We are looking to get into this type of work during by the end of 2017 and curious if there are any small firms having success with scanners. I see our major setback being the nearest big town of 80k people is an hour away so development work might just not be here to justify
We use it mainly for building measurement and for recording and measuring historic buildings. Will be looking to expand into providing scan to bim services in 2017. We are a small company but the scanning is bringing in higher value jobs at the moment. At the moment we try and sell to clients by on site demo showing them how they can use the data.
What kind of work do you do at the moment and what applications have you in mind?
We just bought a scanner because we got a large scanning project. So far it's trial by fire. FWIW, I have nothing to with this project, or the scanner. In fact, the only time I have seen it was when it was in the shipping box.
We are in a town of å±70,000 - can't find a use for a scanner. We have an acquaintance in a City of just under 1 million who inherited one from one of their closed offices. They tried to make it productive for several years, including training. It now sits in a box - they can't afford to try to make it profitable any more...
To name a few
ADA design surveys
Inaccessible bridge substructures
monitor pavement panels for deformation for a university research project
create digital drive through presentations with the proposed design embedded into the existing surroundings
Totalsurv, post: 401263, member: 8202 wrote: We use it mainly for building measurement and for recording and measuring historic buildings. Will be looking to expand into providing scan to bim services in 2017. We are a small company but the scanning is bringing in higher value jobs at the moment. At the moment we try and sell to clients by on site demo showing them how they can use the data.
What kind of work do you do at the moment and what applications have you in mind?
Currently we do boundary surveys, topo, and some oil and gas work. Mostly we are trying to diversify and not be the typical surveying company. Not that there is a thing wrong with that.
We use ours to scan inaccessible pits to calculate volume.
We also use it on some asbuilt projects where a lot of piping and valves are involved. We create a 3D image and georeference photos of the valve tags and serial numbers.
A previous firm I worked for scanned buildings for architectural preservation and various industrial sites to model the pipes.
I've also seen them used for road topos (scanner/lidar unit mounted on a pickup truck) and DOT work.
The biggest bang for your buck would probably be BIM modeling/construction inspection scans.
TXSurveyor, post: 401414, member: 6719 wrote: Currently we do boundary surveys, topo, and some oil and gas work. Mostly we are trying to diversify and not be the typical surveying company. Not that there is a thing wrong with that.
Hire one for a week with software when you are working on an oil and gas installation and do a scan of it. Once you have a point cloud you can get a feel for how you can use it and what benefit it may be to your clients. Hire is fairly affordable and just absorb the cost yourself for the first scan.
Scanning not much use for boundary work and I could never see myself being productive using a scanner for topo.
Jim in AZ, post: 401385, member: 249 wrote: We are in a town of å±70,000 - can't find a use for a scanner. We have an acquaintance in a City of just under 1 million who inherited one from one of their closed offices. They tried to make it productive for several years, including training. It now sits in a box - they can't afford to try to make it profitable any more...
I think a lot of clients would like the scan data they just don't have the money in the budget to pay for what it is worth.
TXSurveyor, post: 401242, member: 6719 wrote: We are looking to get into this type of work during by the end of 2017 and curious if there are any small firms having success with scanners. I see our major setback being the nearest big town of 80k people is an hour away so development work might just not be here to justify
If you are serious about scanning let me know. I have a C10 in a closet that we would be willing to sell. Its in very great shape. Since we have a P40 it hasnt been taken out of the box in a year.
Matthew Loessin, post: 401654, member: 11 wrote: If you are serious about scanning let me know. I have a C10 in a closet that we would be willing to sell. Its in very great shape. Since we have a P40 it hasnt been taken out of the box in a year.
We aren't serious enough to attempt to make a purchase right now, so I don't want to waste your time. We will be purchasing a drone next month and looking harder at scanners after that . I'm just trying to determine feasibility right now