By Daniel J. Loney
We found while working with Architects/Designers and building owners, one of the biggest challenges they have is not always possible to start a project with the correct measurements of a building. Ask yourself, “how often do I not have any documentation for a new project or received surveys or floor plans that are out of date or downright wrong?”
By using Lidar Scanners to measure buildings (aka reality capture, High Definition Surveying (HDS), architectural surveying among many other names) accurate measurements can be taken, and precise drawings generated.
Not having correct documentation can easily lead to delays, errors and an ever-expanding budget. This can be a huge pain that is avoidable. The alternative is a heavy investment of resources into production time, and increasing financial cost and time constraints resulting in furthers tress?
Common Issues where Lidar Scanning is used:
- Elevators placed incorrectly.
- Foundations in the wrong spot (8 feet and 30 degrees).
- Identifying that a building has sunk after construction has started.
- Finding out that both neighboring houses are sinking.
- “Rectangular” foundation being 1 foot short on one corner.
- Staircases in the wrong location.
- Topography
There are two ways this makes your pain go away:
- Precise plans and 3D models that you can work from with confidence.
- Visual representation of the information gathered accessible in a way most computers can run.
The second one sounds a little funny, but it’s one of the most significant hurdles our company has had to overcome. We have developed a way to take a file that generally requires a powerful computer and made it run on a turd of a laptop. Not all of us have a fancy new $7,000 computing option and even if you did, no one would bring something like that on site. Now with this software, on-site data reviewing capabilities are possible and it makes us all look cool.
How much data is available and how detailed can it be?
In most cases, we can tell you the size of a brick at the top of a 40-foot chimney or every single rock on the ground (larger than 1cm). This level of detail allows us to take tasks that would be overly tedious and complete them with excellent uniformity. Imagine having this data at your disposal when you are correcting inconsistent steps on a steep incline, drawing accurate piping diagrams 30 feet in the air or mapping the precise location of every truss. Suddenly, all the laborious tasks that make people go mad just got easier.
When, Why and What to use Lidar Scanning to create measured drawings
When do I get something scanned?
It is best practice to get a scan right after your quote is accepted on a project (or even before if possible, as it would assist you in assessing the costs and scope of the project). Request to have the builder pay for the scans as part of the quoting process (more on this in “why”). Plan for multiple scans and measurements for crucial stages of the construction in your quote. Documenting the project throughout the building process will provide an as-built plan with virtual access to behind walls, above ceilings and under floors. Suddenly need access to a conduit that’s in a wall or buried in concrete? With a fully scanned project, pinpoint exactly where the problem is in the building and your construction team can complete the fix with an extreme amount of accuracy and the least amount of rework. It’s the difference between cutting a 2’ exploratory hole and drilling a precise 2” hole.
Why do I need scans?
Finding out a building has a significant issue at the quoting process is a substantial win for everyone (yes, even the building owner). It’s better to know you can’t afford the project and pivot to other options than to find out mid construction that the developer won’t be able to finish the project. Protecting your clients will help you build significant trust and clout. Another great reason is that processing plans can be done in record time and submitted much sooner.
What can I have scanned?
Just about anything. If you can see it, odds are we can scan and measuring it. You can also have overlapping comparisons of what was planned to be built and what actually was built.
Some examples are:
- Footings placement
- Elevator placement
- Rebar installations
- Slab levelness
- Roof lines
- Fixtures
- Conduit
- Landscape
- Floor Plan Layout
Point Cloud Data Management
We take all of this to the next level and allow you to skip a major headache. Scanned data can easily surpass 200Gb per project and it’s not unseen to have files reach into the terabytes. Most of you reading this won’t even have a computer with 1TB of storage.
Now image every single job you do having that much data. It adds up quickly. Our online file solution, Nuvain, takes care of all that.
All you need is an internet connection strong enough to stream YouTube or Netflix and your good to go. All the data will flow to you.
So, it’s an “out of sight out/of mind solution” that will NOT have your internet service providers cut you off the internet because of the data load.
Running a file with 2 Billion+ points of XYZ color data can be very difficult.
Capturing reality in the form of precise point cloud before, during and after the construction process is the fastest and most accurate way to document a job site so the work can be evaluated on a weekly (even daily) basis to assure the best quality and construction experience.
The vast detail provided by point clouds, combined with the easy-to-use Nuvain platform, allows you to see and truly understand the real word conditions compared to design intent.
The result is a lifecycle process that brings reality into the digital models and the models into the reality for a holistic building construction approach that empowers you to reduce rework and achieve new levels of efficiency and profitability.
About the Author
Daniel J. Loney is the Supreme Leader at Excelsior Measuring inc. With over 12 years of financial and sales management experience. Outside of being a complete nerd, Daniel’s real strengths are shown in business team management and development planning.