Guides for Scanning, Floor Plans, BIM, and Estimating
How to scan a space with an iPhone Pro, what LiDAR is accurate enough for, how to get point clouds and IFC files into Revit and AutoCAD, and how to turn measurements into paint, wallpaper, tile, and flooring quantities.
How to Measure a Room With an iPhone
Measure a room with an iPhone Pro's LiDAR sensor: which devices work, how to scan cleanly, what you get back, and which dimensions to check with a tape.
Remote Site Survey: How to Get Measurements Without a Site Visit
Send a guest scan invite, your client scans with their own iPhone Pro, and a measured plan lands in your project. Steps, message template, and tips.
AI Floor Plan Generators in 2026: What Actually Works
What AI floor plan generators can and cannot do from a prompt, sketch, blueprint, or photo, and the faster path to a plan with real measurements.
How to Measure a Room for Flooring (With Waste Factor)
Measure, multiply, split odd shapes into rectangles, add a waste factor, and round up to full boxes. Step by step, with a worked L-shaped room example.
As-Built Drawings From an iPhone: A Workflow for Architects
Capture existing conditions with an iPhone Pro and take them into Revit, AutoCAD, or SketchUp via IFC, DXF, and E57. Site checklist included.
iPhone LiDAR Point Cloud Scanning: A Practical Field Guide
Capture a clean point cloud with an iPhone Pro: walking technique, range, lighting, glass and mirrors, E57/LAZ/PLY exports, and honest accuracy expectations.
How to Import an E57 Point Cloud Into Revit (Step by Step)
Revit links RCP/RCS, not raw E57. Index the E57, link it with Insert > Point Cloud, pick the right positioning, and fix origin, rotation, and color problems.
How to Get a DWG-Ready File From an iPhone Scan
Scan with an iPhone Pro, export DXF, open it in AutoCAD, and save as DWG. Plus IFC and E57 when the job runs through Revit.
Scan to BIM With an iPhone: How Accurate Is LiDAR for As-Builts?
Is iPhone LiDAR accurate enough to model from? What it captures, where it holds up for as-builts, and what to verify before you design on top of it.
From Phone Scan to BIM: Exporting IFC for Revit and ArchiCAD
Scan a space and export an IFC model with walls, doors, windows, rooms, and stories that opens in Revit or ArchiCAD. What it includes and what to check.
Estimating a Multi-Floor Building Without Losing the Per-Floor Breakdown
Multi-story takeoffs lose either the per-floor detail or the building total. Stacked floors and a rolled-up takeoff keep both numbers at once.
Guest Scanning: Quote Faster When You Win 3 Bids in 10
Close 3 or 4 of every 10 bids? Most estimating labor goes to jobs you lose. Guest scanning and automatic takeoffs cut the cost of every bid.
Per Roll vs Per Square Foot: Why Wallpaper Pricing Has Two Conventions
Wallpaper is sold by the roll, but designers often quote per square foot. How the two pricing models line up, and when each one makes sense.
From Net Area to Buy Quantity: Why CAD Takeoffs Need a Trade Layer
BIM tools output net surface areas, but trades order in buy quantities. That gap is where estimates get revised. Here is what fills it.
Butt Seam vs Overlap Seam: How It Changes Wallpaper Strip Count
Most wallpaper uses a butt seam. Commercial vinyl uses an overlap seam, which covers less wall per strip and raises your total strip count.
How to Calculate Paint for a Room (The Right Way)
How many gallons of paint does a room need? The formula, worked examples, and how doors and windows change your numbers.
How to Work Out Wallpaper Rolls: Repeat, Drop Match, and Waste
The method behind a wallpaper roll count: strips per roll, pattern repeat and drop match waste, trim height, and why pros order a buffer roll.
How to Turn a Floor Plan into a Material Estimate
How contractors go from a 3D scan or blueprint to a full material takeoff with quantities, costs, and margins, ready to hand to a client.
Free calculators
Quick quantities with no signup. Enter room dimensions and get square feet, gallons, rolls, boxes, sheets, or linear feet.
Scan it once. Get the plan, the files, and the numbers.
Scan a room with an iPhone Pro and get a measured floor plan, a point cloud, IFC and DXF exports, and room-by-room estimates with openings subtracted.