Scan to Revit in Vancouver

The gap scan-to-BIM closes

A BIM workflow assumes the building exists as intelligent geometry. An existing building does not. It exists as brick and steel, and usually as a set of paper drawings that stopped being accurate several tenants ago.

Scan-to-BIM bridges that. We capture the real building with LiDAR, then model it in Revit as walls, floors, ceilings, columns, openings and structure. What you receive is a model, not a picture of one, so it behaves properly when your team schedules, sections and designs against it.

The alternative, which most teams have done at some point, is modelling existing conditions by hand from a site visit and an old drawing set. That is slow, it consumes design fee doing survey work, and every assumption baked into it becomes a risk carried through the rest of the project.

What the model contains

Level of detail is agreed before we scan, because it drives both the capture and the modelling effort.

• Walls and partitions

  Modelled to measured thickness and location, including the demising line, rather than assumed from a lease exhibit.

• Floors and levels

  Real floor elevations, including slab steps and level changes that older drawing sets routinely omit.

• Structure

  Columns and structural elements positioned where the scan found them, which is not always where the original drawings put them.

• Ceilings and heights

  Ceiling planes with measured heights, plus underside of structure, so clear height is a modelled fact.

• Openings

  Doors, windows and interior openings with real dimensions and positions.

• Visible MEP

  Exposed mechanical, electrical and plumbing where it is accessible and where the agreed scope calls for it.

How a scan-to-BIM project runs

1. Agree the level of detail first

   A model for early feasibility and a model for coordinated construction documents are different pieces of work. Settling that up front decides both what we capture on site and what you receive.

2. LiDAR capture

   The building is scanned with an iGUIDE PLANIX at ±10mm. Coverage is planned so the areas that will drive design decisions are fully captured, not just the easy ones.

3. Registration and modelling

   Scan positions are registered into a single coordinate system, then modelled in Revit against that data. Every element is placed from measurement.

4. Delivery

   The .rvt model, typically alongside layered DWG and PDF plans, lands within about a week of the scan. Floor plans and the 3D tour arrive sooner, usually in one to two business days.

When BIM is worth it, and when it is not

Scan-to-BIM earns its cost when the model is going to be used. If your team designs in Revit, coordinates with consultants in Revit, or is producing construction documents from a shared model, then starting from modelled existing conditions saves work immediately and keeps saving it.

If the project is a straightforward test fit, a leasing exercise, or a documentation set for the building file, a measured floor plan and layered CAD usually does the job for less. We would rather tell you that than sell a model that will sit unopened.

Common questions

What Revit version do you deliver in?

Tell us the version your team is working in when you book and we will deliver to match, so nobody has to upgrade a project file to open it.

Do we get the point cloud with the model?

The point cloud is the dataset we model from, and what you receive is the Revit model along with drawings and CAD. If your team wants the registered scan data to reference inside their own environment, raise it when you book and we will scope it in.

How accurate is the model?

The underlying measurements are captured at ±10mm. How closely the model follows that data depends on the agreed level of detail: a model built for feasibility is deliberately simplified, while one built for construction coordination follows the scan much more tightly.

Can you model just part of a building?

Yes. Scoping to a single suite, floor or zone is common, particularly on tenant improvement work where the rest of the building is not in play.

How long does it take?

Around a week from scan to delivered model for a typical commercial scope. Larger buildings and higher levels of detail take longer, and we will tell you the timeline before you book rather than after.

Keep reading

• 3D laser scanning — The capture side: how the point cloud is produced and how accurate it is.
• As-built drawings — When drawings and CAD are the right deliverable instead of a model.
• Tenant improvement as-builts — Documenting existing conditions before a commercial fit-out.

Start designing in a model of the real building

Book online with an instant estimate, and tell us the level of detail your team needs.