A full reality-capture programme for the terminal — above, inside and below ground. This page is a comprehensive summary of the changes from Version 2, so we can start here rather than reading the whole site again. Every service card in the tabs that follow has a deep-dive covering the what, why, where, when, who & how.
From the outset you asked for a LOD 200 drawing set. Version 2 captured to LOD 350 in order to deliver it, so that you could uplift to a technical model at any later stage without us returning to site. That optionality carried a real cost, and it accounts for most of the difference between the two versions. Version 3 captures to LOD 200 and draws to LOD 200 — the specification you asked for, delivered directly, with the higher-accuracy work concentrated on the items you nominate rather than spread thinly across the whole site.
The structure has changed as much as the price. Version 2 folded allowances into the package rate. Version 3 strips both packages back to the capture work itself and places everything else in front of you as a separate, capped line, so that you carry only what the site actually turns out to need.
The sections below do not repeat this table — they cover what each change means for you in practice.
| What changed | Version 2 | Version 3 |
|---|---|---|
| Scan density | Captured to LOD 350 | Captured to LOD 200 |
| Accuracy above LOD 200 | Available anywhere, because the whole site was captured at technical density | Available on nominated items within nominated zones, billed hourly |
| Later uplift to LOD 300 / 350 | Possible from the existing dataset at any time | Ordered before we mobilise, or a return visit to recapture the affected area |
| Professional survey component | Survey-grade control framework supporting a technical-band deliverable | GPS control tied to the aerial capture, appropriate to a visual-band deliverable |
| Manhole and fire-equipment allowance | Absorbed into the package rate | Removed from both packages and offered as capped add-ons |
| Package options | Three | Two — the interior-only option has been withdrawn. Full detail on the Pricing & Calculator tab |
| Costing basis | Priced on area | Priced on time, resolving to an effective ≈R11.50/m² |
| Time on site | Approximately 10 days | Approximately 6 to 7 days |
| Quayside sonar coverage | 30 m width | 20 m width, still the full 500 m length of the quayside |
Version 3 is priced the way we ordinarily price capture work — on time rather than on area. Almost all of our estimating is framed in hours, because hours are what genuinely govern the effort on a site like this one. Version 2 was set out on a square-metre basis to suit the format the enquiry called for. Returning to our usual method gives us a sharper read on the work in front of us, and on this scope it also produces a better number for you.
With the balance of the work now firmly inside the building, and with our team not yet having stood in it, area on its own is a blunt instrument. A reconnaissance visit purely to measure up would spend budget without producing anything you could use, so this estimate is built instead from the drawings, the aerial coverage and our experience of comparable transit sheds.
Take two areas of identical size. A block of palletised crates holds no structural elements that need drawing, so it needs coverage and little else. A plant area where several small structural members, services and connections come together occupies a fraction of the floor plate but calls for many more scan positions and a great deal more time on site.
Area cannot tell those two apart. Time can. Across a building of this scale the two effects offset one another and the estimate settles at an effective figure of roughly R11.50 per square metre. We express it that way because it is easy to compare against, while the figure itself comes from the time the work will genuinely take.
Area has not been set aside. It remains the basis on which the measured scope is described, and the cross-check we run the time estimate against.
The Part 1 and Part 2 split of the programme is unchanged from Version 2.
So that the figures in this proposal could be measured against something real, we obtained current pricing over the past weekend from two enterprise-grade specialists of the kind Version 2 was reaching toward.
| Enterprise-grade benchmark | Current market pricing | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Enterprise mobile-mapping specialist — interior laser scanning | R400,000 / 40,000 m² = R10.00/m² | Scanning only. Mobilisation, ground control survey and registration and processing are quoted separately, taking that portion to R493,000 excluding VAT. Drawings are not part of their offering. |
| Registered land surveyor — Class A control network | R58,500 excl. VAT | Site establishment, establishment of the control points themselves, and survey processing with certificate. |
This is the change that carries the most professional weight, and we would rather state it plainly than let it sit in the detail. Control is now established as GPS points tied to the aerial capture, set and flown by a drone pilot rather than by a registered surveyor. No robotic total station work is included inside the building — control is carried inward from the exterior to the nearest high-resolution area, and manual measurement is referenced from that point. The dataset is coordinated and internally consistent, and it is not offered as a certified survey product.
