A new rage in architectural as-built surveying is High Definition Laser Scanning (HDL). Laser Scanning is excellent for buildings with extremely complex geometry, allowing a machine to map every nuance of a room or a wall.  But a 3-D mesh with thousands of points captured to make a single wall is way too much information for most buildings and for most BIM modeling practices.  Architecture needs a building surveying solution that captures data the way your design software uses it.  With smart objects, like walls, doors, and windows, that are configured with real world properties and are able to be located with just a couple vector points in the virtual model.

That’s why Solid Tech LLC is offering point-to-point laser measuring with real time data capture to meet your as-built modeling needs.  As the name implies, point-to-point laser measuring uses a laser measuring device that is held at one point and a laser is aimed across the room to a second point on a wall, or perhaps a ceiling.  The device measures the time for the laser beam refraction to return and then calculates the distance within about a 1/16th of an inch accuracy.  You may have bought a device like this at your local hardware store.

We are able to make the technology significantly more valuable with real time data capture fed directly into Solid Tech’s drafting software.  With a tablet computer on site we can model the building as we measure it.  Applying dimensions and notes directly to building objects as they are created in a BIM file right on site.  We can measure each door and window and add detail about grills, lights and mullions right there on site. We can easily capture ceiling and soffit heights without a ladder.  Measure underside of deck at two location to get the roof slope and tag the bottom of the joist to get the joist size. We can even capture glazing levels all the way up a high rise building without leaving the sidewalk through a tilt sensor and built in triangulation features.

Being run by experienced architects, Solid Tech knows that architects today are being bombarded with new technologies and requirements.  We are certain that architects will embrace a trustworthy partner to whom they can delegate as-built model building, so long as we can provide a quality product each and every time.  Wouldn’t your time be better spent on the design process rather than dredging through a dirty vacant building?

Even with all this tech, the BIM model is ultimately built by people.  That is why Solid Tech only uses licensed architects to conduct surveys.  Architects who know how to look at buildings and develop BIM models in a way that will make the data useful and understandable to you and your design team.  So we hope that you will allow us to serve your needs in the growing as-built BIM modeling industry.