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Residential Existing Conditions

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Ground Truth 3D transforms the way architects, designers, contractors, and homeowners approach residential projects. Accurately documenting existing conditions is the critical first step for any successful renovation or new build, and our services provide this foundation with unparalleled speed and precision. By leveraging cutting-edge technology, including LiDAR scanning and 360-degree photography, we capture every detail of a property, providing you with reliable, up-to-date data. From detailed floor plans to comprehensive 3D models, we deliver the truth about your site so you can design, estimate, and build with absolute confidence.

Ground Truth provides residential existing conditions measurement and modeling services worldwide via an international team of reality capture and 3D modeling experts. Typical projects include:

Deliverable Details:

2D Floor Plans

By employing cutting-edge reality capture technology, including high-accuracy LiDAR scanning and comprehensive 360-degree photography, the complex process of documenting existing residential conditions is streamlined. The raw data captured, known as a point cloud from the LiDAR and visual context from the 360 photos, is used by skilled modeling experts to meticulously generate basic 2D home plans, elevations, and sections. This digital foundation provides architects, designers, and contractors with dimensionally accurate deliverables, eliminating the guesswork associated with manual measurements and ensuring a reliable starting point for any renovation or new construction project.

3D Modeling

After recording the project using LiDAR, 360° photography and drone photos and videos, Ground Truth generates a highly accurate 3D Revit model. The 3D Revit model will be detailed based on the client’s needs. All models contain accurate building shells, visual structural elements, doors, windows, utilities and specialty equipment, major interior fixtures and schematic representations of kitchen and bath fixtures and casework. Light fixture locations and visible heating and air conditioning equipment and registers are included in the 3D model.

3D revit models may be detailed to include all interior casework, trim, hardware, furnishings and accurate materials. Level of detail is included based on client need. 

All residential existing conditions 3D models include decks, hardscape and topography immediately adjacent to included buildings. Additional site scanning and modeling is available up to and including major vegetation, retaining walls, fences, gates, boulders and other landscape features. 3D topographic scans provide a useful addition to traditional site surveys offering the ability to generate ad-hoc section cuts to evaluate slope and development potential.

BIM Modeling

Revit provides the ability to add significant data annotations to model elements. Construction detailing may be added such as wall, floor and ceiling assembly details and finishes. Equipment manufacturer, models, energy use and more may be included. Capturing detailed building data saves time and effort in renovation planning and in ongoing project operation and maintenance.

Electrical and Lighting Mapping

Using data captured in the scanning and photographic documentation process with additional circuit mapping, accurate and up to date electrical and lighting existing conditions plans can be generated. Identifying lighting circuits including switched outlets simplifies the process of repairing and updating home electrical systems. Complete, accurate light, switch and outlet schedules can be generated based on an up to date BIM model with electrical object mapping. 

Landscape Mapping

LiDAR site scans capture landscape details with high precision. Decks, hardscape, patios, paths, walls, stones and boulders, trellises, fences walls and more are all captured allowing for accurate placement and modeling. Tree trunk diameters, canopies and limbs are captured and can be modeled and analysed for current and future health, interference with existing or planned development and are often useful in permitting. Accurate vegetation models can be used for evaluating the effects of removal or pruning on views, lighting and the effect of vegetation on heating and cooling and fire safety.

360 Photos

Ground Truth uses advanced 360° photography to document buildings and sites to assist in accurate conversion of LiDAR point cloud data to plans and models. A typical home and site project will include 100s of photographs including drone site and roof photography. 

All photographs and video captured on the existing conditions reality capture process are shared with the client and may be used in perpetuity for planning, communicating with other stakeholders and as historical documentation. 

Point Clouds

The output of a LiDAR scan is a three dimensional point cloud. A point cloud is a collection of colored dots that accurately represent a single laser measurement. Home and site point clouds may contain billions of points that generate a 3D, pixelated, representation of the scanned buildings and sites. Complete point clouds can be viewed independently or imported into a variety of 2D and 3D BIM, CAD and other design packages. All generated point clouds will be shared with the client and can be used as for future projects and as historical documentation.

Typical Applications:

Renovation Planning

Existing conditions documentation is the critical starting point for any successful renovation project. The resulting dimensionally accurate 2D plans and detailed 3D models eliminate the uncertainties inherent in manual measurements, providing architects, designers, and contractors with a reliable digital foundation. This precision is crucial for accurate planning, estimating materials, and identifying potential conflicts before construction begins, saving both time and cost. 