Much of the interior floor carries palletised stock, in places stacked two and three high. Under a full technical capture this would have been a significant obstacle, because every square metre would have needed the same treatment regardless of what was standing on it.
The shift to a visual-led capture turns this into an advantage. Palletised stock is not an asset to be redrawn and is not a point of interest — it is inventory that will have moved long before the model is used. We can therefore treat those areas as coverage rather than detail, which meaningfully reduces the scan count across the floor plate without affecting the quality of anything you actually need drawn.
These items were reviewed for saving and deliberately kept. Removing any of them would break the technical argument rather than simply reduce the price.
| Retained | Why |
|---|---|
| Facade wrap | The only route to external GPS control without triggering specialist survey attendance. |
| Aerial LiDAR capture | Covers the open roof pitch at a consistent standard, and supplies the terrain contour that the underground services method depends on. Retained in full across the whole site. |
| 360 virtual tour | Requested by Focus PM and retained in full, as a service distinct from the aerial capture. |
| Manhole capture | Rates have not been reduced, only itemised. The manhole inspection is the first layer of the underground services method. |
| Fire-equipment capture | Rates have not been reduced, only itemised. Fire equipment is a primary risk-mitigation record and we regard capturing it as standard practice rather than an optional refinement. |
| Quayside sonar | Retained at a revised 20 m width across the full 500 m quay length. |
The shorter time on site is a consequence of the reduced density — we cover considerably more ground per day. Two further points on how we would like to run it:
Agreeing a window rather than a date lets us draw on additional capture capacity when it is available. It serves both parties and does not extend the overall programme.
Unchanged in principle. We will agree the capture requirements for each area with you in advance and sequence our work so that it causes the least possible interference to your operations and to ours.
At cost, on an unchanged basis. Flights are unaffected; accommodation reduces in line with the shorter programme.
| Top-up | Rate | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Manhole capture | R 850 each | Capped at R17,000. Every manhole beyond that is captured at no additional fee. |
| Fire-equipment capture | R 375 each | Capped at R15,000. Every item beyond that is captured at no additional fee. Priced above an ordinary asset because fire equipment is critical safety infrastructure. |
| Nominated high-detail items | R 1,890 / hr | Higher-density LiDAR plus hand measurement on the item, photo-tagged and drawn to the measured dimension. Half-day minimum applies. |
| On-site capture day rate | R 13,750 / day | Applies to on-site capture work. Where a service is delivered end to end, the rate is higher because it carries the processing, deliverables and visualisation arising from that day. |
| Uplift to LOD 300 or LOD 350 | quote | Billed at the hourly rate against the area you nominate. Order before mobilisation to avoid a return visit. |
| Point-cloud registration | R 7,500 | Ties the whole dataset into the world coordinate system. Unreferenced, the data is accurate within itself; referenced, it is accurate within the world around it. |
| Ground penetrating radar | to be quoted | Cannot be costed at this stage. See the underground services method below. |
| Pipe inspection camera | R 50 / m | On the Extended package the footage is attached directly into the Matterport twin at the position of the run. Otherwise it is issued to you as JPEG stills and MP4 video. |
| Other asset verification | R 250 each | Any item you want carried into an asset register — air-conditioning units, pumps, panels, plant and similar equipment — captured, photographed and tagged to its position. |
| Site-specific OHS file | R 7,500 | Please confirm whether this is a requirement for the site. |
| Construction monitoring visit | R 35,000 / visit | One day on site with multiple team members: a technical-twin scan plus an aerial survey over the affected area, all processing and phase reporting, and a dashboard comparison against the previous milestone showing what has changed. |
| Final as-built scan and redraw | quote | Quoted against the area that needs to be redrawn, at the final monitoring milestone. |
| Point-cloud classification | to be quoted | Priced per category. |
Ground penetrating radar is not included in either package. In its place we use a layered method that costs materially less and, in our experience, answers most of the questions GPR is usually brought in to answer.
