As-Built Surveys & BIM for Institutional & Public Sector Buildings
Specialized scanning and inspection for universities, hospitals, schools and cultural institutions. Heritage-grade preservation documentation and campus-scale BIM.
Get a Quote for Your Project
Send us the building location, approximate square footage and required deliverables. We'll review the scope and get back to you. Send us the building location, approximate square footage and required deliverables. We'll review the scope and get back to you.
Institutional buildings carry a specific kind of documentation debt. A university campus is a patchwork of additions built across a century, a hospital wing gets retrofitted every few years without anyone updating the record set, and a heritage government building has drawings that predate the metric system. None of that documentation debt goes away on its own, and it becomes an active liability the moment a renovation, code compliance audit or accessibility retrofit needs to start.
DCMS works with universities, hospitals, school boards, municipalities and heritage authorities across Québec to close that gap. We scan occupied hospital floors around patient schedules, document heritage stone and timber without touching a surface, and build campus-scale BIM that ties multiple buildings into one coordinate system.
This page covers what institutional and public sector clients typically need, how heritage documentation differs from a standard commercial scan, and how we schedule work in buildings that never fully close.
Heritage documentation for public buildings
Heritage buildings under provincial or municipal protection have specific documentation expectations, especially where a restoration permit requires evidence of existing stone coursing, timber framing or ornamental detail. A tape measure cannot capture that level of geometric nuance; a point cloud can.
We deliver façade elevations at stone-course accuracy, interior scans that respect original finishes, and drawing packages formatted for heritage review boards and municipal permitting offices.
- Non-contact capture that never touches original stone, plaster or millwork
- Elevation drawings suitable for restoration permit applications
- Point cloud archives that preserve a record of the building before intervention
Campus-scale BIM and GIS integration
Universities and hospital networks manage dozens of buildings, often with facilities teams that need both building-level BIM and campus-level GIS to plan renovations, utility work and space allocation.
We deliver individual building models registered to a shared campus coordinate system, so a facilities team can see how a mechanical upgrade in one building interacts with utility routing across the site.
Hospital MEP and clearance audits
Healthcare facilities carry some of the highest MEP density of any building type, and code compliance around clearances, fire separation and infection control depends on accurate as-built information. Renovation work in an active hospital wing cannot proceed on outdated mechanical drawings without real risk to patient areas.
We scan mechanical rooms, ceiling plenums and corridor clearances, and produce MEP as-builts that a hospital's facilities engineering team can use to plan retrofits without shutting down adjacent clinical spaces.
Scheduling around buildings that never close
Hospitals run 24/7, schools have fixed academic calendars, and university buildings shift between full occupancy and empty depending on the semester. We build a mobilization plan around each institution's actual operating rhythm rather than assuming a standard business schedule.
For hospitals this often means scanning during low-traffic overnight windows in coordination with infection control and security. For schools, summer and holiday breaks are the default capture window for full-building work.
Government compliance reporting
Public sector clients frequently need documentation formatted for a specific compliance or grant reporting requirement, whether that is an accessibility audit, an energy retrofit application, or a capital asset registry submission.
We format deliverables to match what the receiving agency expects, and can produce bilingual drawing sets and reports where required.
Typical scope & deliverables
What a standard engagement in this industry usually includes.
| Deliverable | Typical use | Format |
|---|---|---|
| Heritage elevation drawings | Restoration permits, heritage review | DWG / PDF |
| Campus BIM models | Multi-building capital planning | RVT / IFC |
| Hospital MEP as-builts | Clinical retrofit and code compliance | DWG / RVT |
| GIS-integrated site plans | Utility and space planning | Shapefile / DWG |
| Accessibility audit documentation | Compliance and grant reporting | PDF report |
| Point cloud archive | Heritage preservation record | E57 |
What goes wrong without accurate as-builts
Institutional buildings sit at the intersection of tight budgets, strict regulatory requirements and buildings that cannot simply close for a survey. When the underlying documentation is wrong, the consequences hit patients, students and public funds directly.
A heritage restoration proceeding on drawings from a prior renovation, or a hospital retrofit planned against an outdated mechanical set, both create risk that is expensive to absorb after construction has started.
- ▸Heritage permit rejections when submitted drawings do not match verifiable existing conditions
- ▸Clinical disruption when a hospital retrofit encounters mechanical routing that was never documented
- ▸Failed accessibility audits when as-built dimensions do not match reported compliance
- ▸Wasted capital planning cycles when campus buildings are modelled inconsistently across departments
- ▸Grant or funding delays when reporting requires documentation that does not exist in usable form
- ▸Heritage status and the level of detail required for permit or preservation documentation
- ▸Access constraints in active clinical, academic or government-occupied spaces
- ▸Campus scale and number of buildings requiring a shared coordinate system
- ▸MEP density in hospital and laboratory buildings
- ▸Overnight or off-hours mobilization requirements
- ▸Bilingual or compliance-specific reporting formats
Reference ranges: scan-to-DWG $0.35–$0.85/sq ft, LOD 300 Revit $0.90–$1.80/sq ft, digital twin build $1.50–$4.00/sq ft. Final pricing depends on the drivers above.
- 01Discovery call with facilities, heritage or compliance stakeholders to define scope and required formats
- 02Coordination with security, infection control or academic scheduling for access windows
- 03LiDAR capture during approved low-disruption windows
- 04Registration and QC, tied to campus or heritage control networks where applicable
- 05Drafting or BIM modelling to the required Level of Development
- 06Compliance or heritage review formatting
- 07Delivery of drawings, models and point cloud archive
Related services and service areas
These pages cover the delivery details and Montréal-area logistics behind this industry work.
Frequently asked questions
Can you scan a hospital wing without disrupting patient care?+
Yes. We coordinate with facilities and infection control teams to schedule scanning during low-traffic overnight windows, and use compact scanners in corridors and mechanical spaces to minimize footprint.
Do you provide documentation suitable for heritage restoration permits?+
Yes. We deliver elevation drawings at stone-course or timber-frame accuracy, formatted for heritage review boards and municipal permitting offices.
Can you integrate multiple campus buildings into one model?+
Yes. We register individual building scans to a shared campus coordinate system so facilities teams can plan across the full site rather than building by building.
What is the typical scope for a university facilities department?+
Most engagements start with priority buildings identified for near-term renovation, then expand to a rolling campus-wide capture program over several years.
Do you provide bilingual reports and drawings?+
Yes. Drawing title blocks and reports can be delivered in French or English, which is standard for our Québec public sector clients.
How do you handle school buildings with a fixed academic calendar?+
We schedule full-building capture during summer or holiday breaks, and can do targeted classroom or wing scans during the school year with after-hours access.
Get a Quote for Your Project
Send us the building location, approximate square footage and required deliverables. We'll review the scope and get back to you. Send us the building location, approximate square footage and required deliverables. We'll review the scope and get back to you.