Surveying & Site Measurement — 01
As-built drawings are the final, accurate drawings showing exactly how a building was constructed, including every change made during the work, used for handover, authority submission, facility management and renovation.
Dervoss provides As-Built drawings across Dubai, the UAE and Saudi Arabia, captured and produced by one in-house team.
Real Dervoss work
Real Dervoss point cloud: a villa floor plan
02 — Scan to model
Façade cladding project, Dubai: the colourised point cloud on the left, the 3D model Dervoss built from it on the right. Drag the handle. Every drawing and model is traced from a scan like this, never from a tape measure.
Scan
Model
03 — What you receive
6 deliverables
01 · Illustration
The drawing set prepared to your consultant's requirements for submission to Dubai Municipality, Trakhees or another authority, covering drawing format, title blocks, coordinate system, elevation datum and file naming. Your consultant handles the submission and approval; the drawings arrive ready for it.
02 · Illustration
Room dimensions, wall positions, openings, columns and structural elements, drawn to scale directly from scan data. Ideal for interior design, space planning, contractor pricing and MEP coordination.
03 · Illustration
Internal and external elevations showing wall heights, openings and finishes as they exist on site, valuable for joinery, façade works and cladding.
04 · Illustration
Cross-sections revealing the vertical reality (slab steps, ceiling heights, soffits, shafts and structural offsets). They show clearances a plan view can't.
05 · Illustration
What's overhead: ceiling layouts, light points, diffusers, returns, access panels and ceiling heights. Critical for MEP coordination in high-end fit-outs.
06 · Illustration
Floor levels and a structural grid so every sheet references the same datums, axes and elevations; approvals, coordination and future refits build on it.
Formats
PDFDWG (AutoCAD)Revit (.RVT).E57 / .RCP point cloud (add-on)04 — When you need it
01
Original drawings are unavailable, outdated, or don't reflect changes made during construction.
02
A contractor or developer must submit documented as-built records at project completion.
03
Accurate site dimensions are needed before design work can begin.
04
Current floor plans are needed for due diligence, valuation or leasing.
05
Electrical, plumbing and HVAC systems need documenting against the existing structure.
06
UAE municipalities require as-built documentation for certain permits and project closures.
07
Accurate records are needed for maintenance, extensions or future construction.
Site photo · Dervoss
05 — Real project · Dubai
A design team took on a café fit-out in a narrow existing unit, with no drawings at all. No floor plan, no sections, nothing to design on.
The designers received a clean point cloud and accurate as-built base drawings of the unit, and could start design work immediately: no site remeasurement, no assumptions, no surprises at fit-out.
Point cloud + as-built drawings / 3D model
Read the case study06 — How it works
Step 01
A full 3D laser scan with the Trimble X9; every surface and dimension captured to millimetre accuracy, no manual measuring.
Step 02
Scan data is processed into a precise 3D point cloud, accurate to within ±2 mm, the foundation all drawings are produced from.
Step 03
Our team draws directly from the point cloud, eliminating the measurement errors of manual methods.
Step 04
PDF, DWG and Revit within 5–7 working days. As a benchmark, a 200 sqm space in just 3 days. Point cloud on request.
07 — In detail
| Construction (design) drawings | Shop drawings | As-built drawings | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Produced | Before construction | Before/during construction | After construction |
| Shows | What was intended | How the contractor plans to build it | What was actually built |
| Includes site changes | No | No | Yes, every one |
| Used for | Design approval | Fabrication & installation | Handover, authority submission, FM, renovation |
Construction drawings are sometimes called “as drawn”: they show the building as designed. Buyers often arrive with one of the other two and need the third. If your project is finished (or was finished twenty years ago), as-builts are the record that matters, and the only one authorities accept as documentation of the real building.
A typical Dervoss as-built package for a UAE fit-out or handover contains the authority-ready drawing set, dimensioned 2D floor plans, elevations and sections, reflected ceiling plans and a levels-and-grid sheet; every sheet drawn from the same ±2 mm point cloud, on the same datums, in PDF, DWG and Revit. The images above illustrate the sheet types; anonymised samples from real projects are available on request.
Because every drawing traces back to the laser scan, the set is internally consistent: the RCP agrees with the sections, the sections agree with the plans. That consistency is exactly what municipality reviewers and fit-out contractors check first, and it’s what redrawn-from-old-files documentation always fails.
