Project Overview
The Homewood Suites project in downtown Chattanooga involved creating complete as-built floorplans for a multi-story hotel. ATDrafting and Consulting provided accurate 2D documentation for every level of the building, helping the ownership team prepare for upcoming renovation and facility management updates.
Field Tools and Workflow
To streamline the field measurement process, I used a combination of LiDAR-based scanning and manual verification. Using MagicPlan on the iPhone, I was able to scan each room individually, capturing floor geometry and even furniture layouts. While the LiDAR scans provided a fast and organized starting point, they weren’t always perfectly accurate—sometimes differing by a couple of inches.
To tighten tolerances down to roughly ¼ inch, I verified dimensions with a Bosch laser measuring tool and, when needed, confirmed with the classic Stanley steel tape. This hybrid workflow combined the efficiency of digital scanning with the precision of traditional measurement.
- Details
- Written by: ArtisanTony
You Can Do This!
Welcome to the Project Forum where we plan and build your projects! This is Mike's Barndo-minium that we designed together and I am currently consulting with him on building for himself acting as his own general contractor. You can do this also with my help! The left side of this structure is a 1,200 SF, two story living area and the right side is the shop. Mike and his family will live here while we plan his main home to be built next. To the right are progress pics and below, one of the first Elevations we created.
The forum is for ATDrafting and Consulting customers. If you would like to sign up please use this form. If you don't need drafting services but want construction consulting services for your project, please note this on the form and I will customize a plan for your project!
This was a very interesting project. My customer is an engineer and still draws the old fashioned way which is kind of cool I started off in Junior High School drawing by hand in my mechanical drawing class drawing nuts and bolts which are harder to draw than you might think. So when Jim asked for help with this project, I was kind of excited to help him with it. His client needed the drawing in CAD format so I thought I would propose a twist from the traditional boring isometric drawings you have seen all your life. So I cranked up SketchUp and gave it the old artisan try. I tried to give it a combination look somewhere between isometric and pure 3D. I think it turned out pretty good.
I recently completed the course "The Architectural Imagination" created for online learning from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. The instructor is Michael Hays, who is the Eliot Noyes Professor of Architectural Theory and Harvard.
This course was excellent and really exceeded my expectations. I did not go to architecture school. I chose the builder path but always loved architecture and spent 7 years working for architects early in my career learning all that I could so I could incorporate the philosophy into my design-build business which I have run since 2004. I focus mainly on residential projects where licensing is not an issue. But I respect the structure that is set up to train and license architects in the our country. I am a licensed general contractor and understand the value of education and continuous learning and training.
This course exposed me to some of the things I missed like the awesome history and philosophy associated with architecture. We learned about architectural typology and evolution of architecture from the classical era to the modern. There were great lectures by Michael Hayes and you really got a feel of what it might be like to sit with other students and learn about architecture. I would recommend this course to anyone in the design-build industry. Maybe if enough of we contractors did this, the great divide might be eliminated.