Burnaby · As-Built Drawings
Burnaby's building stock runs from office towers and retail centres to a long industrial belt of warehouses and flex buildings, and most of it outlives its original drawings. When one of those buildings is about to be renovated, re-leased or fitted out, the first drawing anyone needs is an accurate one of what is there now. PlanBase 360 measures existing buildings in Burnaby with LiDAR and drafts the as-built set from that measurement. This page covers what we deliver, and what the City of Burnaby's own tenant improvement guide asks a floor plan to show, so the drawing is built for the application it is heading into.
We are based on the North Shore and cover Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley, and a good share of that work sits in the industrial belt that runs through Burnaby, Richmond, Surrey, Delta and Langley. In Burnaby that means large-floorplate warehouses and flex buildings, multi-tenant office floors, retail units, and homes and multifamily buildings heading into renovation.
Every job is captured on site with an iGUIDE PLANIX, which pairs LiDAR with a 360° camera, at ±10mm. The drawings are drafted from that measurement, not from a tape sketch and not from whatever set the landlord had on file. Floor plans and the 3D tour are typically ready one to two business days after the visit; layered DWG, and a Revit model where the scope includes one, follow within about a week.
What we do not do matters just as much in a permit context. We are not the designer, we do not seal drawings, and we do not prepare, submit or advise on permit applications. We measure and draw the building as it stands. Your designer, architect or engineer takes that drawing and turns it into the application.
The left column paraphrases the floor-plan list in the City of Burnaby's Tenant Improvement Permits informational guide. The other two columns split each line by where it comes from: the measured existing space, or the design work layered on top of it.
| Burnaby's floor-plan line | From the measured existing space | Added by the designer |
|---|---|---|
| Burnaby's floor-plan lineAll outside dimensions of the tenant space, and its total area | From the measured existing spaceThe perimeter as built, measured wall to wall, and the area calculated from it | Added by the designerAny change to the demising line, and how the area is presented on the sheet |
| Burnaby's floor-plan lineDimensions and area calculations for every floor area, including mezzanines | From the measured existing spaceEach level that exists today, mezzanines included, measured and dimensioned | Added by the designerNew floor area, if any is proposed, and the code analysis that goes with it |
| Burnaby's floor-plan lineExisting and proposed walls, with a new wall schedule | From the measured existing spaceEvery existing wall located where it actually stands | Added by the designerWhich walls are removed, which are new, and the schedule of new wall types |
| Burnaby's floor-plan lineLocation and size of door and window openings | From the measured existing spaceExisting openings, located and sized | Added by the designerNew, moved or resized openings and their hardware |
| Burnaby's floor-plan lineExits, stairs and corridors, with travel distances and corridor widths | From the measured existing spaceWhere the exits, stairs and corridors are, and how wide the corridors measure | Added by the designerThe exiting analysis and travel distances for the proposed layout |
| Burnaby's floor-plan lineExiting for the new space and every other tenant space on the floor where work occurs | From the measured existing spaceThe rest of the floor, where the scope is extended to measure it | Added by the designerHow the neighbouring suites exit once the work is done |
| Burnaby's floor-plan lineFire-resistance ratings of new and existing fire separations | From the measured existing spaceWhere the existing separations physically run | Added by the designerTheir ratings and assemblies, which a scan cannot see |
Paraphrased from the City of Burnaby's Tenant Improvement Permits informational guide (updated July 4, 2023), read October 2026. The guide's list is longer than this table and the City revises it; work from the current version for your project.
Burnaby runs two review paths for tenant improvement permits. A plan checker screens each application and decides which it gets. The City describes fast track as reserved for simple and straightforward applications, and says an application in a building that is not in substantial compliance with the Building Code will not qualify.
Its guide also lists work that does not fast-track, including: applications needing Preliminary Plan Approval (unless it has already been issued), schools, restaurants and other assembly-type occupancies, changes of major occupancy, most exterior alterations, floor area additions including mezzanines, interconnected floors, upgrades to exiting, fire alarm, sprinkler or seismic systems, structural work needing letters of assurance, and anything needing Fraser Health, Engineering or Fire Department approval. Anything that does not qualify goes through the regular plan check.
Neither path is something an as-built decides, and neither is something this page can call for your project. What a measured drawing does is remove one common reason an application stalls: plans that do not match the building. Burnaby's guide says applications that miss its requirements may be rejected, and lists illegible plans and insufficient or incorrect information among the reasons.
