As-Built Scanning FAQ: 26 straight answers.
This as-built scanning FAQ answers the questions we actually get — pricing, accuracy, turnaround, file formats, LOD, and what happens when something goes wrong. No sales call required to find out what things cost.
As-built scanning FAQ: cost & pricing
/ 01 — Four questionsWe publish ranges instead of hiding them behind a discovery call. Every proposal is fixed-fee with line-item detail.
How much does 3D laser scanning cost?
It scales with square footage, complexity, and what you want out the other end. Rough ranges for a scan plus 2D plans:
Scan-to-BIM adds 40–80% on top, depending on the LOD you need. Every quote is fixed-fee — send us the project and you'll have a number in 24 hours.
Do you charge for travel?
Travel is a transparent line item, never a hidden markup. Within 50 miles of Oakland there's no travel charge at all. Beyond that we bill actual costs at cost — no markup, no per-diem padding.
What's included in the base price?
Every project ships with the same six things regardless of what else you commission:
- On-site capture — scanning at 20mm tolerance
- Registration & validation — checked against control points
- Registered point cloud — in your preferred format, yours forever
- Matterport walkthrough — a shareable web link
- QA & accuracy report — the audit trail
- 30-minute handoff call — recorded
Drawings and BIM models are scoped separately, so you only pay for the deliverables you actually need.
Are there hidden fees?
No. Proposals are fixed-fee with line-item detail — scope, deliverables, formats, accuracy spec, schedule, price. Change orders happen (buildings are messy), but only with your written approval before work proceeds, never as a surprise on the invoice.
Timeline & turnaround
/ 02 — Four questionsThese windows have been our defaults since 2018. We don't promise turnaround we can't hit.
How long does a scan take on site?
- Residential, under 3,000 sq ft — 2–4 hours
- Commercial, 5,000–20,000 sq ft — 4–8 hours
- Large commercial, 20,000–50,000 sq ft — 1–2 days
- Industrial / campus — 3 days to 2 weeks
Scanning is non-disruptive, so this happens around your operations rather than instead of them.
How long until I get my deliverables?
- Point cloud — 2–3 business days
- 2D as-built plans — 5–7 business days
- Revit BIM model — 10–15 business days
- Digital twin — live in 3–5 business days
All measured from the scan date, not the contract date. See our full process for what happens in between.
Can you rush a project?
Yes — 48–72 hour delivery for urgent permit deadlines, typically at a 25–40% premium. We confirm availability before you commit, so you're never paying a rush fee for a date we can't actually hit.
How far in advance should I book?
In-region: 1–2 weeks. Out-of-region dispatch: 2–3 weeks. That said, we've turned emergency and forensic work around in under 72 hours when the situation demanded it — call us and ask.
As-built scanning FAQ: accuracy & LOD
/ 03 — Four questionsThe two questions everyone asks and nobody wants a vague answer to.
How accurate is 3D laser scanning?
We capture at 20mm accuracy across building extents. Every deliverable is validated against control points before release, benchmarked to the USIBD Level of Accuracy (LOA) Specification.
That's comfortably within tolerance for renovation design, coordination, and facility management. For fabrication-grade work (steel connections, deformation studies), tell us during scoping and we'll deploy a tighter workflow.
What LOD can you deliver Revit models at?
LOD 200 through LOD 300, per the BIMForum LOD Specification.
- LOD 200 — generic systems with approximate size, shape, and location. Suitable for design development and clash awareness.
- LOD 300 — accurate size, shape, location, and orientation, verified against the point cloud. Suitable for construction documentation.
We cap at LOD 300 for as-built work. Over-modeling wastes your budget; we'll recommend the right level during scoping. More detail on the BIM modeling page.
How do you verify accuracy?
Registered point clouds are checked against control points before a single line gets drafted. If validation fails, we re-scan at our cost. We've done it — we'd rather absorb a return trip than ship a dataset we don't trust.
The registered cloud ships alongside your finished files, so you can verify any dimension independently, at any point in the future. That's deliberate: we'd rather you check our work than take it on faith.
What if the deliverable has an error?
We fix it, at no charge. Because you have the registered point cloud, you can pinpoint exactly what's wrong rather than describing it — which makes the fix fast.
