Introduction of RTM Consultants

RTM Consultants is a highly specialized firm providing life safety and building code consulting services, particularly within the healthcare sector. Based in Indianapolis, RTM has built a strong reputation over three decades by helping hospitals and healthcare networks ensure their facilities comply with complex and ever-changing codes. Their clients include both large hospital networks like IU Health and Ohio Health, as well as smaller regional hospitals. With deep expertise in federal and state fire and life safety regulations, RTM supports hospitals across the full building lifecycle – plan reviews, construction inspections, and recurring operational assessments.

To maintain their high standards while scaling to meet growing demand, RTM adopted PlanRadar – a move that has significantly improved both their efficiency and internal quality assurance.

Challenge

Before implementing PlanRadar, RTM relied on a labor-intensive process to conduct life safety assessments. Surveyors used paper drawings, digital cameras, and custom-built software to document deficiencies. Once back in the office, they spent, depending on the size and condition of the facility, up to 20 days compiling photos, notes, and inspection results into detailed reports, some running up to 5,000 pages. The inefficiencies inherent in this piecemeal documentation process and sometimes temperamental software were particularly problematic given RTM’s staffing constraints. The company was inundated with demand, but the highly specialized nature of their work made it difficult to find and train new employees.

As Senior Associate Josh Fowler explained, “We have been backed up at times up to a year with people waiting for us. But the biggest hurdle is finding people with the right background and knowledge. It’s not that we don’t want to grow – it’s that we want to grow without sacrificing quality”

Solution

RTM discovered PlanRadar at a trade show after years of searching for the right software. Other field management software lacked the flexibility to generate the specific, high-volume PDF reports RTM’s clients preferred. PlanRadar’s ability to replicate RTM’s report format, while also enabling digital efficiency – made it the ideal fit.

RTM now uses PlanRadar exclusively during their life safety assessments of existing facilities. When a project is approved, the team uploads the building’s life safety plans into PlanRadar and creates a structured workflow for capturing deficiencies. Surveyors conduct detailed site assessments, logging issues with a simple reference note and photos tied to a specific location on the life safety plans. They then return to the office to populate the full set of nine detailed fields per deficiency, which include a detailed description of the deficiency as well as required corrective action. Deficiency documentation also includes narrative location description, floor, smoke zone, room number and issue type.

PlanRadar’s “List View” and filtering by “Repair Group” streamlines the internal review process. Fowler performs the first level of quality control directly within PlanRadar, then escalates flagged items to company owners using the “Feedback” ticket status. This layered review process ensures that even as inspections become more efficient, quality standards are maintained

Outcome

“PlanRadar has significantly reduced post-site data entry time by up to 50% per project.” Said Senior Associate Josh Fowler. “This 40–50% gain in office efficiency allows team members to take on additional projects, reducing bottlenecks and increasing RTM’s overall project capacity.”

Quality has improved, too. Real-time edits, photo mapping, and tracking features in PlanRadar have allowed RTM to raise the bar on internal reviews. Even team members with limited tech experience, including older employees, have adopted the platform with ease, thanks to its intuitive interface. “We spent just a couple of hours onboarding,” said Fowler. “Everyone—from the younger guys to the guys in their 60s—loves it”

Perhaps most promising is the future potential: with time freed up by PlanRadar, RTM is now exploring ways to improve onboarding and training for new hires—an essential step toward sustainable growth in the talent-scarce industry. Clients, too, are taking notice; several have expressed interest in adopting PlanRadar to manage deficiencies and delegate repairs internally. As Fowler puts it: “It’s exciting to imagine what more we can do now.”