Episode 7 of the 3D show
Transcript
Intro: As-Built vs As-Designed
My name is Sebastian. Welcome to another episode of The 3D Show. This episode, we’re talking about as-built and as-designed, and how do we bring as-designed concepts into the as-built reality. How do we leverage that with knowledge of the point cloud, and more importantly, how do we leverage the technology of different sensors in the market into bringing this to an asset design workflow and workspace? And how does it help you, the architect, engineering, construction, and operation maintenance organizations?
My name is Sebastian. Welcome to another episode of The 3D Show. I’ll see you super, super soon. Back to the attic, everyone. Peace.
The Reality Gap: Plans vs Construction
Well, just looking at the plans, they’re not as-built, but that’s why we’re scanning, aren’t we? Right? What is up, everyone? My name is Sebastian. Welcome to another episode of The 3D Show.
And in this episode, it’s a little bit lighter today, so hopefully, the sun does not block my face. But hopefully you’re going to get the whole purpose of this episode. We’re talking about as-designed and as-built and how do we merge together into the world of AEC and most importantly, leveraging that reality capture technology or the point cloud.
Defining As-Designed vs As-Built
Now before we even start, I just want to quickly define what an as-built is and what is an as-designed model. As-designed refers to the initial set of drawings and specifications created by the architect, engineer, and designers before the construction begins.
These documents represent the design’s intent, outline the plan, dimensions, materials, and features of the project. So to bring this into context, if an architect gives you a BIM model or a 3D model of the conception of the site, taking certain things into consideration, whether that’s the surveying coordinates, looking at the constraints in some aspects of dimensions, they’re giving you an as-designed conception.
So remember, as-designed is not always meaning as-built, but let’s define as-built. As-built refers to the final set of drawings and documentation that reflects the actual construction of the project. These records include any modification, deviation, or changes that occurred during the construction progress.
The as-built documentation provides an accurate representation of the complete structure, capturing all adjustments made from the original as-designed plans.
Reality Capture Technology Integration
Now let’s really talk about how the technology can help you get to that world of as-built and as-designed into one single coordinated system. To start with reality check. It’s the aspect of what a lot of people in the 3D laser scanning and reality capture space do. They ask you, what are your as-built or what are your current CAD models, DWGs, RVTs, Navisworks files?
What is your current 3D model and what is the reality here? So we do certain types of corrections. So we take the 3D model that they have and then we look at the point cloud data and we see if it’s to scan. If they don’t even have that, then you create a scan-to-BIM process, meaning that you start from zero. You scan, you might have a template from the client and then you bring that and import that with the template and you make an as-built drawing.
But what happens if they already have a model? A lot of times when I’m on-site with an architect and they say, hey, I need to make this as-built, they’ll say, give me your current model. And they’re a bit apprehensive at first. So they ask me what’s going on. And I tell them, well, I’m taking your current model, and I add the point cloud. And instead of me doing things from scratch, which also reduces cost for them, I’m taking the things you already have and existed, and I’m aligning it based on the as-built realities.
That’s going to help them then communicate with the construction team or the engineers in order to either create that as-designed as it should be and or to modify and to generate their as-built drawings as they are intended based on the as-designed conception.
The 30% Rework Reduction
Now let’s give you a specific quote here and some statistics. A recent study found that projects that use reality capture to validate as-built conditions against the as-designed plan saw a 30% reduction in project overrun and rework. What does that really mean, though? Well, it means that if I’m able to look at the as-designed model and I’m able to look at the as-built information, what I’m able to do is I’m able to see if there’s anything that’s going on on the site during the site’s operations.
Now you have to do that really quickly. You have to be able to scan, take a terrestrial laser scanning, a mobile scanner, photogrammetry, any kind of data set, and you have to bring that into your current model, and then you have to merge that together. That way, you’re going to be able to maximize both their work and your work, and you’re able to reduce downtime.
The whole purpose of scanning when it comes to construction, because that’s why things are so fast, is you want to be able to make the corrections on the spot before they have to do any kind of rework because rework or revamping certain things is going to cost a lot of time and a lot of money.
Digital Threads: From Design Dream to Reality
The interesting thing here is the digital threads from the design’s dream to the reality of the scene. Now, I’m being a little bit poetic here, but I’m just trying to get a little bit more mellow on how we want to bring this up.
