As a provider of architectural fabrics, we’ve been fortunate to work on hundreds of different projects. Within the sporting world, we’ve covered buildings ranging from fully enclosed seasonal multi-sport bubbles to permanent tennis buildings and everything in between.

When planning a new facility or looking to improve an existing one, it can be a challenge to know how best to move forward. One great way is to look at what others are doing. The spring 2017 issue of GO Indoor, the official publication of the United States Indoor Sports Association (USIndoor), is full of tips on how a site visit can improve your own indoor sports facility.

You can go and check out a similar building as a patron, or you can ask for a guided tour. Most managers or owners are proud to show off their facility, so don’t hesitate to ask for a 30-minute guided tour.

Before your tour, consider what you’d like to accomplish. Build a set of questions that will help you understand your project better. For example:

• Is every aspect of their project working as expected? What might they have done differently?
• How did they overcome challenges during construction?
• What do their clients like/dislike about the facility?
• Were they happy with all the people involved with construction?

Those are just a few examples of questions that will help you get the most out of a site visit. Take a lot of notes and don’t be shy about asking questions, or even asking if you can return to dig in deeper and/or meet with other employees if you see a potential benefit. If you have an existing facility, offer to return the favor and invite the facility owner to tour your own facility.

People are usually very proud to show what they have and candid about the pros and cons. Note that if you have a direct competitor in the same market, it might be worth traveling to a different market to see the larger picture of how different facilities in different markets succeed and compete.

After your tour, you should have quite a few new perspectives, and hopefully some ideas that will help make your new or existing facility even better.

To learn more about various indoor sports facilities, visit USIndoor

Information in this article is based off content written by Michael Horn from USIndoor.