3D laser scanning services in Calgary

It depends on the size and complexity of the site and on what you need drawn. A single-floor commercial space with 2D as-builts is a different job from a plant with piping in Revit. Send the address, building type and deliverables and we will come back with a scoped quote. Our cost guide explains what drives the price.

On-site capture for a standard commercial building is usually one to two days. 2D as-builts and Revit models typically follow in one to three weeks depending on level of detail and MEP complexity. Larger plants, resorts and heritage sites are scoped individually.

The agreed package: the registered point cloud (E57, ReCap RCP), 2D as-built floor plans, reflected ceiling plans, sections and elevations (DWG, DXF), a Revit model (RVT), IGES for mechanical work, and slab elevation or deviation maps where scoped. Formats, sheet list, model elements and the coordinate system are agreed before the site visit.

Yes. Most of our work is in occupied buildings. We schedule around guests, tenants and production, and the scanner does not touch anything.

Yes. Interior scanning can usually go ahead year-round, subject to access and site conditions. Exterior scanning is scheduled around snow, which covers the surfaces we need to capture, and around the operating temperature of the equipment. If a site has both, we capture the interior first and return for the exterior when it is clear.

Calgary and the surrounding communities, and elsewhere in Alberta by arrangement. Send the address and what the project is and we will tell you how we would approach it.

The registered point cloud on a building-scale terrestrial project is typically within ±3 mm (2–4 mm depending on scanner, range, geometry and control); when the project has survey control we tie the cloud to it. That figure is the point cloud. The finished drawing or model carries its own tolerance, agreed in the scope, because an LOD 200 massing model is not drawn to the same tolerance as an LOD 350 structural one. Areas the scanner could not reach are marked not visible on the drawings instead of being filled in.

For dense documentation of an existing building, scanning is usually the more useful capture method: it records everything in view rather than a limited set of individual measurements, so return visits are the exception and the point cloud stays useful for the life of the project. Traditional surveying remains essential for boundaries, legal work and project control, and the two are often used together. We compare the two in our 3D scanning vs traditional surveying article.

Yes. A conversion starts with the floor plates, cores, slab-to-slab heights, façade openings and visible services as they stand, and the archive drawings of an older tower often do not match what is there. We scan the building and deliver the Revit model or the 2D set the design team works from, so the feasibility study starts from measured conditions. The scan is the measured base; structural assessment, concealed conditions, code review and the permit drawings remain with the architect and engineers. Calgary's downtown office conversion program has made this a common starting point for projects in the core.

Existing-conditions documentation at the level of detail agreed in the quote (LOD 200 to 350 for models): the measured starting point for design, planning and coordination. They are not construction documents, fabrication drawings or legal surveys under the Alberta Land Surveyors' Act. Dimensions that a design or a fit depends on should be field-verified before they are built to, and anything the scanner could not see is marked as not visible rather than filled in. The architect, engineer or contractor remains responsible for the design and for verification.