Preparing for your Residential As-Built Survey Site Visit
If you’re preparing for your residential As-Built Survey site visit, you’re more than likely preparing your home for a remodel or addition. Congratulations on this special endeavor to enhance the space you’re living in! As your architect or designer likely told you, accurate and up-to-date As-Built plans are incredibly important to the success of your remodel or addition. Our team of expert surveyors, drafters, and modelers take them very seriously. Ensuring your plans are precise and every contractor is working with correct dimensions helps keep your budget in place and your project on time. PPM’s goal is to set you and your architect up for success and it all starts with a site visit to gather up-to-date measurements.
How we Capture Data During a Site Visit
Today’s technology helps us move through your home quickly. We use a 3D laser scanner to ensure we provide the most accurate As-Built plans while taking up far less of your time to acquire the data we need. Our laser scanners capture millions of data points in the form of a point cloud – used by our drafting team to prepare your As-Built drawings off site, so we can minimize our time in your home and give you back your space as quickly as possible!
Preparing your Home for the Surveying Process
We know your home is your sanctuary and our goal is to help you feel comfortable and at ease while we’re in it. There are a few things we’d like you to know before we arrive that will help your surveyor work quickly and efficiently through the surveying process.
1. Our Time on Site
It’s typical for a building survey project to take 3 to 4 hours. The laser scanning portion of our survey usually lasts about 30 minutes. You can expect the rest of the time to account for preparation of the space for scanning, photos (still photos, 3D photos, and those needed for 3D tours), processing of the data on site to ensure we’ve captured all necessary info, and tear down. We may need to take a few manual measurements in hard-to-reach places.
2. Furniture and Boxes
We know this is a living space. Don’t worry about boxes and furniture. Rooms do not need to be cleared, however, it is helpful if our surveyors are able to walk into each room and reach all walls and windows.
3. Site Contact and Access
Whether we’ve set up this appointment with you or a family member, it’s important to ensure your Project Manager has the full name, phone number, and email of the site contact for the day of our scan. Please be sure your site contact has a full set of keys and that all keys have been tested to ensure full access to every room and door in the home or building. Any doors that we are unable to access will have to be excluded from the scan. In residential homes, this isn’t typically an issue, but we want to let you know.
4. Doors and Gates
Ideally, doors and gates will remain open throughout the scanning process including the entrance and exit to the home. As-Built scans yield the best results when our surveyor can perform them in one swift movement without having to pause and open entryways. Please let us know if this is not possible. Upon completion, the surveyor will be sure to close cabinets, doors, and gates and return the property to its original condition.
5. Cabinets and Doors
The surveyor may need to prop open some cabinet doors prior to scanning to capture the wall behind them. If this is necessary, doors will need to remain open in the same position during the scan to avoid any issues. Your surveyor will ensure everything is closed up once they are finished.
6. Mirrors
Mirrors can cause a “reflection” challenge for laser scanners. The surveyor will assess the mirrors in the building before they scan and may need to cover them with paper or turn them to ensure the laser scan data renders accurately. If your surveyor covers up mirrors with butcher paper, please leave them covered until the scan portion of the visit is complete.
7. Small Children and Pets
Please let your surveyor know if there are small children or pets in the home, so we can ensure their safety while all doors are open. In some situations, it may be best to put pets in a small bedroom and close the door. The surveyor may be able to manually measure or do a second scan to capture this area separately.
8. Minimizing Movement
Please ensure no other work will be performed on the day of our site visit (i.e. cleaning, moving, painting). It is necessary to minimize movement during the scan as much as possible. In the case that our surveyor enters the room you are in during the scan, the best thing to do is stand in place. Avoid scurrying to another room or any movement as this can confuse our scanner in the process.
9. Sprinkler Systems
In most cases, we will need to scan the perimeter of the building. Please ensure any sprinkler systems will be turned off for the duration of the site visit.
10. Roof and Foundation Access
Our surveyors are equipped with a 15-foot ladder. If we are providing exterior elevations or a roof plan, it is key for our site contact to communicate if we’ll need a taller ladder. If foundation or framing plans are included in your request, please ensure there is access to those spaces.
11. Manual Measurements and Photographs
Our surveyors may take some manual measurements in hard-to-reach places as well. We also snap lots of photos which are used by our team as well as your architect. Our drafters and quality assurance team use them in the drafting and review process. They are then sent to your architect as part of the deliverable package and are used for design and production purposes. Once the scan is complete and we’ve ensured we have all of the data we need, we’ll be on our way.
Thank you for learning more about our residential As-Built Survey site visit process!
Now, you’re ready for your site visit! We look forward to kicking off your remodel project with Worry-Free As-Built surveys your architecture, design, and construction teams can trust to start your project off great. We appreciate your assistance, cooperation, and consideration in this process and look forward to meeting you. Please let us know if you have any further questions. You can email or call your project manager directly or contact us at [email protected] or 855-272-8458. Thank you for allowing PPM to be a part of your remodel project.
About PPM
At PPM, our goal is to help set you and your project up for success from the start. While we are dedicated to tried-and-true process and deliver consistently accurate plans, success is not just in the numbers – it’s a feeling of trust, confidence, ownership and teamwork. Our team is committed to Core Values that drive our business and our clients’ success. We’re here to support you every step of the way.