“It doesn’t cost much to do laser scanning, and you will get much better quality. It is advisable to try and avoid using surveyors only to measure terrain and existing structures with the use of a total station. It is instead preferable to prepare 3D scan data as this enables one to collect and process all the information that is needed for an existing building, or terrain for a green field project, and it can often be delivered within the same day or two. Scanning will provide data on basically everything that is visible, and you can later filter out what you don’t need in your design.”