167: An Integrated Home for Your Building’s Data

Zach Soflin, COO and Founder of Layer, and Matt McMullen, Associate Principal at Abel Design Group, join us on this episode 167 of Art of Construction.   Layer is a flexible data management app that encourages team collaboration and integrates directly with Revit. Layer makes it easy for architects, engineers, and building owners to manage project data, files, notes, and tasks from one intuitive workspace that organizes everything by its building context.   Before Layer Zach was a working architect, and he originally created Layer as a solution to a very specific problem he faced on a project at his firm. The original software was used in beta by his design team restoring the Nebraska State Capitol to successfully document and organize building data for more than 3,000 rooms and windows. Rather than choosing the typical workflow of keeping separate spreadsheets for data, separate file folders for photos, and long email chains and word documents for tasks and notes, the project team chose Layer. The app saved the team countless hours by syncing project data and centralizing communication into one easy-to-use dashboard that they could use on site while also working within the Revit model.   Eventually, Zach saw a gap in the AEC industry as a whole that he believed Layer could fill, and so launched Layer as it’s own company in April of this year. This type of integration of design, management and operations with data capture has been a hot topic in recent months here on Art of Construction. But one thing that makes Layer especially unique is that they are not trying to disrupt any specific workflow or other platform, but rather attempting to serve as the all-in-one connection tool to bring all these other platforms together under one roof.   And, for all our contractors and building owners out there, it all began by solving a specific pain that we can all relate to.   Join Devon and Matt as they go on a journey with Zach to learn all about the story of how he came to create Layer, why they’ve chosen to integrate with as many platforms as they can, and what the future looks like for using captured data from a variety of sources to help you grow your business and work more efficiently!