Burnaby's guide names these among the kinds of work that need a tenant improvement permit. Each one depends on an accurate picture of the space before the design starts.
Burnaby lists racking among the work that needs a TI permit, and its guide asks for sealed structural drawings with a Schedule B where racking is involved. The engineer designs the system. The as-built gives them the bays, columns, clear heights and dock positions the racking has to sit within.
Adding a mezzanine or a storey inside an existing space needs a permit, needs structural drawings, and takes the application out of fast track. Measuring the existing levels, heights and the structure overhead is where that design starts.
Changing the use of a business is on the City's list too, and a change of major occupancy is excluded from fast track. The designer needs the existing layout, exits and washrooms measured to show how the space works under its new use.
For food service, personal service, recreational water and child care facilities, Burnaby asks for Fraser Health Authority approval before the building permit application goes in. Fraser Health reviews plans too, so the same measured base drawing serves both submissions.
Installing or modifying a commercial kitchen exhaust, adding a spray booth and repiping are all on Burnaby's list. The guide asks for roof plans and elevations locating HVAC units. Our Shell 360 package adds reflected ceiling plans, ceiling heights and visible MEP to the floor plan.
The most ordinary item on the list, and the most common job: moving walls inside a suite. The application has to show existing and proposed walls, and that depends on the existing walls being drawn where they actually are.
Before anyone measures, it is worth knowing what the City already holds. Burnaby's Building Division keeps permit plans and records, and an owner, or an agent the owner authorizes, can apply to view and copy them. The City's form says a lessee with authority to build counts as an owner if they can show that authority, that the authorization expires 30 days after it is submitted, and that strata properties need sign-off from the strata council as well.
Those records are useful. They show what was permitted, and when. But the same form says the City does not guarantee their accuracy or completeness. A permit set records what was approved, not every change made since, and a building that has been through several tenants rarely matches its last approved drawings exactly.
That gap is what an as-built closes. The records tell your designer what the building was meant to be. The measured drawing shows what it is today, and the application has to be drawn over today's building.
The same sequence we use anywhere in Metro Vancouver.
Enter the address, the approximate floor area and the scope, and the booking tool gives an instant estimate. If the drawing is heading into a TI application, say so, so the scope covers what the application needs.
We scan with LiDAR and a 360° camera. A typical commercial suite takes a few hours, and occupied buildings are normal. We plan around staff, stock and operating hours.
Typically one to two business days after the visit. The tour lets the design team check a condition without another trip to Burnaby.
Layered DWG, and a Revit model where the scope includes one, within about a week. Your designer draws the proposed work over it and prepares the application.
Commercial and industrial work is most of what we do in Burnaby, but not all of it. A house addition, a basement suite, a townhome or strata renovation all start from the same question: what does the building actually measure today? We measure houses and multifamily buildings for design and renovation the same way we measure a warehouse, with LiDAR, drafted from the capture.
Burnaby publishes its own requirements for residential permits, separate from the commercial tenant improvement guide above, including guides for additions and alterations to existing residential buildings and for home improvements in the R1 district. Your designer will work from whichever applies. We supply the existing-conditions drawing it is built on. We do not do real-estate listing floor plans.
Yes. Burnaby is part of the area we cover from our North Shore base, and a good share of our work is in the industrial belt that runs through it. We measure offices, warehouses, flex and retail space, and homes and multifamily buildings heading into renovation.
The City of Burnaby says any interior or exterior alteration or change of use to an existing commercial, industrial or multi-residential building, including a tenant improvement, requires a building permit, and some projects also need a development permit or an initial application. Whether your project does is a question for your designer and the Building Division.
They are a good starting point, and Burnaby lets an owner or authorized agent apply to view and copy them. But the City's own records form says it does not guarantee their accuracy or completeness, and a building that has changed tenants since its last permit rarely matches those drawings exactly. An as-built measures what is there now.
No. In Burnaby, a plan checker decides whether a tenant improvement gets fast track or full plan review, based on the scope and the building. An accurate existing-conditions drawing removes one reason applications get held up, but it does not decide the review path.
No. We measure and draw the existing building. Your designer, architect or engineer prepares the proposed drawings and the application, and seals what needs sealing. Our drawing is the base they work from.
Floor plans and the 3D tour are typically ready one to two business days after the visit, and layered DWG and Revit, where scoped, within about a week. The site visit itself is usually a few hours for a typical commercial suite.
Book online with an instant estimate. Floor plans in one to two business days, CAD and BIM within the week.
