iScano · As-built documentation
As-built drawing services from 3D laser scanning
We laser scan the building as it stands today and draw its existing conditions in AutoCAD: floor plans, ceiling plans, sections and elevations you can design, permit and build from.
Get an as-built quoteCall (917) 383-3456
In Canada, call (647) 773-1341 · drawing list agreed before every quote
Trusted in Canada and the US
Deliverables
What you get: laser-scanned as-built drawings
One site visit. Our as-built drawing services start with the drawing list, scale and CAD standard, agreed before we quote. Everything is drawn from the point cloud, not traced from old drawings, for the architects, contractors, engineers and property teams who build from it.
Floor plans
Walls, doors, windows, columns, stairs and fixed elements, dimensioned, on your layers and title block. Roof and site plans when the scope includes them.
Reflected ceiling plans
Ceiling heights, bulkheads, soffits, lights, diffusers and sprinkler heads where visible. What the mechanical and electrical designers need before they route anything.
Sections and elevations
Interior and exterior elevations, building sections, openings and floor-to-floor heights. For façades, glazing, heritage work and anything that has to fit an opening.
Structure and exposed services
Columns, beams, trusses, slab edges, and the ducts, pipes and trays you can see. Grid lines and offsets drawn from what was built, not what was designed.
BOMA area measurement
Rentable and usable areas measured to the BOMA standard your leases use, office or industrial, from the same scan as the floor plans.
Point cloud and as-built verification
The registered cloud in E57 or RCP, and on request a check of what was built against the design drawings. Worth doing before anyone orders steel or glass.
How we draw it
How a scan becomes an as-built drawing set
Five steps, one team. Swipe through them.Pick a step.
1. Scope
What the drawings are for, which sheets, what scale, and whose CAD standard.
More detail
What the drawings are for, which sheets you need, at what scale, and whose CAD standard, layers and title block they go in. A lease plan, a renovation set and a glazing package are three different jobs, and the scope says which one this is. If you collaborate in Autodesk Construction Cloud or Procore, we deliver into that.
2. Capture
Terrestrial for interiors and façades, mobile for big open floors, drone for roofs and sites. Density goes where the drawings need it.
More detail
Terrestrial scanning for architecture, MEP and anything that has to be right to a few millimetres. Mobile scanning for large general-construction areas without dense services. Drone and photogrammetry for roofs, sites and façades. Density goes where your questions are, not spread evenly over the building.
3. Register
Every station aligned into one checked point cloud, delivered early in E57, RCP or RCS.
More detail
Every station aligned into one cloud, registration error checked, then delivered early in E57, RCP or RCS with its metadata, so your team can start looking, and can merge future scans with it.
4. Draft
Drawn in AutoCAD on the point cloud, sheet by sheet. Nothing traced from old drawings.
More detail
Plans, RCPs, sections and elevations drawn directly on the registered cloud, in your template when you send one. Where something cannot be seen, above a hard ceiling or behind a finish, we mark it as not visible rather than guess. If you also need a Revit model, it is built from the same scan.
5. Verify and deliver
Every sheet checked against the cloud, reviewed with you, then DWG, PDF and the point cloud.
More detail
Each sheet goes through our QA/QC check against the point cloud before it leaves. We go through the set with you, make the revisions, then deliver DWG in your AutoCAD version and template, PDF sheets, and the registered point cloud so your team can check anything we did not draw.
The people on site
Scanned, registered and drawn by one team
The technician who registers the point cloud works next to the drafter who draws the sheets. When something in the cloud is unclear, a column wrapped in drywall, a wall that is not straight, they go back to the scan photos or ask the person who stood there, instead of guessing.
Every set is drawn to a written scope: which sheets, which scale, which CAD standard. Before it leaves, it goes through our QA/QC check against the registered point cloud.
- Scoped before the scanSheets, scale and your CAD standard agreed in writing, so the drawings drop straight into your set.
- Checked against the cloudEvery sheet goes through QA/QC against the point cloud before delivery.
- A straight answer up frontIf a job needs a surveyor, a model instead of drawings, or less than you asked for, we say so before you spend anything.
The drawing set
How to read an as-built drawing set
Each sheet is a different cut through the same point cloud. Pick one to see how to read it and what to check first.