| Layer | What it establishes |
|---|---|
| Manual manhole inspection | Pipe position, direction and the depth of the manhole at every accessible access point. |
| Aerial terrain contour | Accurate ground levels across the whole site. Because the contour resolves even slight falls in the ground, and buried lines are generally laid to follow that fall, the surface model lets us model a realistic run between two points of known depth rather than guessing at it. |
| Points-of-interest capture | A scanned, taggable record at every service, outlet and access point, so future queries can be answered from the dataset rather than by returning to site. |
If your team holds an existing Revit model of this building, sharing it with us would make a material difference to what we can fit inside your budget. It does need to be Revit — a non-Revit file cannot be used to your benefit here.
Every wall, floor, roof and opening still has to be placed and then positioned against our point cloud. The existing model is a starting point, not the deliverable, and what you receive back will be a model built to the reality we capture — not a tidied version of what you already had.
The first pass: establishing wall types and thicknesses, door and window families, floor build-ups and the general setup that has to exist before any positioning work can begin. That is a meaningful portion of the drawing effort, and collaborating with the team that produced the original is the fastest route to it.
The FPT shed is a ~500 m transit shed with a partial first storey, steel-truss roof, freezer volumes, cold rooms, offices and quayside, undergoing phased demolition and new build. We record it accurately before it changes, then make that record usable at every step — capture once, use many times. Pricing is deliberately layered so you pay for detail only where it's needed.
360 capture → the visual layer — the virtual tour anyone can walk. Technical twin → the technical layer — the measurable, dimensioned reference. See "Visual & Technical" for how the two work together.
Every service follows the same end-to-end methodology — from planning and site capture through processing, technical deliverables and final visualisation. We don't treat scanning as an isolated site activity; we take responsibility for the full journey from raw field data to a structured, accurate and accessible result. This ensures every project is captured with purpose, processed to the required level of detail, and delivered in a format that is ready to use, share and build on. Deep-dive any phase below.
A full comprehensive capture of every area, bottom-up and top-down, with the method chosen per area's condition and access. We keep two measures distinct: Scan Density (how detailed the point cloud is) and BIM LOD (how developed the Revit model is) — both described on one Level of Detail (LOD 100–400) scale.
One table for both measures: what the point cloud captures at each level (Scan Density) alongside what the Revit model contains (BIM LOD), on a single LOD 100–400 scale.
| Level | Scan LOD — point cloud | BIM LOD — Revit model | Used for · service level |
|---|---|---|---|
| LOD 100 · Visual | 360 tour & imagery; low density, visual only. | Conceptual massing — symbolic / generic. | Orientation, feasibility · L1 |
| LOD 200 · Standard | Technical twin + standard density; drone imagery. | Approximate geometry — this project's base. | As-built, coordination · L2 |
| LOD 300 · Detailed | High density (TLS / SLAM); structure, trusses & MEP. Recommended capture. | Precise, measurable geometry. | Detailed design, quantities, clash · L3 |
| LOD 350 · Detailed + | High density (as LOD 300). | Precise + interfaces — joints, supports, connections. | Multi-trade coordination · L3 · in-house ceiling |
| LOD 400 · Specialist | Maximum density / specialist (GPR, sonar, robotic). | Fabrication / assembly detail. | Fabrication, shop drawings · L4 · outsourced TBC |
Priority elements: structure, trusses, roof-void services, and services feeding & within rooms. Models run in-house to LOD 350; LOD 400 is outsourced to a specialist draughtsman (TBC per drawing). We don't model to LOD 500. BIM mapping: LOD 200 = L2 · 300/350 = L3 · 400 = L4, uplift quoted at the hourly rate against nominated areas.
The cleaned / de-furnished cloud and model (stock, pallets, vehicles, loose furniture removed to reveal shell, structure and services) is a standard deliverable.
Caveat: anything physically hidden behind stock isn't captured — clear areas needing full data, or accept shadowing.
Part 1 (~2 days; 4–5 with the perimeter points-of-interest capture) — exterior & context: ground control points, drone 3D mapping, 360 virtual tour and manhole inspections, plus quayside drone & sonar if selected. Enough to start drawing the full exterior. 1~2 weeks to process (also the L4 approval window), then Part 2 (~4 days) — internal capture via the technical twin (SLAM/TLS add-ons for higher detail), assets following if selected. Both on the same datum.
