Frequently Asked Questions

We survey commercial, industrial, and retail properties of any size, from single sites to large portfolios across Australia.

A scoped package that can include floor plans, Revit models, point clouds, CAD and print ready PDFs and image files.

We use advanced laser scanning and total stations for high accuracy. All plans are quality checked before delivery.

Scope-dependent. Typical projects land within 5-10 business days; priority turnarounds are avaiable on request.

Yes, we provide both on-site surveys and Desktop Floor Plan conversions, depending on your project needs.

Yes, we tailor our deliverables to your needs, including floor, site plans & as-builts. Revisions and ammendments are all included as part of our service.

Yes, we most definitely can - more information on this can be found on our Desktop Floor Plans page.

He'd love to help, but his toolbox is just a squeaky toy. We'll measure the site; he'll measure team happiness.

Yes a schedule of areas will accompany any floor and site plans. Building areas are typically broken down dependent on use of space; rehouse, office, retail, amenities, service areas, etc.

A scaled plan showing the base building (external walls, columns, structural cores), interior layout (partitions, rooms, amenities), access & circulation (entries, doors, windows, stairs/lifts), and labels/dimensions for key spaces. Industrial plans also note clearances, roller shutters, dock levellers, awnings/canopies. Each sheet includes north point, scale bar, title block, and an area schedule.

Our Floor Plans for marketing are styled for clarity and presentation. Items such as lease line nominations and symbols typically found on a PCA Survey are not required on a floor plan and often clutter and distract upon the visual appeal of a Floor Plan prepared for marketing.

Single sites/tenancies: 4-5 business days. Multi-level or large sites: 7-10 business days. Express options available.

Yes, edits within scope are included free of charge.

Yes, office workstations and warehouse racking can be added in as additional scope items.

Yes—our Desktop Floor Plans service restyles and standardises your existing drawings for presentation. Accuracy mirrors your source; we would suggest a measured survey if you need verification.

Yes a schedule of areas will accompany any floor and site plans. Building areas are typically broken down dependent on use of space; rehouse, office, retail, amenities, service areas, etc.

A scaled plan showing the base building (external walls, columns, structural cores), interior layout (partitions, rooms, amenities), access & circulation (entries, doors, windows, stairs/lifts), and labels/dimensions for key spaces. Industrial plans also note clearances, roller shutters, dock levellers, awnings/canopies. Each sheet includes north point, scale bar, title block, and an area schedule.

Our Floor Plans for marketing are styled for clarity and presentation. Items such as lease line nominations and symbols typically found on a PCA Survey are not required on a floor plan and often clutter and distract upon the visual appeal of a Floor Plan prepared for marketing.

Single sites/tenancies: 4-5 business days. Multi-level or large sites: 7-10 business days. Express options available.

Yes, edits within scope are included free of charge.

Yes, office workstations and warehouse racking can be added in as additional scope items.

Yes—our Desktop Floor Plans service restyles and standardises your existing drawings for presentation. Accuracy mirrors your source; we would suggest a measured survey if you need verification.

Typical triggers can include new leases, lease renewals, rent reviews, make-good assessments, valuations, du-diligence, re-planning and when fitouts or base-building works may have changed an area.

You will receive PCA compliant PDF report in A3 format. The report itself will contain a basic base building floor plan identifying all area types. Lease lines and their subsequent nominations are shown along with an area schedule and a statement of compliance to the PCA.

Site measurements are taken to high precision; reported areas follow PCA rounding conventions tot he first decimal place. Any constraints or asumptions are documented in the report.

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Access into all internal areas is generally required. Field-work is non-intrusive. 3D Scanners and total stations are tripod mounted, and typical tenancy captures are completed quickly to next to no impact on staff or customers.

Any change that alters the shape/configuration of an internal space can affect lettable area. We can resurvey the affected zones and issue an update PCA Survey.

IPMS (International Property Measurement Standards) is a global framework designed to make property measurements comparable across countries. For offices, for example, you’ll see IPMS 1, IPMS 2, IPMS 3 (capturing different levels of detail from whole-building to occupant areas). IPMS also exists for industrial, residential, and retail.

- Where it differs: PCA is Australia-specific and optimized for local leasing and valuation (NLA/GLA/GLAR and PCA inclusion/exclusion rules). IPMS uses its own definitions and calculation tiers, so IPMS results will often differ from PCA for the same space.

- When to use: Choose IPMS for cross-border reporting or global portfolio consistency; choose PCA for Australian leasing, valuation, and compliance. We can deliver both sets of figures from a single survey if required.

BOMA (Building Owners & Managers Association) standards are commonly used in North America. They define areas such as Rentable Area and Usable Area and set rules for how shared spaces (e.g., corridors, lobbies) are apportioned to tenancies.

