What Does 3D Laser Scanning Cost? The Seven Things That Drive the Price

Almost nobody publishes what 3D laser scanning costs, which leaves architects, engineers and facility owners guessing whether a scan is a few thousand rand or a few hundred thousand. The honest answer is that it depends, but it depends on a short list of things that are easy to understand, and once you know them you can estimate where your project sits and ask for a quote that is actually comparable to the next one. This guide is written by Modena Technologies, which scans and models buildings and plant from Cape Town with FARO terrestrial and mobile scanners. We quote every project as a fixed price for a defined deliverable, and this is what goes into that price.

The short version. The price of a scanning project is roughly the sum of four parts: getting the scanner to site, the time on site, the time to register and check the point cloud, and the time to turn the point cloud into whatever you asked for. The first three are driven by the size, complexity and access of the building. The last one, the deliverable, is usually the biggest number and the one you have the most control over.

The four parts of a scanning price

Whatever a quote looks like on paper, it is built from four blocks of work. Mobilisation covers getting a scanner and an operator to site and back, so it is largely fixed and matters most on small jobs. Site time is the hours spent scanning, which scales with the size and complexity of the building. Registration is the office time spent joining the individual scans into one point cloud, checking the result and writing the registration report; it tracks the number of scans. The deliverable is everything after that: drawings, a Revit model, a mesh or just a cleaned and exported point cloud.

The seven things that drive the price

These are the questions a scanning company will ask before quoting, in roughly the order of how much they move the number.

• The deliverable. A registered point cloud is the base. Drawings add drafting time; a Revit model adds modelling time that grows sharply with level of development. This is the biggest lever on any project, and the section below covers it in detail.
• Floor area and number of spaces. Scanners work by line of sight, so what matters is not just square metres but how many rooms, corridors and corners there are. A 1 000 m² open warehouse needs far fewer scan positions than a 1 000 m² office full of partitions.
• Complexity and density. Pipework, ducting, cable trays, plant and heritage detail all need more scan positions to capture without shadows, and far more time to model. A plant room can take as long to scan as the whole building around it.
• Access and site conditions. Locked rooms, tenants, working hours, ceiling voids, roofs, heights and safety inductions all add site time. A building that can be scanned in one uninterrupted day is cheaper than the same building scanned over three half-days.
• Control tie-in and accuracy requirement. Most architectural work is fine on the scanner's own registration. Where the scan must sit on a survey coordinate system, or several buildings and phases must align over time, surveyed control points are set out and the scan is tied to them. This is an optional extra and worth paying for on large, multi-phase or engineering projects.
• Exterior and context. Scanning the outside of a building, the site, boundaries and neighbouring facades adds positions and sometimes a mobile scanner. It is cheap to include at the time and expensive to come back for.
• Turnaround. Registration and modelling are scheduled work. A standard turnaround costs less than a scan that must be registered overnight and modelled within the week.

How long does scanning take?

Site time is the part people most often overestimate. A modern terrestrial scanner captures a position in a minute or two, and a mobile scanner captures continuously while the operator walks. The table gives typical site time for a single operator, which is what drives the site and registration blocks of the price.

Building or site	Typical site time	What drives it
Single-storey house, 150 to 250 m²	Half a day	Number of rooms; exterior adds an hour or two
Double-storey house or small commercial, 300 to 600 m²	Half a day to one day	Room count, staircases, roof spaces, garden and boundaries
Office floor or retail unit, 500 to 1 500 m²	One day per one to two floors	Partitions and cellular offices multiply positions
Warehouse or open industrial shed, up to 5 000 m²	One day	Open volumes scan quickly; racking and mezzanines add time
Plant room, pump station or process area	One to two days per area	Pipe density and the need to scan from many angles to avoid shadows
Heritage building or complex facade	One to three days	Detail, height and the accuracy expected of the record
Large campus, multi-building or multi-phase project	Several days to weeks	Scale; usually tied to survey control and scanned in sections

Registration time is roughly proportional to the number of scan positions. As a rule of thumb, allow about as much office time to register and check a set of scans as it took to capture them, more where the project is tied to control or the accuracy requirement is tight.

The deliverable: where the price really moves

The scan is the cheap part. The expensive part is turning millions of points into something a design team can work in, because that is skilled modelling time, and the more detail the model carries, the longer it takes.

In practice the deliverables and what they suit are:

• Registered point cloud only. Delivered as E57 or RCP, in colour, with a registration report. The right choice if your team models from point clouds already (our guide on bringing a point cloud into Revit covers the workflow), or if you want a record of the building and will decide on modelling later.
• Point cloud plus 2D drawings. Plans, sections and elevations traced from the point cloud in DWG and PDF. The like-for-like replacement for a measured survey, and usually the best value for a renovation that will be documented in 2D.
• Point cloud plus Revit model at LOD 100, 200 or 300. LOD 100 gives massing, levels and gridlines for feasibility. LOD 200 gives walls, floors, roofs, doors and windows as generic Revit elements, enough for concept and most renovation design. LOD 300 adds accurate thicknesses, profiles and classified elements for detailed design, coordination and submission. Higher levels are available on request where a project needs them.
• Mesh and visualisation. A textured 3D mesh, renders or walkthroughs, usually added for client presentations, heritage records or context models.