Roof-void detail via pole SLAM or MEWP + TLS as an alternative to drone — safer near services, higher accuracy, slower. Cost comparison in the dataset.
Scan zones follow the client's plans, and the first zones are the buildings scheduled for demolition — the entire structure is captured before any demolition, so nothing is lost. Priority follows the Period-1 demolition areas (ambient racking, existing offices, plant rooms, steri, cold rooms, stair tunnels), then the remaining zones by construction period.
Grouped exactly like the pricing: what's included in the standard service first, then top-ups, add-ons and specialist work. Each card lists the deliverables it produces and deep-dives into the what/why/where/when/who/how, its risks and pricing.
| Format | What it is | Used for |
|---|---|---|
| .rcp | Autodesk ReCap project file. | The point-cloud format required to bring the scan into Revit. |
| .las | Standard / raw point-cloud format. | The raw point cloud — widely compatible, opens in most survey/CAD tools. |
| .e57 | Open point-cloud exchange format. | Vendor-neutral sharing of georeferenced clouds between platforms. |
| .rvt | Autodesk Revit model. | The BIM model itself (version to be confirmed). |
| .ifc | Open BIM exchange format. | Sharing the model with non-Revit software. |
| .nwd / .nwc | Navisworks review files. | Coordination, clash review and walk-throughs. |
| .jpg / .tif | Orthophotos & imagery. | Scaled top-down images, elevations and documentation. |
We build two complementary layers so both non-technical stakeholders and engineers are served from the same capture.
Ground-based and aerial 360 footage stitched into an interactive virtual tour — the way anyone walks the site in a browser without any technical knowledge. This is the visual layer: intuitive, shareable, the front door to the Project Hub.
Technical twin provides the technical layer: a measurable, dimensionally-reliable twin you can take distances and areas from, tag assets in, and tie to the point cloud and BIM model.
Start with one of the two packages below — the price sits right under each name. Travel is shown separately, and the full à-la-carte schedule of everything else follows. A live calculator at the foot of this tab totals it all for you.
The first is our recommended option for this site. All figures exclude VAT and are indicative — the calculator lets you adjust every quantity.
Everything above the standard service is modular. Stack only what each need calls for.
| Item | Basis | Rate (ZAR) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 · Capture — effective ≈ R11.50/m² (time-based estimate) | ||
| Measured capture — interior plus the facade wrap, LOD 200 scan & LOD 200 drawings | per m² (46,600 m²) | R 11.50 |
| Exterior points-of-interest capture — services, outlets, manholes and taggable features around the perimeter, incl. processing & tagging | fixed · 2–3 day window | R 44,500 |
| On-site capture day rate | per day | R 13,750 |
| Nominated high-detail items — higher-density LiDAR + vernier hand measurement, photo-tagged and drawn to the measured dimension | per hour · half-day minimum | R 1,890 |
| 2 · Top-up services — BIM detail (nominated areas) | ||
| LOD 300 uplift — nominated areas | hourly, against the nominated area | quote |
| LOD 350 uplift — our in-house ceiling, nominated areas | hourly, against the nominated area | quote |
| LOD 400 — outsourced to specialist draughtsman | per drawing requirements | TBC |
| 3 · Add-on services | ||
| Manhole capture (data-collection app) — incl. drawing inclusion & individual report (contents & depth of the manhole) | per manhole · capped at R17,000 (20 manholes); every manhole beyond that at no additional fee | R 850 |
| Fire-equipment capture — critical safety infrastructure, carried above an ordinary asset | per item · capped at R15,000 (40 items); every item beyond that at no additional fee | R 375 |
| Pipe inspection camera — 60 m reach with distance counter, so a defect is logged at its exact metreage and tagged on the twin above the service. On the Extended package the footage is attached into the Matterport twin; otherwise issued as JPEG stills and MP4 video | per metre | R 50.00 |