Existing conditions
Existing-conditions surveys and as-built floor plans
An existing conditions survey, in the sense architects and engineers use it, is a measured record of a building before design starts, and a laser scan is the fastest way to produce one. The deliverable most projects ask for first is the as-built floor plan: walls, openings, columns, stairs, fixed equipment and ceiling heights drawn from the point cloud at a stated level of detail, for one floor or the whole building.
Industrial as-built floor plans add equipment footprints, racking, pits and overhead obstructions. Commercial sets add core, shell and tenant partitions for leasing and fit-out. Residential sets cover walls, windows and roof lines for renovations and additions. Sections, elevations and reflected ceiling plans follow from the same scan when they are scoped.
This is what people also call an as-built survey. It is documentation of existing conditions to an agreed level of detail, not a boundary or legal survey; when a project needs a licensed surveyor, you hear it at the quote stage and our point cloud can be tied to their control.
Case studies
Real as-built projects, and what the drawings were for
Every project below started with our own point cloud and ended with drawings someone built from. Read what went right, what did not, and what the client did with the set.
Glazing · Toronto
Glass openings on two buildings, Rosedale
Every opening drawn from the scan for a glass contractor, with clearances, re-issued in the fabricator's own CAD template.
Read the case study →
Heritage · Toronto
Heritage seniors home, Sherbourne Street
A city-owned building with no usable drawings, scanned and modelled in Revit for the architects planning its renewal.
Read the case study →
Residential · Toronto
Victorian house renovation, the Annex
Two-phase scan-to-BIM for a design-build firm: the whole house first, then the opened-up structure once demolition exposed it.
Read the case study →
Public housing · Etobicoke
Two Toronto Community Housing sites
Gyms and a garage scanned for an architecture firm so the retrofit design started from measured structure, not archive sets.
Read the case study →
Food plant · Etobicoke
Nine conveyor lines in a live food plant
A two-day shutdown scan turned into a 2D plan for the contractor and a 3D model, IFC and clash check for the integrator's engineers.
Read the case study →
Steel · Mississauga
As-designed vs as-built steel
Three contractors, one set of numbers: the erected frame and poured slabs scanned and compared with the design model, on one set of survey control.
Read the case study →Point cloud in, drawings out
Drag to compare the scan with the drawing
A plant floor seen from above: the registered point cloud on the left, the as-built CAD plan of the piping and equipment drawn from it on the right.
Why iScano
Why teams choose iScano for as-built documentation
A reality-capture company with more than a decade in LiDAR, drawing existing buildings across Canada and the US. Most of what we draw was built or altered without a reliable set of drawings; the set we hand over is often the first accurate record the building has had.
- One team, end to end. Field capture, registration and drafting stay connected, so questions about the cloud are checked against the scan and site photos, not guessed.
- Scoped before it is priced. Sheets, scale and CAD standard agreed in writing before we quote.
- Your formats. DWG in your version and template, PDF sheets, E57 and RCP for the cloud, and RVT when you need a model too.
- Checked before delivery. Every sheet goes through QA/QC against the point cloud, and we go through the set with you before it is final.
Need a model rather than drawings? See scan to BIM services. Need the scan only? See 3D laser scanning services.
Equipment and software
Sebastian Graterol
Co-founder · Geomatics engineer
More than a decade in LiDAR and photogrammetry. Reviews every as-built scope with the team before it is quoted.
Reviews
What clients say
Where we work
Where we do as-built documentation
Canada: (647) 773-1341
United States: (917) 383-3456
- Toronto
- Ottawa
- Montreal
- Vancouver
- Calgary
- Kitchener-Waterloo
- Winnipeg
- Ontario
- New York City
- Connecticut
- Chicago
- Dallas-Fort Worth
- Miami
- Fort Lauderdale
- Florida
Most of our as-built work is as-built drawings in Toronto and the GTA, as-built surveys in New York City, Dallas-Fort Worth, Miami and Montreal. All areas we operate →
FAQ
As-built documentation: questions we get before a quote
What is the difference between as-built drawings and Scan to BIM?
