How Long Does a Measured Building Survey Take?

Two Different Questions

When clients ask how long a survey takes, they're usually asking two different things: how long will the surveyor be on site, and how long before they receive their drawings? These are separate questions with different answers — and both matter for planning your project timeline.

How Long Does the Site Survey Take?

Site duration depends primarily on the size and complexity of the building, and whether laser scanning or traditional measurement methods are being used.

Laser scanning is generally faster on site than traditional measurement for medium and large buildings — a building that would take a full day to survey manually can often be scanned in half a day. The tradeoff is that scanning requires additional processing time in the office, which is accounted for in the overall turnaround time.

What Affects Site Duration?

Beyond building size, several factors affect how long the survey takes on site:

• Number of floors — each additional floor adds measurement time for the floor plan and increases the number of scanner positions required
• Access — a building where all rooms are accessible and clear takes less time than one with locked rooms, heavy clutter or restricted areas requiring careful navigation
• Complexity — irregular geometry, complex roof structures, split levels and non-standard features all add time
• Drawing scope — if internal elevations or reflected ceiling plans are included in the scope, additional measurements are needed on site beyond the standard floor plan, elevation and section package
• External access — elevation surveys require access around the full perimeter of the building. If this is restricted — by neighbouring buildings, parked vehicles or locked gates — it adds time or may require a second visit

How Long Until I Receive My Drawings?

Drawing production happens after the site visit. For a standard measured building survey at SurveyX:

• Standard turnaround: 5–7 working days from survey completion. This covers data processing, drawing production and quality checking before issue.
• Expedited turnaround: 72 hours from survey completion, subject to a 40% surcharge. Available on most projects — confirm at the quote stage.

The drawing production timeline depends on the size and complexity of the project. A simple flat with floor plans only might be drawn in a day; a large commercial building with full plans, elevations and sections might take three to four days of drawing production.

Can You Be Faster?

Yes — if you have a tight deadline, mention it when you enquire. For most projects we can accommodate faster turnaround with the expedited service. In urgent cases we can discuss what's achievable for your specific project.

The key is to raise the deadline at the quote stage rather than after the survey — once the survey is complete and drawing production is underway, changing the delivery date mid-project is more difficult.

What Happens Between Survey and Delivery?

1. Data processing (1–2 days) — for scanning surveys, raw scan files are imported into ReCap, registered and processed into a clean point cloud. For traditional surveys, field notes are reviewed and any queries resolved.
2. Drawing production (2–4 days) — drawings are produced in AutoCAD or Revit from the processed data. Floor plans first, then elevations and sections.
3. Quality check (half day) — all drawings are checked against the raw survey data before issue.
4. Issue — invoice sent, drawings released via Dropbox download link on receipt of payment.