List of Helpful Products to Use When Doing an As-Built Measure Measuring an Existing Building - Creating the As-Built Drawing View the July 12, 2007 Recorded Webinar (Premium and PREMIER Members)
Over the past 20 years I've measured hundreds of residential and a few light commercial buildings. My philosophy about measuring a building hasn't changed much over that time. The proven belief that a successful remodeling project starts with a detailed and accurate plan abd the starting point for an accurate plan for a remodeling project requires detailed information about the existing structure. There is not enough emphasis put on accurate and detailed "As Built" drawings.
The final plan will only be as good as the original "As Built"
Gathering the information for an existing building is a process that if followed correctly will result in an As-Built plan that has all of the information needed to complete any remodeling project. The process to gather the proper information for the As-Built drawing can be very time consuming so it's important to approach each project with a specific goal of getting it right no matter how long it takes. The process starts with a good understanding of what areas of the existing structure are going to be affected by the remodeling. A simple kitchen remodel won't require as much measuring as a whole house remodel. The concept of measuring the project on-site using a laptop and CAD program takes some getting used to. It takes a commitment to allow the time needed to get the information and a willingness to stay until you have everything you need. The Different Types of As-Built Drawings
The Quick Quote (Sketch)
This method is used for doing some very quick plans. In many cases you can even draw enough to get the job reasonably estimated. But a complete set of working drawings should not be attempted from a "Quick Measure". Here's a PDF example of the hand sketches I see. Do you really believe you can do an accurate drawings from this. From an Existing Plan (Blueprint)
If your client has a set of blueprints this can be used to complete the As-Built drawing only after you've spent some time on site verifying the plans accuracy. Many times project changes are not reflected in the blueprints. Here is a 9 minute Video Tutorial about Tracing Over a Blueprint (Premium and PREMIER Members)
Detailed As-Built Drawing Done On-Site The only truly accurate As-Built drawings are those that are measured and drawn on-site. Weather you do it on a laptop or to scale on a drawing board, you must get accurate information about the existing structure Here's an example of a detailed As-Built drawing. V10 Plan File Get an Agreement (Focus on the Detailed As-Built)
Often it's difficult to arrive at a firm price for the design work on a remodeling project. At best you may be able to estimate the number of hours you'll put into the design. Whatever the case in order for this process to work you must be compensated for the time you spend doing an accurate As-Built drawing You must arrive at some sort of a budget to do the As-Built. It's okay to offer a range that you'll work within. Here is an example of a Design Agreement that you can use for this process. (Premium and PREMIER Members) Tools Needed To Do Your As-Built Drawings | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | insTand CR5 Laptop stand with heavy duty top tray and fold out mouse tray $249.00 | | | | | | Use PC Chalkboard to Sketch on Your Computer Screen Other Tools to Bring With you Laptop - (Don't forget your Chief Dongle) Clipboard Flashlight Digital Camera or Movie Camera Voice Recorder - Make sure you have everything with you.
- Get the Chief Remodeling Template (Premium and PREMIER Members)
- Schedule enough time to do the measuring
- Get to the Site and set up everything
- Start by taking lots and lots of pictures (get the Utilities)
- Upload the pictures to your laptop
- Set up the plan defaults especially the dimension settings
- Determine if you can easily do a perimeter measure of the building
- Measure the Exterior to paper and draw in laptop
- Walk thorough the house and get the floor and ceiling heights and platform thicknesses.
- Draw first floor plan (If basement draw in level 0)
- Check long distances often for accuracy
- Move to other floors and draw.
- Get Stairs in.
- Add Roof
- Add exterior items as needed
- Keep notes for the plan on a layer
Measuring Techniques - Determining wall thickness
- Start and finish rooms including details. Adding windows
- Finding the Fascia Height of a Roof
- Determining Bath and other wall thickness
- Locating Out Buildings on a Lot
- Start on the first floor - Adding other floors
- Determining Pitch - For 1-1/2 story
Measuring from a Picture - Get Roof pitch from a Picture
- Creating dotted As-Built lines for your plan
View the July 12, 2007 Recorded Webinar (Premium and PREMIER Members)
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