How Much Do As-Built Drawings Cost?

What are as-built drawings?

As-built drawings document a building as it physically exists today, rather than as it was designed. They are produced by measuring the actual structure, then drafting floor plans, elevations, sections and reflected ceiling plans from those measurements. The distinction matters because design drawings record intent, and construction rarely follows intent exactly. Wall positions shift, openings move, mechanical routing changes in the field, and subsequent renovations are often never drawn at all.

For renovation design, area certification, permit applications, equipment fit studies and facility management, the as-built set is the only reliable geometric record of the building.

The variables that determine cost

• Floor area and number of floors. Larger buildings cost more in absolute terms but usually less per square foot.
• Geometric complexity. Curved walls, split levels, mezzanines, vaulted ceilings and irregular heritage geometry all add capture and drafting time.
• Level of detail requested. Architectural shell only is far cheaper than a set that also documents structure and MEP systems.
• Occupancy. Occupied buildings need after-hours access, tenant coordination and escorts, all of which extend field time.
• Accessibility. Locked rooms, crawl spaces, roof access, ceiling voids, plenum spaces and secure areas each add scheduling and safety overhead.
• Deliverable format. 2D CAD plans cost less than a coordinated Revit model of the same building.
• Accuracy requirement. Tighter tolerances mean more scan positions, denser control and more quality-control time.
• Travel and site logistics. Distance from Montréal, parking, loading dock scheduling and site induction requirements.
• Turnaround. Compressed schedules cost more because they require crew and drafting capacity to be reserved.

Why measurement method changes the price

Manual measurement has low mobilization cost and higher labour cost per square foot, and its error accumulates as a building gets larger. 3D laser scanning has higher setup cost and much lower marginal cost per additional square metre, plus a permanent point cloud you can re-measure later without returning to site.

The crossover point comes early. For anything beyond a single small suite, scanning is usually both more accurate and cheaper overall once rework risk is priced in. For a single room with simple geometry, manual measurement can still be the pragmatic choice.

How to get an accurate quote quickly

With that information a scope-accurate quote is straightforward. Without it, any number is a placeholder.

• Building address and approximate gross floor area.
• Number of floors, and whether basements, mezzanines or roof areas are in scope.
• Which deliverables you need: PDF plans, AutoCAD DWG, Revit model, point cloud, or a combination.
• Which disciplines are in scope: architectural only, or structural and MEP as well.
• Whether the building is occupied and what access windows exist.
• Any existing drawings, even outdated ones, and your required delivery date.

Where cost is usually lost, and recovered

The expensive failure mode is not paying for documentation, it is designing against wrong dimensions. A mechanical unit that will not fit, a beam discovered during demolition, or a partition set out from an incorrect grid line all generate change orders that dwarf the cost of the original survey.

The second common loss is paying twice. A manual survey produces a drawing and nothing else. A scan produces a drawing plus a reusable point cloud, so the next project on the same building starts from data you already own.