3D laser scanning services in Chicago

On the size and complexity of the building and on what has to be drawn. A single floor of office space delivered as 2D plans is a small job; a plant with its piping modeled in Revit is not. Send the address, the building type and the deliverables you need and we quote the scope rather than a day rate. Our cost guide explains what drives the price.

On-site capture for a typical commercial building is one to two days. The 2D set or the Revit model usually follows within one to three weeks, depending on the level of detail and how much MEP is included. Larger plants, high-rises and historic buildings are scoped individually, and the quote states the schedule.

Whatever the quote lists, which is usually some combination of the registered point cloud (E57 or ReCap RCP), a 2D as-built set of floor plans, reflected ceiling plans, sections and elevations (DWG or DXF), a Revit model (RVT), and specialist outputs where they are scoped, such as IGES for mechanical work or slab elevation maps. Formats, sheet list, model elements and coordinate system are confirmed before the site visit.

Yes; most of our projects are in buildings that stay in use. We work around guests, tenants and production, and the scanner touches nothing. Before the visit we agree a site contact, working hours, access to ceilings and mechanical rooms, and whatever security or insurance paperwork the building requires.

Yes. Interior scanning can usually go ahead year-round, subject to access and site conditions. Exterior scanning is scheduled around snow and ice, which cover 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.

Chicago, the suburbs and the collar counties (DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry and Will), and elsewhere in Illinois by arrangement. Send the address and what the project is and we will tell you how we would approach it.

On building-scale terrestrial projects the registered point cloud is typically within ±3 mm (2–4 mm depending on scanner, range, geometry and control), and we tie it to your project control when you provide it. That figure describes the cloud, not the finished drawing or model; those tolerances are agreed in the scope. Because the drawings are traced from the cloud they reflect the building as it stands, and anything the scanner could not see is flagged rather than guessed.

For documenting an existing building, scanning is usually the more useful capture: it records everything in view rather than a short list of measurements, so a missed dimension can be read from the cloud instead of a second trip, provided the area was in view, and the point cloud stays the reference for the rest of the project. Some projects also need an Illinois Professional Land Surveyor, particularly where the scope includes property boundaries, an ALTA/NSPS Land Title Survey or regulated survey control; we do not provide those services, 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 may not reflect later alterations. 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. The City of Chicago's LaSalle Street Reimagined initiative supports office-to-residential conversions in the Loop; for a conversion project the scan supplies the measured existing conditions the feasibility work starts from.

No. We provide the measured existing conditions; the architect or engineer of record prepares the permit drawings and is responsible for code compliance. Most construction, demolition and repair work in Chicago needs a permit from the Department of Buildings, and work in existing buildings falls under the Chicago Building Rehabilitation Code. Our drawings and models give the design team an accurate base to draw those plans from.

Nothing about the capture, but more rides on it. The Commission on Chicago Landmarks reviews permit work that affects designated features, which in a district usually means the elevations visible from the street, and the application needs drawings of the existing conditions. A scan gives the architect a measured record of the façade and its details to draw those from. The review and the approval stay with the architect and the Commission.

Existing-conditions documentation to the level of detail the quote sets out (LOD 200 to 350 for models). They are the measured starting point for design, planning and coordination, not sealed construction documents, fabrication drawings, boundary surveys or ALTA/NSPS Land Title Surveys. Dimensions a design or a fit depends on should be field-verified before anything is built to them, and areas the scanner could not see are marked as not visible rather than filled in. The architect, engineer or contractor remains responsible for the design and its verification.