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- Where it differs: PCA (Property Council of Australia) sets NLA/GLA/GLAR rules for Australian leases and valuations. BOMA uses different terminology and boundary rules (e.g., how to treat common areas, wall thickness, and projections), so figures from BOMA and PCA are not interchangeable.

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- When to use: If your portfolio or lease documents are aligned to Australian practice, use PCA. If you’re reporting to North American stakeholders or BOMA-based leases, request BOMA. We can produce either—and map one to the other when needed.

Yes. Australia used a BOMA (Australia) Method of Measurement before the PCA standard. The Property Council of Australia (PCA) introduced its own Method of Measurement for Lettable Area in the late 1990s (commonly cited as 1997), which superseded the earlier BOMA (Australia) guidance. Many legacy leases still reference “BOMA,” so it’s not unsual to see either terms in older documents.

To define lettable area for leases, rent reviews, disclosure statements, and valuation work in line with the PCA Method of Measurement.

Generally to the internal face of the perimeter walls & centre-line of inter-tenancy walls.

Included: commercial office spaces & store rooms
‍Excluded: common lobbies, service risers & cupboards, stairs/lifts, public corridors, plant rooms, toilets/amenities, and other PCA-defined non-lettable areas.

Unfortunately the PCA make no exceptions for any base building service areas under exclusive use. The amenities in question will still be excluded from NLA and listed as an exclusion on the survey.

Any areas not fully enclosed and open to the external environment such as balconies and court yards are excluded from NLA.

The area occuped by internal columns are included in NLA.

Use NLA for commercial leasing. GLA for Industrial, GLAR for retail. GFA is a planning/development bulk measure—separate purpose.

No unfortunately due to the legally binding nature of an NLA Survey, it must be prepared from live up to date survey data. For this very reason we apply high accuracy total stations and or 3d scanners to every PCA Survey.

To define the lettable area for industrial facilities such as warehouses, showrooms, cold stores & data centres. It supports leasing, rent reviews, and valuation in line with the PCA Method of Measurement.

To the dominant external face of external walls and includes all fully enclosed spaces within the building envelope.

All fully enclosed internal spaces including warehouse, cool rooms, plant, office, amenities, service rooms and base building mezzanines.

Common areas, balconies, court yards, awnings/canopies, floor voids and any by-tenant mezzanine structures.

No, external facilities like these open to the environment are not permited in GLA and are usually listed as an exxclusion on a survey with an area identified.

Mezzanines are generally viewed in 1 of 2 ways:

‍Base Building - Original base building mezzanine structures are permitted in GLA.

‍By Tenant - Mezzanine structures constructed by the tenant are not permitted as they are viewed as not base and temporary in nature.

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Yes, PCA-compliant results require on-site verified measurements. We employ high accuracy total stations and/or 3D laser scanners to ensure certainty for all stakeholders.

GLA: Industrial leasing & valuation.

‍GLAR: Retail leasing (shopping centres & retail spaces).

‍GFA: Planning/development applications.

All retail, storage and by tenant sapces within a retail tenancy.

All common facilities and base building service areas which can include lobbies, amenities, stairs, lifts, plant room and service cupboards.

GLAR is for retail tenancies; GLA is for industrial/warehouse; NLA is for office. Each has different inclusion/exclusion rules per PCA.

Kiosks fall under GLAR and are measured to the external face of the kiosk or tenancy floor finish which ever is greater.

Seating areas attached to a kiosk or retail tenancy are typically listed seperate to the GLAR of the tenancy as a licensed area.

Yes showrooms can fall under either GLAR or GLA. The correct definition to apply is usually set by the terms of the lease.

Kitchen's serve as a function of a retail space very much like a back of house area/store room and is such included in GLAR calculations.

The mall line is the imaginary boundary that separates a retail tenancy from the shopping-centre’s common mall. It’s the line we measure up to when calculating a store’s lettable area and is usually recognized where the mall tiles meet a tenancies shopfront.

GLAR includes area up to the mall line (shopfront). We measure to the internal face of shopfront glazing and/or tile line. Public mall space, beyond are excluded - recessed entries within the tenancy are included.

Planning approvals and FSR/plot-ratio checks—measuring building bulk to the governing council definition.

Yes. We apply the exact LEP/DCP/Planning Scheme rules and cite them in the report.

For example citing the City of Melbourne's Planning Scheme (under Clause 73.01): "The total floor area of a building, measured from the outside of external walls or the centre of party walls, and includes all roofed areas."

GFA = planning metric; NLA/GLA/GLAR = leasing areas. Use GFA for DA/CDC, the others for rent/outgoings.

External areas open to the environment such as these are typically excluded from GFA and listed seperately.