| Other asset verification (data-collection app) — any item to be carried into an asset register: air-conditioning units, pumps, panels, plant and similar equipment, captured, photographed and tagged to position | per asset | R 250 |
| Site-specific OHS file — compiled & left on site (client to confirm whether this is required) | per project | R 7,500 |
| Construction monitoring — one day on site with multiple team members: technical-twin scan plus an aerial survey over the affected area, all processing, phase reporting, and a dashboard comparison against the previous milestone showing what has changed | per visit | R 35,000 |
| Final as-built drawings — scan & redraw at the final construction-monitoring milestone | quoted against the area to be redrawn | quote |
| Quayside sonar + paired aerial scan — 20 m offset across the full 500 m quay length, run alongside the main deployment | per full-length inspection | R 37,000 |
| Quayside sonar — as a standalone later deployment (30 m offset, own mobilisation) | per full-length inspection | R 55,000 |
| Point-cloud classification — per category / type layered or classed (e.g. aircon, cars, stock) | per category | quote |
| Point-cloud registration — ties the whole dataset into the world coordinate system. Unreferenced, the data is accurate within itself; referenced, it is accurate within the world around it | per project | R 7,500 |
| 4 · L4 / specialist services (TBQ after initial scan) | ||
| GPR & other specialist underground work | after initial scan | TBQ |
| In-ceiling / roof-void capture | Specialist L4 | TBQ |
| Land Survey — total station, interiors | Surveyor · L4 | TBQ |
| 5 · Travel (see calculator) | ||
| Team travel & accommodation (flights/road, nights, transport) | per trip · by team & days | calculator |
| Drone flight application — CAA + TNPA (1 per trip included; re-application on cancellation) | per application | R 2,750 |
| 6 · Hosting | ||
| Data hosting (Phase 4 · visualisation) — 1 month complimentary; subscriptions optional | per project, once volumes known | TBC |
Pick a specification at the top and the areas & included add-ons fill in automatically — then fine-tune any quantity for a live total (excl. VAT). Firm rates are built in; TBQ items (LOD 400, GPR, sonar, in-ceiling, land survey) are quoted separately after the initial scan. Travel rates are editable — enter current figures.
Trips, crew, home cities and nights are derived from your specification and add-ons above — the two-part capture, who travels, and the site days all flow through. Only the rates below are editable. Flights & accommodation are estimates, verified on commitment and invoiced at cost.
Straight from the engineer's CAD: the demolition and construction zones with their periods, our capture programme mapped against them, and how construction monitoring feeds handover and the start of the FM solution. Everything lives here so scope, time and team stay in one place.
What's happening on the ground over the coming month, driven by the package you pick. Set your start date, switch packages, and swap the interior method to see the timeline shift. Click any event for its full detail — team, service, fee basis and description.
The same schedule as the cards above, laid out as a Gantt and extended through processing and the drawings / 3D-modelling window. Updates live with the package, interior method and start date.
Periods: P1 Sep 26–Feb 27 · P2 Mar–Aug 27 · P3 Sep 27–Mar 28 · P4 Apr–May 28. Dates as annotated on the CAD; to be reconciled with the contractor's live programme.
The whole engagement across the construction periods (Sep 2026 – May 2028), for context beyond the four-week view above.
Team types: Lead Drone Scanning Surveyor Asset — the drone team is a subcontractor.
Crew & origins: Part 1 — Rico (Johannesburg) + Ryan (Cape Town, drone); Part 2 — Ruan (Cape Town) + Rico (Johannesburg), + Jonathan (Johannesburg) for assets if selected. Travel is projected automatically from these in the calculator.
