Porter Davis Homes backs 1breadcrumb contact tracing app

One of the nation’s largest home builders is bankrolling a contact-tracing app that allows workers to safely access worksites.

Anthony Roberts of Porter Davis Homes, right, with app developer Paul Willson Picture: Stuart McEvoy

One of the nation’s largest home builders is bankrolling a one-touch contact-tracing app allowing workers and visitors to safely check in and out of worksites that it hopes could be extended to restaurants, sporting venues and other industries.

After mining giant BHP last week revealed it was starting trials of its own contact-tracing app for contractors and employees, the founder and managing director of residential builder Porter Davis Homes, Anthony Roberts, is backing a new mobile app, known as 1breadcrumb, that is being rolled out across 100 of the company’s sites.

“If we can provide another level of certainty to all stakeholders and especially government, it is another reason to stay open and push forward in the construction sector as society emerges from lockdown,” said Mr Roberts, who has been in discussions with the Master Builder’s Association and the Housing ­Industry Association about rolling out the technology across the industry.

“I have had broad discussions about what it does in concept and the response has been fantastic. The overwhelming response is, it is logical.”

Across the construction industry most companies still spend hours using manual, paper-based check-in and check-out processes for on-site tradespeople to ensure they are able to trace anyone who has been in contact with a site visitor diagnosed with coronavirus.

1breadcrumb, which was developed over the past five weeks, features built-in geofencing allowing businesses to easily and ­securely manage an automatic checking process while ensuring the privacy of visitors.

“The simple problem is dealing with site-specific issues: how do we get confidence that we know who has been on a site at the same time?” Mr Roberts said, noting it was not a tracking app amid the privacy concerns that have ­plagued the federal government’s COVIDSafe app.

“I don’t care where people were before or where they go after they leave a site. This isn’t Big Brother.”

Porter Davis Homes is the nation’s 11th-largest home builder and Melbourne’s third largest, constructing about 1600 homes a year. It has more than 35 display homes located across Melbourne and in 2016 entered the Queensland market. Mr Roberts, who is also a member of the Victorian government’s Development Fac­ilitation Taskforce, said foot traffic in display homes had fallen 90 per cent at the height of the coronavirus pandemic and was still down by 80 per cent.

“We have seen the flow-on impact to sales,” he said.

Other companies using the platform include one of Australia’s biggest plumbing businesses, Cooke & Dowsett, and Melbourne business precinct Caribbean Park.

App developer Paul Willson pioneered the Dealer Drive software program, which helps car dealerships to streamline and improve the process for conducting customer test drives.

It now has 70 per cent share of the test drive and loan car software market in Australia and is used in 1.2 million transactions a month.

He said the 1breadcrumb name was adapted from the Hansel and Gretel fairytale.

“All we need to find anyone is one breadcrumb,” he said.

He said other industries calling for a simple solution for contact tracing on site included hospitality, tourism, real estate and sporting venues. The app will be offered for free to community sporting clubs who want it.

“Going forward it might be common practice that you have to scan in to go into any venue,’’ Mr Willson said.

“This COVID-19 experience is going to teach all of us new ways to go through life and venues in a digital age. Everyone wants the surety to know that the venue you are going to is capturing who is there so that if something happens, they can be contacted.”