File formats & data ownership
/ 04 — Four questionsNo proprietary viewers. No portal-only access. No lock-in.
What file formats do you deliver?
- Point cloud — RCP, RCS, E57, LAS, LAZ, PTS
- CAD — DWG, DXF, PDF
- BIM — RVT, IFC, NWD, NWC
- Mesh — OBJ, FBX, PLY
- Digital twin — Matterport web link
If your team uses ArchiCAD, Vectorworks, Rhino, or something else, ask — we can usually accommodate.
Can you match our firm's CAD or Revit standards?
Yes. Send us your titleblock, layer template, and Revit family library, and the deliverables come back in your firm's standard — matching annotation, line weights, and view style conventions. The files drop straight into your environment with no rework.
Do we need special software to open the files?
No. Everything opens in software your team already has — AutoCAD, Revit, Navisworks, or any PDF reader. The Matterport twin opens in any browser with no install. We don't ship proprietary viewers.
Who owns the data?
You do. Point clouds, models, drawings, scan archives — all become your property at delivery, yours to keep, share, and re-query for the life of the building. We retain a copy for QA and support, but never resell or repurpose it.
If you switch vendors next year, your data goes with you.
Site prep & what we need
/ 05 — Five questionsMost clients over-prepare. The list is shorter than you'd think.
Do you have to close our building to scan it?
No. Scanning is non-disruptive and most sites are captured during normal operating hours with occupants present. For hospitals, data centers, and retail floors, night and weekend scans are available at no premium.
Does the space need to be cleaned or cleared?
No — and please don't. We scan around clutter, furniture, and stored materials. Transient objects (people walking through, a forklift crossing the frame) get cleaned in processing. The building is what it is.
Do you need the lights on?
No. LiDAR is its own light source — it works in total darkness, dust, and confined spaces. We can scan a pitch-black basement or a mechanical room with no power.
What do you need from us before the scan?
- Site access — keys, badge, gate code, or an escort
- A point of contact — someone reachable on the scan day
- Areas of interest — anything easy to overlook (crawlspace, mezzanine, locked closet)
- Restricted zones — anywhere we shouldn't go
Existing drawings help with orientation but are never required — even bad ones. We measure what's there, not what a drawing claims.
Can you scan exteriors and site work?
Yes — exteriors, facades, topography, parking, and site features. Flag exterior scope during scoping so we dispatch with the right equipment. See 3D laser scanning for the technical detail.
Project types & who we work with
/ 06 — Four questionsFrom an 800 sq ft ADU to a 1.2M sq ft campus.
Do you work with homeowners directly?
Yes. About 30% of our residential projects are homeowner-direct — you don't need an architect or contractor to engage us. We'll help you scope it from scratch. Use the quote form or just call.
Can you scan occupied or active construction sites?
Both, routinely. Occupied buildings are our normal case. For active construction, recurring project site scanning documents conditions at each milestone — pre-pour, framing, MEP rough-in, closeout — which is where the scan archive pays for itself in dispute resolution.
Do you scan historic or landmark buildings?
Yes — it's one of the strongest use cases for scanning. Irregular, ornamental, and undocumented geometry can't be approximated from drawings; you have to measure it. We've documented buildings where no usable drawing set existed at all.
Do you serve retail chains and multi-site portfolios?
Yes. Store layout scanning is built for exactly this: every location captured to the same spec, named to the same convention, delivered in the same format. A 40-store portfolio produces one consistent documentation set rather than 40 one-offs that don't talk to each other.
Insurance, licensing & legal
/ 07 — Two questionsThe questions procurement and risk teams ask before anything gets signed.
Are you insured?
$5M general liability. $5M aviation liability for drone work. Workers' comp in every state where we operate. A Certificate of Insurance — with your additional-insured endorsements — is available within 24 hours of request.
Can you provide a stamped survey?
We partner with licensed surveyors when a jurisdiction requires stamped deliverables. Worth being clear about: as-built documentation and licensed land surveying are different services. We'll tell you up front which one your project actually needs — and if it's the one we don't do, we'll say so rather than sell you the wrong thing.
Ask us directly.
If your question isn't in this as-built scanning FAQ, send it over. We usually respond the same day — and we'd rather answer it now than have you guess.
Leading provider of 3D Scanning services, specializing in residential, commercial, and industrial projects.