“I wanted to build a business up, not break them down,” he says.

Mr Kounnas, who had moved to Melbourne at the same time as an old high school mate, Trent Clews-de Castella, still had a bee in his bonnet about the time they had wasted inspecting apartments. Together, they set about finding a solution to having to visit crummy locations.

Burgeoning virtual reality technology seemed just the ticket. Sourcing kit from the US, the pair worked on developing the product after work.

“When I saw what it could do, it just flicked the switch. The next day I quit my job and went full tilt at it, visiting real estate agent after real estate agent,” he says. The company Scann3d was born.

The technology is relatively simple, and works on a similar principle to Google’s streetview indoors. A tripod-mounted camera can scan a house in around two hours, taking high-resolution photos throughout. Then the images are composited together to allow the viewer to either pan around the virtual environment with a mouse, or complete a full tour with a virtual headset.

The results so far have been impressive.

“We obsessively track engagement,” Mr Kounnas says. “The average time spent on a property listing on RealEstate.com.au or Domain is about 1.5 minutes. On our platform we are seeing engagement rates of up to 6 minutes.”

Steven Kounnas, Co-Founder Scann3d taking a 3D scan of the Old Melbourne Gaol Pic: Eric George Source: Supplied

Kounnas says that the platform is also seeing a return rate of 51 per cent, suggesting that viewers are showing the property to others, a good sign of interest.

It’s off a low base but so far they have scanned 1000 properties across four states and get 800-1000 views per property. Like many new technologies, take up among the masses is slower than evangelists hope. “Every week we thought ‘next week is going to be the week [it takes off], but what we see is not what the public sees, now we are focusing very heavily on training agents so that they are comfortable offering the technology to vendors,” Kounnas says.

But the business is growing. It now has 12 staff, including four video game designers who create animated fly-throughs of properties and the company is on track to post a million dollars in revenue this year.

The firm is also branching out into creating 3D scans of events, and has created animated tours of National Trust buildings of Victoria, including the Old Melbourne Gaol for a virtual exhibition launching next year.

By the end of the year, they expect to close a funding round that will help the company expand nationally, making scanning units available for major residential markets.

It turns out that for Kounnas, running a start-up isn’t that much different from attempting to turnaround an insolvent business. “You have to get very good at making cash last as long as possible,” Kounnas says. “You get very good at calling up creditors and debtors, working out payment plans; pushing back invoices to get the best out of the money that you’ve got.”

Scann3d can create dollhouse versions for animated fly-through tours of properties. Source: Supplied