Interior Remodeling

Interior architects and designers require accurate existing conditions plans to evaluate the potential design options, provide direction to clients and prospects related to cost and time estimation and critically, to efficiently begin generating design options. Comprehensive 360° photographic documentation of the project existing conditions allows designers to review the space “whenever and wherever” without requiring repeat visits to the site.  

Development Assessment

Architects and designers, contractors and home owners leverage comprehensive existing conditions documentation to efficiently evaluate a home’s remodel potential. Accurate 2D plans and detailed 3D models, generated from high-precision LiDAR scans and 360-degree photography, serve as the reliable digital foundation for this assessment. This dimensionally accurate data is crucial for designers to explore various layout and structural options, quickly identify potential conflicts, and provide informed direction to clients regarding project feasibility, cost estimation, and timelines. Furthermore, the accompanying 360° photographic documentation offers the unparalleled benefit of allowing designers to review the space virtually “whenever and wherever,” streamlining the evaluation process and eliminating the need for constant, time-consuming site visits.

Permit Planning

Rendered 3D existing conditions documentation is a powerful resource for the permitting process. Cost effectively and accurately presenting planned renovations provides a more comprehensive and compelling submission to regulatory bodies. Capturing and presenting this detailed building data within a single, accurate 3D model significantly streamlines the review process, reduces the chance of miscommunication or ambiguity, and ultimately facilitates quicker approval for renovation and new construction projects.

Design Visualization

Rendered 3D existing conditions documentation and the subsequent design models serve as a critical asset for design visualization. Utilizing the highly accurate 3D models created from the LiDAR data, architects and designers can seamlessly integrate their proposed designs into the existing, dimensionally true environment. This capability allows for the creation of compelling visual assets, including high-fidelity renderings and immersive Virtual Reality (VR) formats, that effectively communicate the design intent to clients and stakeholders. By visualizing the new design options realistically, designers can proactively identify aesthetic or spatial conflicts, leading to more informed design decisions, faster client buy-in, and a clearer path to construction.

Historic Documentation

For historic documentation, existing conditions models, point clouds, and photographic records created with LiDAR and 360-degree photography serve as an invaluable, permanent digital archive of a property’s original state. The highly accurate, dimensionally true 3D models capture every architectural detail and material finish, providing an unalterable baseline for preservation efforts, restoration planning, and scholarly study. The raw point cloud data and comprehensive 360° photo documentation ensure that all stakeholders—from historians to preservationists—have perpetual access to a complete, verifiable record of the building and site before any intervention, making the process of tracking changes over time simple and ensuring the integrity of the historical record.

Process:

A typical residential existing conditions project requires about a week from data collection to project delivery. The process includes three standard phases with additional steps and time added for high detailing and design visualization options.

Phase 1 – Reality Capture:

A 4,000 square foot house can be LiDAR scanned and photographed in 4-6 hours. A team of one or two reality capture specialists will take dozens of individual scans and over a hundred photographs of the building and may capture the site and roof using a drone. ⅔ of the time on site will be spent inside of the house. There is no need to remove furniture (or even vacate the house). The remaining ⅓ of the time at the house is spent scanning, photographing and drone photographing the exterior, roof and site.

Phase 2 – Asset Assembly and Cleaning:

100 or more individual scans are required to measure a typical medium sized home. These scans are precisely assembled like jigsaw puzzle pieces into a complete point cloud. This process is accomplished largely through automated, 3D, AI reviewed and corrected by human editors. The asset preparation process takes a half a day or more before the modeling team can begin.

Phase 3 – Modeling:

The process of building a 2D, 3D or BIM model from a point cloud requires interpreting sets of points and either drawing lines over them (2D), Generating “labeled” 3D objects (3D), or selecting, editing and placing “families” (BIM). A simple house modeled in low detail or in 2D may take 2-3 days to complete, a large, complicated house with a feature rich site may take a couple of weeks or more. Following the modeling process, 2D PDF and often 2D DWG exports are generated and the deliverables go through a VR-assisted QA process before release to owners and other clients.

Summary:

Ground Truth 3D’s residential existing conditions services, powered by high-precision LiDAR scanning and comprehensive 360-degree photography, deliver a new standard of speed and accuracy to the renovation and remodel process. By providing dimensionally accurate 2D plans, detailed 3D models, and a perpetual digital archive, we eliminate uncertainty, streamline workflows from design visualization to permitting, and reduce time and cost across the entire project lifecycle.