Garden and landscape laser scanning: every level, captured

A 3D laser survey of the whole garden. We capture the ground levels, the house wall and its damp-proof course, steps, walls, fences, trees, drains and manholes, then give you a scaled plan with levels and contours, plus the point cloud and a 3D model.

Levels decide almost everything in a garden build: how many steps, how high a retaining wall, where water drains, whether a patio sits 150 mm below the damp-proof course, and how much soil comes out. A design drawn without them is guesswork.

It covers the same ground for a domestic garden and goes further, because you get the full 3D scan as well as the drawn plan. For planning applications that need a survey on Ordnance Datum, tell us at booking and we'll tie the scan to it.

Most gardens are scanned in a single visit, and you don't need to be in for all of it. The levels plan follows in three to five working days.

No, we measure. The scan goes to your garden designer or landscaper. If you need a builder for the work, we can pass you to contractors who use our surveys.

Far more accurate than a garden design needs: points are measured to millimetres, and the levels plan shows spot levels and contours at 100 mm or your chosen interval. Our Trimble X9 is specified at 2.3 mm 3D point accuracy at 10 m. In practice the limit is what the scanner can see, so dense planting and clutter matter more than the instrument.

Generally at least 150 mm below the damp-proof course, with the patio falling away from the house. That gap stops rain splashing above the DPC and water bridging into the wall; level thresholds need a drainage channel and careful detailing. A garden scan records the DPC height, door thresholds and air bricks, so the designer sets patio levels from real numbers instead of finding the problem on site.

It records each tree's trunk position, spread and approximate height, which is what a garden designer needs for layout. It is not an arboricultural tree survey. If trees affect a planning application or foundations, a BS 5837 survey by an arboriculturist assesses condition, root protection areas and constraints. The scan gives them an accurate base plan to work on.

It finds what is visible: manholes, inspection chambers, gullies, downpipes and cover levels. A laser scanner cannot see buried pipes or cables, so drain runs between chambers are not shown. If you need those, a CCTV drain survey or utility trace is the right tool, and the results can be added to the scan plan by your designer.

Only where it can see it. The scanner needs a line of sight to the surface, so ground hidden under thick shrubs, hedges or long grass is not measured directly. We add set-ups to see behind walls and planting, which is why heavily planted gardens can take longer, and any area we could not capture is marked on the plan rather than guessed.

The levels plan comes as PDF and DWG, which opens in AutoCAD, Vectorworks and most landscape design packages. The point cloud is supplied in standard formats such as E57 or LAS. A cleaned 3D surface model in DWG or a SketchUp-ready format can be added for designers who model the garden in 3D.

Yes. Send the scan, drone survey or level data with the coordinate system it is in, and we produce a scaled levels plan with spot levels and contours for your designer. The plan can only show what the survey captured, so areas under dense planting or out of sight will be marked rather than guessed.