Service
Digital Building Survey
Outdated plans are the most expensive document on a renovation project. A digital building survey replaces them with measured, current geometry — captured in days, and usable by every discipline that follows.
The problem
The building has changed. The drawings have not.
Most existing buildings are documented by a set of plans that stopped being true some time after handover. Walls moved, openings were closed, services were rerouted, and each change left a note in a file rather than a correction on a drawing.
A digital building survey settles the question by measurement. We capture the building with 3D laser scanning, derive geometry, levels, openings and areas from the resulting point cloud, and deliver a current record that every discipline works from — architect, engineer, energy consultant and cost planner alike.
Because the survey is a dataset rather than a drawing, it does not have to be repeated. The same capture supports the floor plans today, the BIM model next quarter and the area statement two years from now.
At a glance
- Basis
- 3D laser scanning · drone survey where required
- Tolerance
- ±20 mm unless otherwise specified
- Covers
- Geometry · levels · openings · rooms · areas
- Reference frame
- CH1903+ / LV95
- Typical duration
- 1–3 days on site; deliverables in 1–3 weeks
- Output
- Point cloud, floor plans, sections, BIM model — as needed
How a survey runs
One capture, every downstream deliverable.
The survey is scoped from the decision it has to support. What you need on paper determines what we capture on site — not the other way around.
- Step 1
Define the decision
Renovation design, permit submission, energy retrofit, valuation or handover documentation — each needs a different level of detail, and we scope the survey to the one you are actually making.
- Step 2
Capture on site
Interior and exterior are scanned in one continuous coordinate frame, including roof and surroundings by drone where a tripod cannot reach.
- Step 3
Derive the record
Geometry, storey levels, openings, room boundaries and areas are extracted from the registered cloud and cross-checked against the scan.
- Step 4
Deliver in your format
Plans, sections and elevations, a BIM model, or the cleaned point cloud itself — whichever the next step in your project consumes.
Deliverables
Choose what you need from one capture.
.E57
Cleaned, registered point cloud
.PDF / .DWG
Floor plans, sections and elevations
.RVT / .PLN
BIM model of the existing building
.IFC
openBIM exchange for the project team
.XLSX
Room and area schedules
.JPG
360° panoramas as visual documentation
Ideal for
When a survey is the cheapest decision on the project.
The common thread: a decision is about to be made against information nobody has verified.
U-01
Renovation & conversion
Design against the building that exists. Structural openings, ceiling heights and riser positions confirmed before the first sketch, not during demolition.
U-02
Energy retrofit
Measured envelope geometry, facade areas and window openings — the input an energy concept and a subsidy application both need to be defensible.
U-03
Permit & submission
Current plans of the existing condition, drawn from measurement, to accompany a submission without a reviewer questioning their vintage.
U-04
Feasibility & valuation
Verified areas and volumes early, so a feasibility study is not built on a number copied from a brochure.
U-05
Property documentation
A durable record of the asset as it stands, independent of any one project, for owners and portfolio managers.
U-06
Handover & FM
Documentation of the finished building for operation: what was actually built, where it is, and what it measures.
Specification
What the survey records.
DATASHEET / SC-SVC-03
±20 MM
- Geometry
- Walls, floors, ceilings, roof form, facade articulation
- Levels
- Storey levels, floor and ceiling heights, level differences
- Openings
- Doors, windows, wall and slab penetrations
- Rooms
- Room boundaries, numbers, areas and volumes
- Exterior
- Facades, roof surfaces, immediate terrain — drone where required
- Reference frame
- CH1903+ / LV95 — shareable with official survey data
- Not included
- Cadastral and boundary survey — the licensed surveyor's domain
FAQ
Building surveys, answered.
A building survey records the building itself — geometry, levels, openings, rooms and areas. Cadastral and boundary survey, which establishes legal property limits, is carried out by a licensed surveyor. The two are complementary: we work in the same CH1903+ / LV95 frame, so both datasets can sit in one project.
Continue the chain
The other three services.
- 3D Laser ScanningTerrestrial laser scanning and drone survey of existing buildings, delivered as a registered, georeferenced point cloud you can measure against.
- BIM ModellingPoint clouds converted into structured BIM models in Revit or Archicad — modelled to your LOG and LOI, checked, and exported to IFC.
- As-Built Drawings & Floor PlansAccurate floor plans, sections, elevations and area calculations, drawn from measured building data rather than redrawn from an old plan set.
Next step
Tell us about the building.
Area, target LOD and a rough timeline are enough for a scoped quote with rates, deliverables and dates.