Four Questions about Building Surveys

Why do I need CAD files for an existing building?

Surveyed drawings of buildings are very valuable. For any work or change in the building, access to accurate CAD files save time and money for everyone on your project team. If you can provide consultants with accurate data, they can do their job faster and minimize the risk of costly mistakes and changes.

If you are involved in leasing, you will have a competitive advantage if you can distribute accurate drawings of your available space. The leasing process will go much more smoothly if you can provide CAD files that let your prospective tenants quickly develop test-fit designs.

If rents are to be based on square foot rates, accurately measured drawings are required to calculate area, whether you are using the BOMA standard, or another building measurement standard.

For ongoing repair and maintenance, CAD files will reduce the guesswork for consultants and contractors. As a landlord, you will save money because you consultants will have to spend less time doing their own site verifications.

But if I already have CAD files from past projects, can't I just use those?

If you have a full set of CAD files for a recently finished building you may not need to survey anything. If the design team has been diligent in recording and documenting all the changes that occurred during the construction of the building then you may well have a perfect set of drawings.

Changes happen during construction for a variety of reasons. Updated drawings are not always properly distributed. It's a good idea to site verify a building to ensure that any drawings you may have correspond to the completed building.

In a multi-tenanted building changes are ongoing. Demising walls and corridors between suites are constantly updated. The drawings are done by many different consultants. After only a few years, the original drawings will be out of date and unreliable.

Older buildings will not have been designed using CAD in the first place and any subsequent files may be incomplete and of variable quality. Without verified overall dimensions you will have a patchwork of inconsistent data. A full building survey is very important for this type of building.

How do I know if a survey is accurate?

Surveying buildings can be tricky. The compound error of taking many small measurements adds up. If notes are done on paper and then entered in CAD, there is the risk of transcription errors. It is rare for two surveys to come to the exact same result. Even the BOMA standard allows for this problem. It is so difficult to get an accurate result that the BOMA standard - an ANSI (American National Standard Institute) standard- says you can have a difference of 2% between two surveys and both numbers are correct!

At Space Database we have worked out a method to dramatically reduce the possibility of errors and maximize accuracy. Through a combination of technical tools, software and our own ISO 9001 processes we are continually improving the accuracy of as-built drawings. Read more about our building measurement processes.

If the building continually changes, won't a survey be quickly out of date?

Keeping drawings up to date is a challenge. You need to establish a process to update your set of CAD files every time there is a physical change in the building. At Space Database we have developed Tru-Measure, an ISO 9001 software and service to keep your drawing files up-to-date. We use a ticketing system that integrates with your leasing activities. A network of service providers across North America keep your drawings and buildings synced. Find out more about how we keep your as-built drawings up to date!