What’s going on today is that designing companies and particularly architectural firms are becoming more and more regulated. In order for you to qualify into being an architectural firm in North America, in Canada and or United States, you need to go through more and more paperwork. As the boutique market starts elevating and as it becomes more and more numerous that there is a growing inequality in the world, these boutique markets also have architects that are going to become more and more strict because there’s higher budgets.
If I’m presenting a project to a bunch of investors, I need to show them that whatever I have as a concept or whatever you paid for is going to translate to the reality. As-designed is the design of the client’s needs, as-built is the reality, if we merge that together, that becomes a massive value proposition for any kind of shareholder, stakeholder, AEC company.
Why did I bring up digital threads? Well, digital threads are like a repository. If you have a thread of what’s going on in the construction site and you align that with the reality capture point cloud data, the thread allows you to have that repository. It allows you to see what’s going on in each phase.
25% Improvement in Coordination Efficiency
That’s going to help you in two aspects, the construction progress management side and then the alignment with the construction team and the engineering team and the architectural team. So that means that all three stakeholders are aligned for them to get that project done. Projects that maintain continuous digital threads report a 25% improvement in coordination efficiency and 20% reduction in delays.
Well, the next part is digital magic. Now, what does really digital magic mean? Bringing designs to life from the 3D to reality. If I have to do a retrofit or a revamp, I’m going to have my suggestions of my engineering team. So I take the as-designed, the suggestions from the engineering team, and the as-built and I merge them together. And now I can actually give a very, very clear picture of the project timeline. How much work does it need? What areas of the site need to be shut down or closed off?
In order for us to have that connective tissue, you need to have the design concept available. You need to have the point cloud data and or point cloud scan-to-BIM model available that you merge them together. And then you need to have that final workflow phase.
Adapt or Die: Flexibility in Construction
Number four, adapt or die. Flexibility in the face of change. Once I have the as-designed and I have the as-built, then I can sit down with the proper people and say, well, if this doesn’t work, what can we do as an alternative?
Construction, nothing goes according to plan. Well, if you have the understanding of your constraints and you have your as-designed concept model, you can be the closest to what you actually wanted, and true creativity always comes with limitation. When you have the true limitations, when you have the actual millimetric information of the site, I’ve seen engineers do magic with the data we’ve had.
But in order for them to do magic, they need to know how to handle the data. Everyone is trying to work for a single goal of getting the job done and understanding that we can’t always do it the way they want it, or that we can’t always do it the way that they’re looking for. But the point cloud becomes that understanding saying, hey, it’s not me, it’s the site. It’s not me, it’s the reality. It’s not me, it’s the data.
Closing Thoughts
Anyways, hopefully, it made sense that reality capture becomes a pivotal tool for as-built and as-designed and some of that ethereal information I gave you. But most importantly, it helps us out our construction progress management workflows. It helps us with our engineering stakeholders, our architectural design teams that make the as-designed models, and our construction team workers. It helps us align that with maybe those investors that we always have to deal with.
I’m super excited to go to the next part, which I want to talk about, which is facility management. And my name’s Sebastian. Welcome to another episode of The 3D Show. I’m going to see you super, super soon. See you, everyone. Ciao.
Personal Thoughts:
This episode tackles one of the most critical challenges in modern construction: the gap between what’s planned and what’s actually built. Having worked on countless projects where this disconnect has caused significant delays and cost overruns, I wanted to share how reality capture technology can bridge this gap effectively.
The statistics I mentioned – 30% reduction in rework and 25% improvement in coordination efficiency – aren’t just numbers. They represent real savings in time, money, and frustration for construction teams. When you can overlay point cloud data with your as-designed models, you’re not just creating pretty visualizations; you’re enabling informed decision-making that can save projects from costly mistakes.
What excites me most about this workflow is how it transforms the relationship between design intent and construction reality. Instead of treating discrepancies as problems to be solved after the fact, we can identify and address them proactively. This shift from reactive to predictive project management is where the real value lies.
The digital thread concept is particularly powerful because it creates a continuous narrative of the project from conception to completion. This isn’t just useful for the current project – it becomes invaluable for facility management, future renovations, and even lessons learned for subsequent projects.
As always, I’d love to hear about your experiences with as-built vs as-designed challenges. What’s the biggest discrepancy you’ve encountered, and how did you resolve it?
