Sketches, numbers and a morning at the CAD desk
A client needs floor areas for a lease, a sale or a valuation, or measured plans for a refurbishment. Your surveyor visits the building with a laser measure, a tablet or a pad, and sketches each floor, writing dimensions along each wall. Back at the office, a technician redraws the sketches in CAD, entering every dimension by hand, and then calculates areas and produces a schedule.
Where a sketch is unclear, the technician rings the surveyor. Where a dimension is missing, someone may need to go back. Different clients ask for areas on different measurement bases, which means the schedule has to be prepared carefully for each.
Why measured work takes so long
- Laser measurements are read from the device and written down by hand.
- Sketches are redrawn from scratch at the office.
- Unclear sketches lead to calls and occasional revisits.
- Area schedules are calculated separately from the drawing.
- Each measurement basis your clients ask for has its own inclusions and exclusions.
What retyping costs
Technician time on redrawing. Transcription errors that affect areas, which can matter a lot in a lease or sale. Revisits for missing dimensions. And area schedules that take longer than clients expect for what they see as a simple task.
| Step | Paper method | Connected workflow |
|---|---|---|
| Measure | Laser measure, number written down | Measurement sent to the tablet over Bluetooth |
| Sketch | Hand-drawn, dimensions written on | Sketch on tablet, dimensions attached to walls |
| Draw | Redrawn in CAD | Sketch exported as a starting point for CAD |
| Area schedule | Calculated separately | Areas from the drawing, on the basis chosen |
| Checking | Calls to the surveyor | Missing dimensions flagged on site |
The workflow we build
- Where your laser measures support Bluetooth, measurements go straight to a sketching app on the tablet, placed against the wall being measured. Several established apps already do this, and we help you choose and set one up rather than rebuild it.
- The surveyor sketches each floor on the tablet, and the app flags walls or rooms without dimensions before they leave.
- Sketches are exported in a format your CAD package can import, giving the technician a dimensioned starting point.
- Your area schedule template is linked to the drawing, so areas are calculated from it and labelled by room, floor and use.
- The measurement basis each client asks for is recorded against the job, and the schedule follows the inclusions and exclusions your practice applies for that basis.
- Drawings and schedules are filed with the job, with the site sketches kept for reference.
Which measurement basis applies, and how an area should be treated, are professional judgements for your surveyors. The workflow carries measurements through without retyping.
Measured work that flows
Surveyors leave site with complete, dimensioned sketches. Technicians start from those rather than from scratch. Area schedules come from the drawing. Revisits for missing dimensions become rare. Clients get plans and schedules sooner, and the numbers can be traced back to site measurements.
For repeat clients with several buildings, the same drawings become the base for later work, such as updating plans after a refurbishment, rather than starting again.
Where your practice already uses a 3D scanner or a phone-based scanning app for larger jobs, the same principle applies: the scan data flows to the drafting team and the area schedule without an intermediate retyping step, and we fit the workflow around the tools you already own.
Is your measured work like this?
- Laser measurements are written on paper sketches.
- Technicians redraw every sketch in CAD.
- Surveyors get calls about unclear dimensions.
- Area schedules are calculated separately from drawings.
- You have had to revisit a building for a missing dimension.