GBA (Gross Building Area) is the sum of all fully enclosed internal spaces and unenclosed external spaces - also measured from the external face of perimeter walls.  The difference between the two is that external areas such as balconies, court yards and canopies are permitted under GBA.

Detailed floor plans, site plans, reflected ceiling plans, elevations and cross sections, 3D scan point cloud data, photo libraries-depending on your requirements.

Clean, coordinated outputs in PDF and CAD dwg. We can also supply Revit models and pointcloud files (E57/RCP)

Millimetre-level capture - we use advanced laser scanning and total stations for high accuracy. All plans are quality checked before delivery.

Yes we can, refer to our Revit Model services page for more informtion.

Yes. We routinely work in live environments and have developed efficient means of data capture next to no disruption.

No problems - can can custom tailor a existing conditions package to meet your needs.

Visible fixtures are included by default. Above-ceiling/M&E as-builts can be added as an option and priced by area/complexity/means of suitable access & clearances.

No, we can refer you to a company and can work with them to tie their findings into our work if required.

Yes—key heights and FFL/RL can be added where needed. We’ll scope exactly what you want shown.

Yes if required we can set all our levels to an Australian Height Datum. If not required they will be set to an arbrtriary datum.

By default we document base building and partitions. Furniture and racking can be added as an optional layer.

Yes, we routinely work in live environments and have developed efficient means of data capture next to no disruption.

Yes, when known we will document walls types and finishes. Concealed wall structures not possible with current technologies.

As a standard we have a robust and easy to understand layering system.

By default we document the following service points if available: Distribution boards, TDF, floor & trade waste points, fire hose reels & hydrants. For any services outside this list we can add them in as an optional layer.

Ceiling grid/finish, bulkhead lines, lighting, Mechanical grilles/diffusers/returns/equipment, sprinklers heads, smoke detectors, access panels & speakers.

Celling slab and beam profiles, main rafters, heights and all visible ceiling services including: lighting, mechanical, sprinkler heads & skylights. All other items outside this list can be added as optional items.

Yes both RCP and Floor Plan profiles are drafted within the same model and relative to one another.

Yes we can, but it will be subject to the number of available access panels and tiles that can be opened. Clearance height above ceiling line can also be a limiting factor as it can affect range and visibility of the 3D scans taken in the ceiling void space.

Yes, by default these are included.

Not by default, due to the complex nature of them they are not but can be listed as an optonal item.

Façade profiles, openings, sill/lintel heights, floor/soffit/beam/roof RLs, stairs/ramps, parapets, grids and key dimensions. Materials tagging and notes available on request.

Absolutely. We annotate RLs for slabs, beams, soffits, ridges/eaves and other critical points.

Yes if required we can set all our levels to an Australian Height Datum. If not required they will be set to an arbrtriary datum.

Yes we can.

No, the entire process of capturing external elevations can be done completely outside.

Location Plan, Floor Plan, Ceiling Plan, Shopfront Elevation & Cross Sections - delivered in both PDF and CAD dwg formats.

Yes. We calculate Gross Lettable Area Retail (GLAR) to the PCA method and provide an area for every tenancy.

No, it is a requirement on Retail Tenancy Plans that they be presented as a cold shell for the incoming tenant and their designer.

The mall line is the centre’s reference line along the shopfront from which retail lease areas are measured. We reference mall lines and the centre’s lease plan to define boundaries and calculate GLAR correctly.

Most standard projects are delivered in 7-14 days. Expedited options are available for urgent needs.

By default; EDBs, TDF, waste/water points, gas, down pipes, FHR/Hydrants & land lord ceiling services.

With advances in 3D scanning and data capture technologies we are able to get in an out of a standard retail tenancy in an hour or less.

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Having serviced the retail sector for many years we understand the urgent nature of their processes and aim to deliver Retail Tenancy Plans in 5 business days. Large tenancies can take a little longer.

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In some circumstances with sufficient source material we can produce desktop versions.

Yes we can produce any type of deliverable plan/model from a pointcloud when scoped.

Scanning is fast and non-invasive. We routinely work around live environments and schedule access to minimise impact.

Everything visible in colour. 1 scan captures approxiamtely 680,000 points per second.

File size depends on building size, scan density, and whether colour is included. As a rule of thumb (registered, colourised point clouds in LDR pano mode):
‍Small tenancy (300–1,000 m²): ~5–20 GB total
‍Office floor / medium site (1,000–5,000 m²): ~20–60 GB
‍Large warehouse / multi-storey (5,000–25,000 m²): ~60–200+ GB

Due to the often large sizes of point clouds, we issue them via web link for download.

Most small sites (up to ~1,000 m²) can be scanned in half a day. Larger or complex sites take longer.

Millimetre-level capture suitable for design and coordination. We typically see tolerances around , ±3–6 mm at 10 m sight-line.

