The travel alone can burn a full day. Once you’re on site, you’re chasing measurements through every room, hoping nothing gets missed. Back at the office, you’re piecing it all together when you find the gap: a measurement that doesn’t add up, a wall that wasn’t recorded. Another site visit. Another day gone.
This is fixable. iGUIDE captures a space in a single visit and delivers accurate floor plans, as-builts and 3D data without the back-and-forth. Here’s how architects are using it.
Why site surveys cost architects more than they should
Most architects can list the problems without thinking. They’ve lived them on enough projects.
Travel costs add up fast. Car rentals, mileage, flights and accommodation for out-of-town sites pull directly from project budgets. That time on the road is time away from billable design work.
Manual measurement is slow and error-prone. Tape measures and laser distance meters depend on the person holding them. Missed dimensions, misread numbers and incomplete records are common. The cost shows up later, in return visits and revised drawings.
One visit is rarely enough. Complex spaces or incomplete notes mean going back. Each return visit multiplies your time on site and delays everything downstream: proposals, drawings, contractor handoffs.
Specialised equipment isn’t cheap. For detailed surveys, the right tools and trained staff to use them are a real overhead, especially for smaller firms.
Bryan Arnold, Project Manager at PDS Architecture, knows this firsthand. Before iGUIDE, his team relied on manual measurements, sketches and hundreds of photos. The process regularly required multiple return visits and pulled production staff away from design work for hours or even days.
iGUIDE helped us operate more efficiently, take on more work and reduce time spent on repetitive or manual field tasks. — Bryan Arnold, Project Manager, PDS Architecture
Two ways to use iGUIDE for site surveys
Architects using iGUIDE typically take one of two routes: capture the data themselves with the iGUIDE camera, or hand the whole survey off to an iGUIDE Project Manager. Both paths solve the same problem. The right one depends on your practice.
Option 1: Capture it yourself
iGUIDE’s PLANIX camera uses lidar to scan a space quickly and accurately. You move through the property, capture each room and upload the data. What comes back is a complete package: floor plans, as-built drawings, 3D measurements and a navigable walkthrough, all in one report.
One construction design team working on Burger King franchise renovations needed floor plans for two dining room remodels on a tight deadline. Traditional surveying wasn't feasible. Using iGUIDE, they had two complete sets of plans in two days — and the franchise avoided architectural survey costs of an estimated $6,000–$7,000 per project.
He said it would take 10 days. I thought, 'You're kidding.' Days later, I had two sets of plans and two full scans. — John Harrison, National Account Manager, Casablanca Design
Best for: Firms that do regular site surveys and want full control over timing, data and cost per project.
Option 2: Hire an iGUIDE Project Manager
If you’d rather stay focused on design, iGUIDE’s Project Managers handle the survey for you. They work with you to understand your timeline and scope, then deliver the same complete package: accurate floor plans, CAD files in 2D and 3D, reflected ceiling plans, roof plans and exterior elevations.
No coordinating with a third-party surveyor. No chasing deliverables from multiple vendors. One point of contact. One report.
Best for: Firms managing multiple projects at once, or those working on one-off surveys where buying a camera doesn’t make sense.
What an iGUIDE site survey delivers
Either way, the deliverables are the same. An iGUIDE survey produces:
- 2D and 3D floor plans
- Plotted PDF floor plans
- CAD drawing packages (2D and 3D)
- Reflected ceiling plans and roof plans
- Exterior elevations
- A navigable 3D walkthrough of the existing conditions
Everything comes from one capture. The data is accurate, complete and ready to design from.
How architects are scaling projects without more site visits
For firms looking to grow, site surveys present a practical ceiling. The more projects you take on, the more your best people spend on site instead of at their desks.
PDS Architecture solved this by using iGUIDE’s network of capture providers to take on projects in locations they couldn’t previously serve. They expanded nationally without adding internal travel demands or staff workload.
The outcome: more capacity, fewer return visits, tighter timelines.
Accurate site data, from a single visit
Every successful commercial design project starts with a solid site survey. The difference is how much of your time it takes to get there.
iGUIDE gives you accurate data, delivered in a format you can use, from a single visit. Whether you capture it yourself or work with a Project Manager, you get a complete property dataset that holds up through every stage of the project.
Book a project consultation to see which option fits your next project.