■ scan · ■ processing/BIM · ◆ monitoring milestone · ■ handover · ■ FM. Bars are indicative; see the detailed view for day/week durations.
| Task | Team type | Duration | Window |
|---|---|---|---|
| Planning, permits & approvals | Lead | ~2 wks | Pre-mobilisation |
| Travel & mobilisation to Durban | Lead | 1 day | Start of Part 1 · Wed 5 Aug 2026 |
| Part 1 · GCPs on permanent features | Surveyor | ~1 day | Part 1 |
| Part 1 · Drone 3D mapping (roof, yard, quay) | Drone | ~1 day | Part 1 · subject to CAA/port |
| Part 1 · 360 virtual tour | Scanning | ~½ day | Part 1 |
| Part 1 · Manhole inspections | Asset | ~1 day | Part 1 |
| Scan 1 · Quayside sonar + paired drone scan (L3, if selected) | Drone Sonar | +1 day | Scan 1 · spring low tide |
| Process & review window | Data Lead | 1~2 wks | Between visits · incl. L4 approval |
| Part 2 · Internal capture — technical twin (SLAM/TLS as add-on) | Scanning Surveyor | ~4 days | Part 2 |
| Part 2 · Land Survey / GPR — location-specific (if required) | Surveyor | TBQ | Part 2 |
| Asset verification (if add-on) | Asset | ~1–2 days | Following Part 2 |
| Georeferencing & QA | Scan/Data | ~2 wks | Processing |
| BIM LOD 200 model | Data | ~3–4 wks | Processing |
| M1–M6 · Construction-monitoring rescans | Scan Survey Drone | ~1 day each | At milestones → May 28 |
| Handover · tour + document handling | Lead | 1~2 wks | Completion (May 28) |
| FM solution — setup & ongoing | Lead | ongoing | Post-handover |
Scan visits are measured in days, processing in weeks, and monitoring spans the months of construction — durations to be confirmed once access windows are agreed.
Week 1 · from Mon 27 Jul — the drone-flight applications are already lodged with the CAA and TNPA; clearance is expected 3–5 August. No field work is scheduled against this week.
| Week | Focus | Team |
|---|---|---|
| Week 2 · from Wed 5 Aug | Approvals in hand, mobilise and run Part 1 as a single visit — GPS control on permanent features, full-site aerial LiDAR, the 360 virtual tour and the quayside sonar on the spring low-water window. On the Extended package the perimeter points-of-interest capture runs in the same trip. | Surveyor Scan Drone Asset |
| Week 3 | Finish Part 1, then process & review — register the exterior data, start drawing the full exterior with services, and scope what Part 2 needs. | Data Lead |
| Week 4 | Part 2 — return for the internal capture via the technical twin, roughly 4 days at LOD 200 density across the 46,600 m² measured scope. | Scan Surveyor |
| Week 5 | Close out any nominated high-detail items and manhole or asset capture if selected, then straight into processing. The mobile-mapping speed option only comes in here if a faster turnaround is required. | Scan Asset |
The Part 1 & 2 baseline captures the whole terminal before demolition — the reference every later milestone registers back to.
Milestone rescans catch below-ground services before backfill, verify structure & services against the model, and keep the as-built live — reducing rework and disputes.
At completion the virtual tour becomes the handover & document-handling front door, then rolls directly into the FM solution going forward.
Every risk flagged across the services, gathered here so we can plan one mitigation strategy — and decide which risk is best answered by a change of technology or a shift in timing. High risks are the ones to resolve before mobilising. This table is generated from the same data as the deep-dives, so it stays in sync.
| Item | Level | Why it's a risk | How to overcome (technology / timing) |
|---|
These general terms apply to the engagement. Service-specific terms are also attached to each service in its deep-dive. All are placeholders for RCS3D legal review before issue.
RCS3D is lead consultant, integrating specialists under one point of accountability (a 30% management fee covers this integration on 3rd-party services).
Project Coordinator & Team Lead · Johannesburg
Coordination and on-site delivery — leading the team and assisting across the board (360 virtual tour, scanning, ground control). On site for both Part 1 and Part 2.
Field Capture Lead · Cape Town
Main capture technician (most on-site scanning), secondary drone pilot, and asset data collection via our data-collection app.
Data Analyst · Johannesburg
Processing, registration, QA and deliverable preparation. Joins Part 2 on site for asset data collection if asset verification is selected.
Primary Drone Pilot & Surveyor · Cape Town · subcontractor
Lead aerial capture and ground control point (GCP) verification (3rd-party — carries the 30% management fee).
We describe our kit by grade rather than brand, so we stay platform-neutral. Enterprise = highest-grade / survey-critical, Pro = professional, Essentials = light / visual.