)