▼Highlights of This Case Study

　＼Life Arch is using it too!／

Conducting on-site surveys “all by yourself with just a smartphone”Scanat

About Life Arch Co., Ltd.

♦︎A small but highly skilled construction firm that handles everything from design to construction

Life Archi Co., Ltd. is an architectural firm and general contractor specializing primarily in the new construction and renovation of single-family homes.
Operating under a system that integrates design and on-site management, the company’s president personally oversees construction sites to ensure the delivery of high-quality living spaces.

ScanatChallenges Before Implementation

♦︎ [New Construction] Surveying Sites with Significant Elevation Differences Is a Major Burden—Partly Due to Tighter Regulatory Standards

Among the new construction projects the company undertakes, there are many sites with challenging conditions, such as a long distance from the road to the building lot or elevation differences ranging from 30 to 40 meters.
Due to recent changes in building permit regulations (such as stricter foundation design requirements resulting from the scaling back of the Special Provision No. 4 and tighter regulations imposed by local governments), the task of measuring elevation differences on a site more accurately and incorporating them into drawings has become more essential than ever.

In the past, we used a “rotating laser level” (surveying instrument), similar to those used in civil engineering, to remeasure the survey points and machine installation points several times, plot the elevation differences on the drawings, and finally calculate the results. However, this method presented the following challenges:

• Due to the effort involved in reinstalling the machinery and the fact that survey points cannot be moved, [at least two workers] are required.
• Coordinating schedules among staff members is inconvenient and puts a strain on operations.

♦︎ [Renovation] “You Can’t Get the Full Picture in Just One Visit”: Site Inspections and Repeated Return Visits

In one renovation project, while we had traditionally used photography and 360° cameras,
we faced challenges such as “it being difficult to understand the layout of the rooms” and “it taking time to find the necessary information later on.” As a result, we had to visit the same site two or three times or more to check for any oversights, leading to inefficient workflows.

ScanatHow We Discovered It and Why We Adopted It

♦︎ Digitize everything—from “large outdoor areas” to “indoor floor plans”—with just one smartphone

While searching for a solution to our challenge, we came across this product at a trade showScanat and decided to implement it.
In addition to “the ease of use—it can be put to work immediately with just one iPad or iPhone,” we appreciated its wide-area measurement capability, which allows scanning the long distance (about 50 meters) from the road to private property in a single pass, as well as its expandability, which enables point cloud data to be imported into CAD software.

Benefits of Implementation

♦︎ [New Construction] The number of personnel for elevation surveys has been reduced from 2 to 1. The work time has been drastically reduced to “1/5.”

ScanatWith this implementation, the workflow for surveying new construction sites has completely changed.
Even for a distance of about 50 meters from the road to private property,Scanat the process is now completed by “simply walking through the area and capturing the data in one go.” By exporting the acquired point cloud data and importing it into 3D CAD software, we can now calculate precise elevation differences right on our office computers.
Since on-site surveying and calculations are no longer necessary, and no equipment setup is required, a task that previously required at least two people can now be completed by just one person. Work efficiency has improved dramatically to just one-fifth of what it used to be.

♦︎ [Applies to Both New Construction and Renovations] Prevent Oversights and Reduce the Time Spent on Site Inspections and Proposals by About 50%

Whether it's a new construction or a renovation project, it's alsoScanat it has proven to be incredibly effective.
While detailed measurements are taken on-site, the data allows for a general understanding of the space and the approximate specifications of windows and doors,Scanat can be determined from the data, making it possible to “bring the entire site back with you.”
As a result, we’ve eliminated the need for return visits due to oversights—which was our original goal—and reduced the total workload from on-site verification to proposal submission by approximately 50%.

♦︎ [Using This in Sales Materials] Sharing "Before and After" Photos at Open Houses

At open houses for fully renovated properties, we show clients 3D data of the property before renovation so they can experience what it looked like “before.” Whereas conventional 360° cameras had a limited field of view, making it difficult to grasp the overall atmosphere,Scanat this approach conveys “the entire home’s floor plan and the flow of the spaces” in three dimensions, significantly enhancing the persuasiveness of our proposals and customer satisfaction.

Future Outlook

♦︎Turning “Invisible Structures” into Data to Create New Customer Experiences

ScanatThe implementation of this system has led to a dramatic increase in productivity, from site surveying to on-site inspections and proposal development.
Moving forward, as a further application, the plan is to scan new construction at the “stage when the structural framework is assembled”Scanat and save it as digital data along with the corresponding floor plans.
We plan to explore new ways to provide added value using on-site 3D data, such asScanat to provide customers with a tour of “structural elements hidden behind walls,” and we plan to explore ways to provide new added value by utilizing on-site 3D data.

　＼Life Arch is using it too!／

Conducting on-site surveys “all by yourself with just a smartphone”Scanat