Complex MEP Plant Room Documentation

The Challenge

A major hospital in Los Angeles was planning a chiller plant upgrade but had no accurate documentation of the existing 12,000-square-foot mechanical room. The space contained dense piping networks, electrical conduit, ductwork, and heavy equipment with clearances as tight as 6 inches. Traditional hand measurements would have taken weeks and still missed critical routing details.

Our Approach

We deployed multiple terrestrial LiDAR scanners across 48 scan positions to capture the entire mechanical plant at millimeter-level accuracy. The resulting point cloud was registered and processed into a fully coordinated Revit model showing all piping runs, duct routing, conduit paths, and equipment footprints with their exact positions. The model included clearance annotations and connection point details needed for the engineering team to design the chiller replacement without field conflicts.

Results

• Full mechanical plant documented in 4 days vs. estimated 6 weeks by hand
• Revit model delivered within 10 business days of scanning
• Engineering team identified 3 routing conflicts before construction began
• Zero change orders related to existing conditions during the chiller upgrade
• Model reused for subsequent fire suppression and electrical upgrade projects