Pricing
What does it cost? An honest answer in two parts
The short answer: the price depends on area, level of detail and output format, which is why there is no price list here that would not apply to your project anyway. The long answer: configure your project in five steps and you will receive a guide price within one working day — based on your figures rather than on an average.
Your project in five steps
You get your specification by e-mail straight away, together with our drawing and modelling standard. The guide price follows within one working day, calculated from what you told us, not taken from a table. No shopping basket, no contract concluded online.
Your specification
You receive the summary by e-mail straight away, together with our drawing and modelling standard. The guide price follows within one working day. The figure becomes binding with the fixed-price quotation.
- Antwort
- innerhalb eines Arbeitstages
- Platform fee
- none, you commission us directly
- Abschluss
- binding only with the fixed-price quotation
What determines the price
Field work. Size, complexity and accessibility of the building. Convoluted layouts take more time, tall structures need a drone or special equipment, higher accuracy requirements mean more scan positions.
Processing the measurement data. The effort grows with the volume of data, and where several measuring systems are combined, registering the point clouds is added on top.
Drawings and models. The biggest lever. The level of detail determines the effort of the evaluation, which is why “what will it be used for” is the configurator’s most important question.
What the price is made of
Every project consists of the same five cost blocks, and how they relate to one another explains nearly every difference between two quotations:
Travel and set-up. Always incurred, regardless of area. That is why small objects cost more per square metre, and why we bundle several properties into tours.
Capture on site. Scales with area and accessibility. For orientation: mobile mapping covers 1,000 to 1,500 m² an hour, a logistics hall up to 10,000 m² a day, a finely divided office building 3,000 to 6,000 m². The same floor area can therefore mean two to three times the capture effort, depending on how it is laid out.
Processing. Registration, cleaning, georeferencing. Grows with the volume of data and the number of measuring systems combined.
Evaluation. The largest block and the largest lever. Drawing and modelling are handwork on each component; here the level of detail decides in multiples, not in percentages. Capture is the smaller part of the cost, evaluation the larger.
Quality assurance and handover. Checking against the point cloud and, on CAFM projects, the test import. The block cheap quotations save on, and the reason they turn out expensive.
The three most expensive sentences in an enquiry
“As accurate as possible.” Accuracy without a purpose is the most expensive wish in surveying.
“Everything at LOD 300, please.” The level of detail does not have to be the same for the whole building. Architecture at LOD 300 and building services at LOD 200 is a normal arrangement, and it cuts the modelling effort considerably compared with “everything at LOD 300”.
“We will sort that out on site.” Every uncertainty that only surfaces at the building costs either the appointment or a second trip. Locked rooms are by far the most common avoidable extra.
Cost certainty
We draw up nearly every quotation as a fixed price, and almost all our invoices match the quotation. The exceptions always have the same cause: if we could not calculate properly because information was missing, or if we have to travel out again because areas were locked, a variation arises. Both can be avoided, and how is set out directly below.
How to save money
A clear brief. A precise brief allows an exact calculation and prevents surprises. That is exactly what the configurator is built for.
Prepare the building. Accessibility of every room and timely notice to the occupants, tenants and staff in particular. Travelling out again because areas were locked is the most common avoidable extra.
One capture, several evaluations. If you can foresee needing a room book, a tour or a model later, say so before the capture. The capture is paid for once; every further evaluation comes out of the same data without a new appointment.
What it costs not to do it
The price question has a quiet sibling: what does going without cost? Three calculations from practice:
The survey error. A wall thickness wrongly stated in the old drawing shows up during construction, once material has been ordered and trades appointed. A single error of that kind regularly exceeds the cost of a complete resurvey many times over.
The opening-up. A week after the wall is closed, the same information costs an opening plus making good. Before it is closed, it costs one scanning appointment. See construction progress documentation.
The second capture. Anyone who orders only drawings today and needs a BIM model in three years pays the full travel again if no point cloud was archived. With one, they pay only for the evaluation.
For orientation: what circulates in the market
Publicly visible market prices for scan-to-BIM work range, depending on the source, from under one to over two euros per square metre of model, and correspondingly lower for 2D drawings. Such figures only hold under the respective provider’s conditions, though: minimum areas, a fixed level of detail, free access, standard geometry. That is precisely why we do not quote square-metre prices but calculate on your configuration. The spread in the market is not a contradiction — it is the proof that the conditions make the price.
Factor in funding
On subsidised refurbishments, for instance under the German BEG and KfW schemes, the as-built survey may be eligible as part of the design costs; your energy consultant or funding body makes that assessment. We prepare the documents so that they can be allocated: services shown separately, areas documented in accordance with DIN 277, and the capture date in the title block.
This helps us with a first assessment
The more complete these details are, the more dependable the guide price:
- What the data is needed for: design, operation or evidence
- Property address and number of sites
- Gross floor area across all levels
- Inside, outside or both
- Architecture alone or together with building services
- Desired outputs: drawing, model, room book, point cloud, tour
- Target system the data is to run in
- Timeframe and existing documentation
The configurator asks for most of this. Whatever is missing, we clarify in the first conversation.
Further reading
- 3D laser scanning – the capture everything else grows out of
- BIM as-built models – where the level of detail makes the price
- CAFM data foundation – portfolios rather than single buildings
- Room book – the least expensive level of evaluation
Frequently asked questions about cost
What does 3D laser scanning cost?
That depends on area, accessibility and the output you want: a bare point cloud is considerably cheaper than a model evaluated from the same data. Configure your project above and you will receive a guide price within one working day, based on your figures.
What does a BIM model cost per square metre?
A serious answer needs three details the question leaves out: level of detail per discipline, building type and accessibility. Between a hall at LOD 200 and a hospital with building services at LOD 300 the effort differs several times over, at the same floor area. That is why a square-metre price without a specification misleads, and why our guide price starts with your configuration rather than with a table.
Why is there no price list here?
Because it would lie to you. Between a logistics hall and a hospital of the same area the effort differs several times over. A list of “from” prices applies, if anything, precisely to the project you do not have. A guide price on your configuration is more honest, and it costs you five minutes.
Why is the evaluation dearer than the capture?
Because capture scales and evaluation does not. The scanner covers thousands of square metres a day, but every wall, every door and every pipe is drawn or modelled by people and checked against the point cloud. The level of detail of the evaluation is therefore the largest price lever in the whole project.
How quickly do I get the guide price?
Within one working day of your configuration. The binding fixed-price quotation follows once the open points are settled, usually after a short conversation.
Is the guide price binding?
No, it is a dependable order of magnitude based on your figures. The price becomes binding with the fixed-price quotation, and we stand by that: variations arise only where access was lacking or information was not available at the time of calculation.
What makes quotations comparable?
Three fixed points: the level of detail per discipline rather than one blanket figure, the agreed tolerance together with the checking method, and the deliverables with their formats. The standardised term for this is the level of information need. If one of the three is missing, you are comparing prices for different services. Our drawing and modelling standard defines all three; attach it to your tender and everyone bids on the same thing.
Is there a minimum order size?
No, but there is an economic truth: travel and set-up always apply, so small objects cost more per square metre. With several properties we turn that around and bundle them into tours, which makes the individual site cheaper.
Is it worth commissioning several buildings together?
Yes, markedly. Travel and set-up apply per deployment, not per building. For portfolios we plan weekly tours covering several properties on consecutive days; that lowers the price per site and makes delivery dates predictable. The configurator shows from what point it pays off, via the number of properties.