How to Prepare Your Home for a 3D Scan

A little preparation helps us make the most of your scanning appointment. Whether you need existing-condition floor plans, a 3D model, or documentation for a remodel, the goal is simple: safe access and a clear view of the building features your project needs.

Your home can remain furnished. Focus on access, visibility, and a plan for people and pets during the visit.

1. Confirm the areas to capture

Identify the rooms, floors, garages, and exterior areas included in your project. Tell us about locked rooms, occupied rental spaces, restricted areas, and any features your designer specifically needs documented.

Roof surfaces, attics, crawlspaces, and concealed areas require advance discussion. Their inclusion depends on the agreed scope, safe access, and whether the relevant surfaces can be captured from available scanning positions.

2. Secure dogs and other pets

Please keep dogs and other pets securely away from our work areas for the entire appointment. Even friendly pets can follow a technician through a doorway or get underfoot around equipment.

We may need to move repeatedly between the home, garage, side yards, and backyard. A dog loose in the yard can block the exterior access your project needs.

Arrange a comfortable, secure location outside the scanning route. If that location also needs to be scanned, discuss a relocation plan with us before work begins. A household member should remain responsible for moving and supervising pets.

3. Clear paths and unlock access

Put away shoes, toys, loose cords, boxes, and other trip hazards. Leave enough space to carry equipment through doorways and move around rooms. Unlock required doors and gates, and have keys or access instructions available.

For exterior work, clear access along the building where practical. Move vehicles or lightweight items that block a required wall or entrance when it is safe to do so. Please do not move heavy furniture, climb onto roofs, or create access over unsafe surfaces.

4. Make important features visible

Laser scanning records surfaces within the scanner’s line of sight. Furniture and stored belongings can hide wall edges, corners, windows, and other details.

Where practical, move small, lightweight belongings away from the features your project needs documented. Pay attention to crowded corners, window openings, narrow passages, and rooms being remodeled. Tell us about anything that cannot be cleared so we can discuss the capture limitations.

Have normal room lighting available for any photography or walkthrough imagery included in your package.

5. Put private items away

Consider what may appear in photographs, panoramic imagery, or other project files. Put away private paperwork, screens displaying personal information, and belongings you do not want recorded.

Tell us about privacy restrictions before scanning starts. If a room must be excluded, identify it clearly and discuss how that affects the requested deliverables.

6. Keep the space consistent

Once work begins, leave furniture, stored items, and doors in the positions agreed with the technician. Ask household members to stay outside the active scanning area and follow the technician’s directions when moving between rooms.

If other contractors will be working during the visit, coordinate their access in advance.

Your appointment checklist

• Secure pets away from indoor and outdoor scanning routes.

• Unlock the rooms and gates included in the appointment.

• Clear doorways, stairs, and walking paths.

• Make priority walls, corners, and openings visible where practical.

• Put away private documents and personal items.

• Tell us about access restrictions, hazards, and active construction.

• Have someone available to answer property-access questions.

Have a question about your property?

Contact Spot On Measure before your appointment so we can plan around your home and project. We serve Boise, Meridian, Eagle, Nampa, Caldwell, and nearby Treasure Valley communities.

Related guides: 3D tours vs. laser scanning · Construction scans before drywall

Technical reference: FARO Laser Scanner Best Practices.