Three recent Dervoss projects show the range. A Palm Jumeirah apartment was scanned before renovation design, giving the team 2D plans and sections of the existing conditions. At Wasl Village, a whole façade was captured for elevations, a 3D model and a crack record. A villa scanned for full replanning became a Revit BIM model at LOD 300 to 400, built from the point cloud. In each case the deliverables were produced from the point cloud, not from old files.
Most rejected as-built submissions fail for one reason: the drawings don’t match the building. They were produced by updating old design files instead of measuring what stands. A scan-based as-built can’t disagree with reality; the drawing is produced from reality.
The second reason is format. Every authority and every consultant has its own requirements: drawing format, title block, coordinate system, elevation datum, file naming. We take those requirements from your consultant before drafting and prepare the set to them, for Dubai Municipality, Trakhees or whichever authority the project answers to. The formal submission and approval stay with your appointed consultant; the survey drawings arrive ready for it.
Dervoss’s as-built drawing services cover the complete documentation set, not one sheet: architectural plans, sections and elevations, reflected ceiling plans, levels and grids, and structural and MEP record drawings where the project needs them. All of it is produced from a single laser scan, so the as-built documentation for a building is internally consistent across every sheet, and a typical 200 sqm unit is fully documented within 3 working days.
08 — Why Dervoss for As-Built drawings
One accountable team from site to finished deliverable: the people who survey your site produce your drawings and reports. No hand-offs, no subcontracted drafting, and a fixed quote with a committed delivery date.
01
No hand-off between a scanning company and an offshore drawing shop: the team that measured your site produces your deliverables.
02
Trimble X9 laser scanning and survey-grade instruments, accurate to ±2 mm, with an accuracy statement per delivery.
03
All seven emirates, Saudi Arabia and the wider GCC, with deliverables prepared for local authority requirements.
04
On site within 24 hours of a confirmed LPO; urgent concrete and utility scans often same-day.
09 — Questions
As-built drawings are produced after construction and show how a building was actually built, including any changes made along the way. They are the authoritative record of the finished building, used for handover, authority approvals, facilities management and future works. We produce them for virtually any built environment: commercial offices, retail units, hotels, residential buildings, warehouses and industrial facilities.
Contractually, producing as-builts is usually the contractor's obligation. In practice they are prepared by a survey and documentation specialist like Dervoss, so the drawings are accurate and accepted.
Construction drawings (also called design or "as drawn" drawings) show the intent, shop drawings show how the contractor plans to build it, and as-built drawings record how it was actually built, including every change made on site. As-builts are the authoritative record of the finished building, not the design intent.
Architectural (floor plans, elevations, sections, reflected ceiling plans), structural (slabs, columns, beams, levels and grids) and MEP (mechanical, electrical and plumbing services). Most handovers need the architectural set; structural and MEP are added where the project requires them.
An as-built survey is the process of measuring a building as it exists on site; as-built drawings are the technical documents produced from that survey data. The survey provides the data; the drawings are the usable output. Dervoss provides both as a single service.
That is the standard case. We laser-scan the building and draw from measured reality; no old drawings needed.
Dervoss drawings are accurate to within ±2 mm. Laser scanning captures millions of points across the whole space in a single pass, eliminating the cumulative errors of manual measurement, especially in large or complex spaces where each reading depends on the last.
Yes: UAE municipalities require as-built drawings for certain permit applications, fit-out approvals and project completion sign-offs, with specific format requirements for title blocks, scales and notation. Dervoss prepares the drawings to your consultant's requirements for Dubai Municipality, Trakhees or the relevant authority: drawing format, title blocks, coordinate system, elevation datum and file naming. Whether the set also needs to be stamped depends on the authority and submission type. The formal submission and approval run through your appointed consultant; Dervoss prepares the survey deliverables.
Cost depends on the building's size, complexity and the drawing set you need (architectural only, or structural and MEP as well). Send us the details and you get a fixed quote, no hourly surprises.
Most projects are delivered within 5–7 working days, with on-site mobilisation within 24 hours of a confirmed LPO. As a benchmark, a 200 sqm space is typically completed, with full 3D and CAD deliverables, in 3 days.
10 — Get a fixed quote
Describe the job in your own words; you don't need to know the right survey name. A fixed price and a committed delivery date, no obligation. Plans or photos? Send them on WhatsApp.
On site
Within 24 h of a confirmed LPO
Office
Al Barsha South 3, Dubai
Hours
Mon-Fri 10:00-18:00