As-built drawings are 2D: floor plans, reflected ceiling plans, sections and elevations in DWG and PDF. Scan to BIM is a 3D Revit model whose elements carry information. For a renovation, a fit-out, a lease plan or a permit set, drawings are usually enough. To coordinate trades, run clash detection or manage the building in 3D, you need the model. Both come from the same scan. See scan to BIM services for the model side.
How accurate are the drawings?
The point cloud is registered to ±3 mm typical (2–4 mm depending on range and setup). The drawings are drawn on that cloud and checked against it. Where a wall is out of square or a floor is not level, the drawing shows what is there, not what the original design said. Drafting tolerance is agreed in the scope.
What do you draw, and what can you not draw?
We draw what the scanner can see: walls, openings, columns, stairs, ceilings, exposed structure and services. Anything behind a finish or above a hard ceiling is marked as not visible unless the ceiling is opened for the scan. We will not fill it in from old drawings without telling you.
What formats do you deliver?
DWG in your AutoCAD version, on your layers and title block if you send them, plus PDF sheets and the registered point cloud in E57 or RCP. Revit when you also need a model.
Can you draw to our CAD standard?
Yes. Send your template, layer standard and title block and we draw in them. Otherwise we use a clean standard set and agree the sheet list with you first.
How long does an as-built survey take?
On-site capture for a standard commercial building is usually one to two days. The drawings follow in one to three weeks, depending on the number of sheets and how much is in the building. We give you a date with the quote and can send the point cloud early.
What drives the cost?
The size of the building, how much is in it, the number and type of sheets, and the level of detail. A single office floor plan and a full set of plans, RCPs, sections and elevations for a plant are very different jobs. Send the address, the building type and the sheets you need and we will scope it; our 3D laser scanning cost guide explains what moves the price.
Do you do BOMA area measurements?
Yes. Rentable and usable areas measured to the BOMA standard your leases use, office or industrial, from the same scan as the floor plans. Our guides to the BOMA 2024 office standard and the BOMA 2025 industrial standard explain what changed.
Can you check whether it was built to the drawings?
Yes. We scan what was built, compare it with the design drawings or model, and show where they differ: a grid line off, an opening the wrong size, a slab out of level. We did this for a steel-framed building in Mississauga, where three contractors needed one set of numbers.
What are as-built drawings, and how are they different from record drawings?
As-built drawings show the building as it exists today, measured on site. Record drawings are usually the design set marked up by the contractor at the end of a job: they show what the team says was built, not what was measured. When the record set is missing, out of date or wrong, a laser-scanned as-built set replaces it.
Can you scan while the building is occupied?
Yes. Most of the offices, stores, plants and housing we scan are in use. We work around people and production, and after hours or overnight when that suits you better, so nobody has to shut down for us.
What if there are no existing drawings?
That is most of our work. We do not need old drawings; the scan is the source. If you have them, we use them to name rooms and grids, not for dimensions.
Where do you do as-built documentation?
Across Canada and the US; see the city pages above for local crews and phone numbers.
What is included in a set of as-built drawings?
Whatever the quote lists: typically floor plans, reflected ceiling plans, sections and elevations in DWG, drawn from the registered point cloud to an agreed level of detail, with anything the scanner could not see marked as not visible. Structural and MEP layers are added when they are in scope.
What is an existing conditions survey?
A measured record of a building or site as it stands today, used as the base for design, leasing or renovation. From a laser scan it becomes a point cloud and the drawing set your team needs. It is not a boundary or legal survey.
Can I see an example of an as-built drawing set?
Yes. The case studies on this page show drawing sets from real projects: the Annex house in Toronto and the Sherbourne Street building are both as-built sets drawn from the scan.
Get a quote
Tell us about the site. We'll tell you what it takes.
The address, the building type and the sheets you need is enough to start.
Prefer to talk? Canada (647) 773-1341 · US (917) 383-3456
What to send for a quote: the address and building type, roughly how big, what the drawings are for, which sheets (plans, RCPs, sections, elevations), the scale, your CAD standard or title block, whether you need BOMA areas, site access, and the date you need it. A rough version of that is enough to start.
- Drawing list agreed before every quote
- Crews across Canada and the US
- DWG and PDF in your CAD standard; E57 and RVT when scoped