As-Built Drawings in Vancouver

What an as-built drawing actually is

An as-built drawing documents a building in its current, real condition. That is a different thing from the original design drawings, which show what someone intended to build, and different again from a permit set, which shows what a jurisdiction approved. Buildings drift from all of those over time. Walls move, tenants renovate, mechanical gets rerouted, and the drawing set in the property manager's filing cabinet quietly stops being true.

For a commercial or industrial project, that drift is the single most common source of expensive surprises. A designer lays out a suite against a plan that is 200mm out, the millwork gets fabricated, and it does not fit. An as-built survey exists to remove that risk before anyone commits money to it.

We produce as-builts for offices, warehouses, industrial and flex buildings, retail units and mixed commercial space across Metro Vancouver. We do not do residential work.

What you get

Every project is captured in a single site visit. What comes out of that visit depends on how much detail your project needs.

• Measured floor plans

  Dimensioned plans as PDF, showing exterior and interior walls, columns, doors, windows and stairs, with a square-footage figure you can put in front of a client.

• CAD files

  Layered AutoCAD .dwg you can open and start designing over immediately, rather than tracing a scanned PDF and inheriting somebody else's errors.

• BIM model

  A Revit .rvt model of the existing conditions when your workflow is BIM-based and you need geometry rather than linework.

• Reflected ceiling plans

  Ceiling grid, heights, lighting, diffusers and sprinkler locations, captured at the same time so you are not sending someone back to the site with a ladder.

• iGUIDE 3D tour

  A browser-based digital twin of the space. Anyone on the project can walk the site and take their own measurements without booking another visit.

• Site photography

  Clean interior photography captured during the same visit, useful for the record set, for marketing the space, or for showing a remote stakeholder what they are dealing with.

How the process runs

Booking to delivered drawings, in four steps.

1. Book online with an instant estimate

   Enter the approximate square footage and the level of detail you need, and you get a price on the spot. No quote request, no waiting two days for someone to call you back.

2. We scan the site

   An iGUIDE PLANIX system captures the space with integrated LiDAR and a 60MP 360° camera. A typical commercial suite takes a few hours, and we work around occupied space where we need to.

3. We draft from the point cloud

   Drawings are produced from measured data, not from a tape sketch. Floor plans and the 3D tour are typically ready in one to two business days.

4. CAD and BIM follow

   Layered DWG and, where the scope includes it, a Revit model land within about a week of the scan.

Who we work with

• Architects

  A clean, layered base drawing to design over, so the existing-conditions phase stops eating fee and schedule.

• Interior designers

  Accurate plans plus ceiling and millwork detail, so test fits and FF&E layouts survive contact with the real room.

• General contractors

  A verified record of what is actually there before demolition, and a defensible reference when a dispute comes down to a dimension.

• Property managers

  A current drawing set for the building file, plus square footage you can rely on across a portfolio.

• Leasing agents

  A 3D tour, photography and a measured plan for the listing, so prospects arrive already understanding the space.

• Building owners

  Documentation of existing conditions before a tenant improvement, a sale, or a refinance.

Where we work

We are based on the North Shore and cover Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley: Vancouver, Burnaby, Richmond, Surrey, Delta, Langley, Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, New Westminster, North and West Vancouver, Maple Ridge, Mission, Abbotsford and Chilliwack.

A good share of the work is in the industrial belt through Burnaby, Richmond, Surrey, Delta and Langley, where the building stock is large-floorplate warehouse and flex space and the original drawings are often either missing or a generation out of date.

Common questions

How much do as-built drawings cost in Vancouver?

Cost is driven by the floor area, the level of detail you need, and how complex the space is to move through. A simple open warehouse costs less per square foot than a subdivided office with a lot of small rooms and ceiling detail. Our booking tool gives you an instant estimate from the square footage and scope rather than making you request a quote.

How long does it take?

Floor plans and the iGUIDE tour are typically ready one to two business days after the scan. CAD and BIM deliverables follow within about a week. The site visit itself is usually a few hours for a normal commercial suite.

Do you need the building to be empty?

No. We scan occupied buildings regularly and work around staff, furniture and stock. An empty space is faster and produces a cleaner point cloud, but an occupied one is normal and we plan the capture around it.

Can you work from our existing drawings?

We can use them as a reference, but we do not trust them as a source of dimensions. The entire point of an as-built survey is that the drawing reflects measurements taken on site rather than assumptions carried forward from an older set.

What file formats do you deliver?

PDF for the drawing set, layered AutoCAD .dwg for CAD work, and Revit .rvt where the scope includes a BIM model. The iGUIDE tour is a link that works in any browser.

Do you do residential as-builts?

No. We work on commercial and industrial property only.

Keep reading

• 3D laser scanning — How the LiDAR capture itself works, and what a point cloud is actually good for.
• Tenant improvement as-builts — What a TI project needs documented before design and permitting can start.
• Warehouse case study — A 13,329 sq ft Surrey industrial building, scanned and drawn end to end.

Get an accurate drawing set of the building you actually have

Book online with an instant estimate. Floor plans in one to two business days, CAD and BIM within the week.