I'm seeing a growing need for 3D scanning and could increasingly put the technology to work in my business so I'm considering purchasing the new Faro scanner with GPS. I was recently asked to do a project that was a rehab of the entire facade and each entrance of a large mall. With conventional surveying and reflectorless I estimated the job at approximately 160-180 hours combined field and office and a cost of right around 20-25k. Are those of you who are scanning now still billing as if you were performing the work with conventional equipment or are you able to charge more since much more data is acquired and provided to the client?
Yes.
Why make an investment without a return?
Do you recall the court battle some guy made against the music industry when CDs came out? I was a kid at the time so my attention was elsewhere, but I do recall part of the story. CDs are cheaper to produce so why wouldn't they sell for less? They are higher quality, longer lasting and they are more convenient.
The FARO GPS is loose. It's not meant to gain an accurate position, but it does make cloud registration faster. If you have Phil Booker at the training tell him I said hello. If you need registration spheres drop me a line as I have a source. thadd (at) ese-llc (dot) com
Scan on!
Gotcha on the GPS on the uhit. I'll be doing a conventional traverse on each job regardless but at least that will get me some close coordinates if I don't run static on the jobs. Can't wait to get scanning!
Scanning is pretty awesome.
I just went to the local ballfield at 10:00 tonight. I setup just behind the pitcher's mound and in 8 minutes got all this (call it a half hour with travel and setup). It did take an hour or so to get it converted and imported into Carlson. And I had to do it twice because I was unsure of my XYZ output settings (for some reason I went YXZ and for some other reason Carlson has to ask)
As far as billing, follow the lead of some contractors: charge the equipment at an hourly rate.
Plus, the scanner is not the end of it. You need targets (print them) or registration spheres (do not buy the $1300 kit from Faro) and your computer will likely be lacking (I know a few upgrades I will be making soon enough like a video card with that DDR5 ram).
So... the FARO is doing the point cloud post-process, right? Then you're bringing a "point cloud" into Civil 3D, for drafting of the planimetrics?
The way the FARO rep explained it to me is that their scanner work flow is to register in FARO software, then the user gets the point cloud into project specific CAD based modeling software (Kubit, TopoDOT, Scan to BIM, etc.) as quickly as possible
That was the story they told me too. Nobody likes Scene for anything more than Registration. Get the project in, register it and get out.
C3D 2014 point cloud has less functionality than the free 3d viewer available from John Hopkins. I talked with a guy from Autodesk who told me the next one will have more robust point cloud tools. I believe he meant 2016 but who knows.
So was that the ball field from the movie a few years back? Minor league teams playing on the Cape.
T.W.
I think you should bill based on calculated utilization rates and costs (something like 5 years @ 100 days/year @ x dollars / day) instead of comparing how much it would cost with a different technology.
Should an elevation transfer over 10 km by GNSS static survey baseline be charged the same cost of having a crew running leveling loop?
Are those of you who are scanning now still billing as if you were performing the work with conventional equipment or are you able to charge more since much more data is acquired and provided to the client?
If you charge more than the guy using a gps/ts then more likely that not you won't get the job. Simple economics really,why pay more to get the same job done right?
Pitch to the client that you could do the job at the same price but at 1/3 the time of the other conventional guy.
