The Reality Capture Journey - Part 1

Alright, here are the details: Massive Central Utility Plant supplying steam and chilled water to feed a renowned campus. Not a single drawing to size up and bid the project, just a spot on Google Maps and total square footage... Challenge accepted! (And you can feel our excitement in the picture snapped during our site visit).

This is the first of a series of articles where I dive into my journey leading the scanning and BIM modeling process of this gigantic and complex project. Hope you enjoy the ride as much as I did!

Part 1: The Estimation and Proposal

How can you estimate a project of this magnitude with such limited information and in record time? Certainly, not without imagination! As I pointed out in my article Scoping Laser Scanning Projects Like a Pro, recognizing and mitigating risks is paramount when it comes to high uncertainty and challenging projects like this one.

Let’s jump right into it. What we did know about the scope:

• Project purpose: create as-built 3D models to serve as the foundation for design, planning, and 4D scheduling of ongoing and future capital improvement projects, as well as facility management.
• Areas to be scanned: everything ??! The survey had to include the interior of the plant, the fa?ade, and the crowded rooftop we glimpsed on Google Maps.
• 13 levels.
• The majority of the interior spaces were (as we imagined) exposed unless for ‘some’ office spaces with dropped ceilings, though we were not sure of the exact extent.
• The point cloud was to be colored.
• There were no survey control requirements.
• We should provide BIM models. There were no specifications about Level of Development (LOD), disciplines, or details about the minimum conduit and pipe diameter required to be captured.

When your scope of work resembles a puzzle with too many missing pieces, you need to get creative. In this case and guided by the project purpose, we formulated many assumptions to bridge those gaps (and cover our butts). Following multiple discussions with the client and several proposal iterations, we were able to craft the optimal scenario and articulate more details:

• LOD was set to be 500. This meant that, alongside capturing physical information on equipment and systems, our aim was to compile asset data and therefore create a digital twin of the plant to support facility management.
• To streamline communication between the modeling team and our on-site contact, we would need drawings. This would facilitate the exchange of essential FM data.
• With all that data, we’d put together a COBiE file and include it as part of our deliverables.
• We strategically established a minimum pipe and conduit diameter of 2 inches to initially maintain control over the modeling scope of work and therefore, pricing. Yet, we would scan with very high-resolution to capture even the smallest elements. This would ensure our scan data enabled us to easily integrate smaller components into our Revit models down the road (if required) without the need to rescan.
• Survey control was non-negotiable to ensure accuracy and seamless alignment and stacking of levels.

Since the official drawings were not going to be released until the bid was awarded, we definitely needed to coordinate a site visit.

It was a freezing, rainy Tuesday in November, just before Thanksgiving, when we finally got to tour the plant. The place was overwhelming! Not only because of the insane amount of pipes and conduits tangled up on every corner, but also because of the intense noise made by the machinery as we headed down the basements.

While we strolled around that labyrinth, our cameras rolling, we made sure to capture images of the exit plans near the staircases. We figured they'd give us a rough sense of the layout and, something to work with when we got back to the office. Armed with all that material, we pieced together what we named our 'Frankenstein set of floor plans’. This humble scramble of pictures and videos provided us with an approximate idea of the building configuration and guided the team in assessing the scanning efforts at a very high level.

Some things we learned from the site visit:

• As expected, the tour revealed heavy foot traffic.
• The check-in procedures to get onsite everyday would definitely slow us down.
• There was an interstitial crawl space that would pose a significant challenge.
• The plant was way larger than we expected!
• The main operating level was particularly dense. Facilities with large equipment like this often require multiple scans at different elevations to ensure they get captured from different angles to provide comprehensive coverage.
• We were only going to be allowed to scan during the first shift and on weekdays.

With all that, we came up with a formal and well versed proposal that considered:

• Onsite work: 20 days with 4 technicians full-time to perform both laser scanning and survey control.
• Data processing: 25 working days for data registration, clean-up and files transfer.
• BIM modeling: 6500 hours during a period of 3 months, with 15% of that time dedicated to project management and model QC.
• Documentation: A set of 50 as-built drawings.
• BIM for FM: 15 days to gather data and label systems and equipment in the models.
• COBie File: 15 days to integrate FM data in a COBie format.

In all honesty, estimating this project was a significant challenge due to the limited information available to us. However, our determination drove us forward. The first-hand insights gained from our site visit were invaluable, shaping our strategy and enabling us to tailor a custom proposal that precisely suited our client's needs.

You've reached the end of this first article! If you've made it this far, I hope you found it insightful and that its content resonated with you. If you'd like to learn more about how we executed this project, you can continue reading Part 2!