Ask for the deliverable that matches the next thing you need to do, not the most complete one. A point cloud with 2D drawings is often the right answer for a renovation; a modelled LOD 300 Revit file is right when the whole project will be delivered in BIM.

If the deliverable names mean little to you yet, our guide on point cloud, mesh or BIM model shows what each one contains and what LOD 100, 200 and 300 look like element by element.

Day rate or fixed price?

Scanning companies price in one of two ways. A day rate charges for the operator and scanner per day on site, plus an hourly or daily rate for registration and modelling. It is simple to quote and shifts the risk to you: if the building takes longer, or the model needs more work than expected, you pay more. A fixed price for a defined deliverable puts the risk on the scanning company: you agree the scope, the level of development, the format and the turnaround, and you pay the agreed number whether it took three days or five.

Fixed price is better for the client on almost every architectural or engineering project, provided the deliverable is properly defined. It is only workable when the scanning company has done enough similar projects to estimate accurately, which is a reasonable thing to ask about. Day rates still make sense for open-ended work, such as being on call during a construction programme, or for repeat progress scans where the scope is identical each visit and the price can simply step down with volume.

How to keep the cost down

Most of the avoidable cost on a scanning project comes from the client side, and most of it is about preparation and scope rather than negotiation.

• Scope the deliverable to the next stage, not the whole project. Point cloud and 2D drawings now; a model later if the project proceeds.
• Scan everything once. Include the exterior, the roof space, the outbuildings and the neighbouring facades while the scanner is on site. A return visit costs more than the extra hour.
• Prepare access. Unlock every room, clear the obvious clutter, warn the tenants, and arrange parking and inductions in advance. One uninterrupted day beats three fragmented half-days.
• Send existing drawings, even bad ones. They help with planning scan positions and make the model faster to build.
• Agree the Revit template and standards up front. A model built in your template arrives ready to use; a model rebuilt to match it later costs twice.
• Only pay for control tie-in when you need it. A single building modelled for a renovation does not usually need surveyed control. A campus, a multi-phase project or anything that must align with civil or survey data does.
• Give a realistic turnaround. Rush fees exist for a reason.

Comparing quotes

Two quotes for "a scan of the building" can differ by a factor of three and both be reasonable, because they are quoting different things. Before you compare numbers, check that each quote states the same deliverable and format, the level of development if a model is included, whether registration to survey control is in or out, the scanner being used and its stated accuracy, whether a registration report is provided, the turnaround, and who owns the point cloud afterwards. Our guide on laser scanning versus measured surveys covers the same questions from the architect's side, and the questions to ask before commissioning a scan.

How Modena quotes

We quote every project as a fixed price for a defined deliverable. To do that we need the address, the approximate floor area and number of floors, what the building is (house, office, plant, heritage), what you want at the end, whether it must tie to survey control, any access constraints, and the turnaround you need. From that we come back with a scope, a price and a date, and the scope sheet defines exactly what the point cloud, drawings or model will contain at each level of development. Our scanning is done with FARO terrestrial and mobile scanners, every project is delivered with a registration report, and modelling is done by the same consultants who train Revit users.

Request a scan quote See our reality capture services

Frequently asked questions

Is laser scanning priced per square metre?

Rarely, and you should be wary of a rate card that does. Per-square-metre pricing ignores the number of spaces, the complexity and the deliverable, which are what actually drive the work. A 1 000 m² warehouse and a 1 000 m² office are very different jobs. Fixed prices per project, built from site time, registration and the deliverable, are more accurate for everyone.

Why is a Revit model so much more expensive than the scan?

Because the scan is automated and the model is not. Capturing a position takes a minute or two; modelling the walls, floors, openings and services in that position, to an agreed level of development and in your template, is skilled work measured in hours. The level of development is the main lever: LOD 300 typically takes two to three times the modelling effort of LOD 200.

Does the price include the point cloud itself?

With Modena, yes. Every project, including scan-and-model work, is delivered with the registered point cloud and its registration report, and you can reuse it on later phases without re-scanning. Check this with any provider, because some retain the point cloud and charge for it separately.

What is control tie-in and do I need it?

Control tie-in registers the scan to surveyed control points so it sits on a real-world coordinate system. It is an optional extra. A single building scanned for a renovation does not usually need it. Multi-building sites, multi-phase projects, anything that must align with civil or survey data, and progress scanning over time usually do.

Is scanning cheaper than a measured survey?

On a small, simple building the two cost about the same. On anything irregular, multi-storey, historic or larger than a modest house, scanning is usually cheaper to get to a drawing set, and the point cloud removes the return visits. The comparison is worked through in our guide on laser scanning versus measured surveys.

How do you price repeat progress scans of a construction site?

Per visit, with the price per visit stepping down as the number of scheduled visits goes up. Each visit delivers a registered, dated point cloud of the areas that changed, tied to the same control so that visits can be compared.

Next step

If you want a number for a specific building, contact us with the address, the approximate size, what the building is and what you need at the end. We will come back with a fixed price, a scope sheet and a date. If you are still deciding what deliverable you need, say so and we will recommend the simplest one that does the job.

This guide is part of our reality capture series, alongside laser scanning versus measured surveys for architects, point cloud, mesh or BIM model and how to bring a point cloud into Revit, and our scanning pages for architects, industrial plant, water and wastewater and construction progress.