Yes. Scanning is non-invasive and quiet; we routinely work around live environments and schedule access to minimise disruption.

Quick, free options
Autodesk ReCap Viewer (Desktop/Web) – Opens RCP/RCS and E57; easy orbit/measure/sections.
‍CloudCompare (Desktop, open-source) – Great for E57/LAS/LAZ; clipping, measuring, decimation.
‍FARO SCENE LT (Free) – For E57 and FARO scans; good viewer tools.

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No. Desktop Plans are produced without a site visit by restyling your supplied material.

Accuracy matches the source provide. If you need verified areas see our Floor Plan & PCA Surveys service as they are offering prepared from live survey information.

CAD dwg, PDFs (Vector/Raster), scans, image files (TIFF, PNG, JPEG). Vector PDFs or CAD deliver the best results.

Presentation-ready floor plans or site plans in PDF. PNG/JPEG and CAD dwgs available upon request

Yes, the desktop floor plans come already with an area schedule identifying building areas. Note the areas derived from desktop are approximate. We strongly advise if areas are important a live survey should be undertaken.

Possibly, depending on legibility, distortion/warping & angle of image capture. PDFs and CADs strongly preferred for the best of clarity.

Yes, we tailor our deliverables to your needs, including floor, site plans & as-builts. Revisions and ammendments are all included as part of our service.

If you need accurate areas or find that the source material doesn't exactly represent what is on site we would always strongly suggest opting for our Floor Plan or PCA Survey offerings, which are prepared from live survey information.

A Desktop Area Analysis can be undertaken on all property types with the suitable source material.

Drawing application packages in CAD & PDF preferred and most suitable. At the very minimum we require floor plans, external elevation & cross section drawings.

External elevations and cross section drawings are important as they are the only means to determine the dominant portion along an external façade for area assessment. In all classes lease lines are set along the dominant portion of the guided surface.

PCA Method of Measurement by default, IPMS on request.

DAA provides a strong baseline. Final figures may change if as-built conditions differ from the drawings supplied.

No. DAA is completed from source material provided and usually done before any building has commenced.

Most DAA reports are delivered in 2-5 business, depending on quality of drawings and scope.

Use IPMS when you need comparable, transparent area data that is recognised across all global markets.

IPMS - when you need cross-border comparability, global reporting, or investor-grade consistency.
PCA - when the deliverable must satisfy Australian leasing or valuation clauses tied to PCA.(We can produce both sets in one workflow if you need dual reporting.)

IPMS 1 – Whole building measured to the external face (incl. external/sheltered areas as defined).
‍IPMS 2 – Whole building measured to the internal extent of the Internal Dominant Face (IDF).
‍IPMS 3.1 / 3.2 – Exclusive occupation areas for a tenant/owner: 3.1 measured externally; 3.2 measured internally to the IDF.
‍IPMS 4.1 / 4.2 – Selected parts of a building: 4.1 includes walls/columns; 4.2 excludes them.

Unlike the PCA where their are set classes for each property type the IPMS sets its classes around whole building, internal or external, exclusive and non-exclusive calculations. From our experience the type of IPMS class used is usually defined by the lease/heads of agreement.

Toilets, plant rooms, risers, stairs and similar “base-building” amenities do count in the whole-building figures (IPMS 1 & 2) but do not count in a tenant’s exclusive lettable area (IPMS 3.2), unless it’s a tenant-specific fit-out space—then it’s included and, if constrained, flagged as Limited-Use

In many markets (e.g., Australia’s PCA, North America’s BOMA) local standards are still the day-to-day default for leasing and compliance. As a result, dual reporting (IPMS + local standard) is common on institutional assets, cross-border portfolios, and transactions involving international investors or lenders.

IPMS has been around since 2013, when the International Property Measurement Standards Coalition was formed (World Bank meeting, 30 May 2013). The first standard (IPMS: Office Buildings) arrived in 2014, followed by Residential (2016), Industrial (2018) and Retail (2019). These were consolidated into IPMS: All Buildings published/effective January 2023, which now replaces the earlier asset-by-asset standards.

Common requests are LOD 200–300 or equivalent. We’ll match your BIM execution plan and keep scope lean to what you actually need.

Models are traced directly from survey-grade point clouds. Typical positional tolerance is ±10-15mm for architectural elements, with tighter targets available for critical scopes

Baseline is architectural; we can add structural and selected services (HVAC/risers/major plant) where visible in the scans. Full MEP can be quoted if required.

Always RVT (native Revit). Optional IFC, DWG, and PDF. We can also deliver the registered point cloud (RCP/RCS or E57).

Yes — clean categories, naming conventions, materials, view templates, and a model audit checklist so your team can jump straight in.

Yes—plans/elevations/sections in DWG/PDF using our own existing conditions surveys teampltes.