Technology for As-Builts

[LeahOslin]

Hello! I’m wondering what people use to assist with capturing existing conditions. We are currently using Beacon Pro for exterior and Canvas for interior. Are there whole house scanners available that integrate with Chief? 

[RobDesLLC]

I use Canvas for interior and exterior, photo document the whole house, and then spend a few hours correcting the model I receive from Canvas.

[kylejmarsh]

I basically shoot like 10 measurements the first time I go out just to get an overall shape that I can mock up. That and a few pictures do the trick for the first set of concepts (why spend more time than I have to at that point) along with the county data which shows the basic footprint of the house. I just use that to get the concepts going.

 

Then once I have the client signed up for more than concepts (actual construction drawings) I'll go out, bring my computer with my rough chief model, and measure it up right there.

 

You just need to know what's important and what's not. I know how deep a cabinet is. I know what a 6' slider is. I don't need to know the size of the windows in that bedroom way over there that we're not touching. Etc. Etc. to get started anyway. 

 

Check your room dimensions, check your ceiling height, get some nice straight-on pictures of the walls in the room you're working in. If you can't come up with a concept that you like and that the client accepts why measure the whole house and burn a bunch of time?

 

As for tech, I've tried a bunch of stuff but most of it is more pain than it's worth. I mean, we already have chief architect, how much easier do you need it to get?

 

[Billis]

Hey! I used Matterport for a project last year, and it worked great for capturing entire houses. It also integrates with Chief Architect, which made the process smoother for me. 

[SHCanada2]

I do a lot of basement developments and sometimes I will need the main floor plan, and second floor just because the City sometimes asks.

 

For the basement I will just use a laser measure and draw in CA onsite to make sure everything lines up. It takes about 60 minutes

 

I'm looking for something that will be ok accurate for "the rest of the house" for a floor plan and does not charge by the sq foot. I saw polycam has a monthly fee.

 

Has anyone used a monthly subscription service, or God forbid someone who just sells the software to do a scan and provide a floor plan. I dont need bells or whistles, just the floor plan. I can do my own video.

 

Anyone used something with Android?

 

I'm willing to pay $1000 for HW if I can get the per plan fee down to about $50 or less. But the 0.20 cent per square foot that I saw for a couple software packages is too expensive, I might as well just laser measure it myself and pay myself $150 / hr

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[SHCanada2]

I tried cubicasa, as it works with Android or IOS. I assume it is more of a photgrammery engine than lidar as it can be used with android or maybe it uses both if they are available.

 

Anyway, it took me two tries on my test house. The first try it told me it didnt work at the end of scanning so that was good. The second try worked pretty good. I got back the 2d floor plan within 24 hours, most rooms were accurate to a few inches although one 5' hallway, they came up with 4'6. it took about 10 minutes to walk the 3 levels scanning

 

At only $10 for a 3 level house, I cannot complain, and since I do the basement accurately by laser and match it to the survey, this gives me an accurate enough plan for the top two floors.

 

Best bang for the buck I think