EP 27 · 2022-03-21 · 44:54
How 3D LiDAR Scanning Cuts Construction Change Orders by 50% — Colin Gillis, Smarter Spaces
Colin Gillis of Smarter Spaces shows how 3D LiDAR scanning cuts construction change orders by 50% and explains why Atlantic Canada developers are still leaving millions on the table.
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Colin Gillis, BBA, MCPM
⟶ The story, written up — a sharp read with every fact on the record. Or skip straight to the moments that matter, as clips.
// CHAPTERS — TAP TO JUMP THE PLAYER
0:04Origin Story: Bell Alliant to LiDAR Pioneer — Colin and co-founder Dan McIntosh grew up together in Port Hawkesbury, diverged through corporate careers at Bell Alliant, then Colin left first — a decade running IPAC Project Management before identifying the 2016 mobile-LiDAR opportunity and founding Smarter Spaces.2:00The Change-Order Business Case — Construction projects run 14% over budget as an industry norm. Smarter Spaces' existing-conditions LiDAR scanning can cut those overages by ~50%, translating to ~$700K savings on a $10M project. The host and Colin discuss mobile vs. terrestrial scanner trade-offs and the millimeter-accuracy desktop workflow that emerged only recently.6:10Above-Ceiling Scanning: Hospitals and Complex Renovations — Above-ceiling change orders in hospitals can run 75% over budget because of hidden MEP infrastructure. Smarter Spaces developed a 360-HDR camera platform with a virtual-tour layer — including a reflected ceiling plan with radar overlay — allowing distributed consultant teams to trace pipes and plan connections remotely, as demonstrated at Halifax Infirmary.9:20New Builds, Heritage, and Niche Applications — Geothermal pipe as-built scans reveal up to 10-foot deviations from drawings on new construction. Historic facade shift monitoring on bi-weekly cycles protects public safety and heritage. Other applications include floor-level surveys, salt-dome volumetrics, George's Island tunnel documentation, and Parks Canada conversations around Citadel Hill preservation.14:30BIM Integration, New-Build Scanning Cadence, and Lifecycle Value — Smarter Spaces scans buildings mid-construction on 2-week to monthly intervals, overlaying point clouds onto Revit/BIM models to catch clashes in real time rather than three months later. Behind-wall and above-ceiling 360 scans before seal-up create a lifecycle data asset, with a dramatic stat: a knocked sprinkler head costs $10,000 per minute in water damage.20:00Focus, Fire Safety, and Accessibility Services — Colin explains the discipline of not chasing squirrels — staying focused on the commercial/institutional building portfolio. The firm expanded into fire-safety plans (legislated under the National Building Code) after the Halifax auditor-general flagged uninspected buildings, and has since added Rick Hansen accessibility-certification auditing ahead of the 2030 built-environment mandate.27:20Pre-Sale Virtual Tours and BIM-to-Sales Pipeline — Smarter Spaces renders pre-construction 3D virtual tours (Revit + Unity/Unreal Engine) enabling developers to pre-sell units before a shovel hits the ground. Projects include The Margaretta (BANK Group) and The George (Alluvian Group). The next frontier: interactive material/finish customization inside the tour to capture bulk-order commitments.32:40Team, Culture, Growth Plans, and Closing Advice — A 10+ person team split across field collection and production (3-4 production hours per field hour). Post-COVID, the team voted unanimously to stay remote; daily huddles and monthly events maintain cohesion. Growth target: $10M revenue requiring expansion beyond Atlantic Canada, likely through existing national clients like Crombie. Closing message: stop throwing money away — use the technology.
// THE INTRO
Episode 27 features Colin Gillis, co-founder of Smarter Spaces, a Halifax-based firm specializing in 3D LiDAR scanning, laser technology, and virtual-tour platforms for the built environment. Colin traces the origin story from a corporate Bell Alliant career to a decade of 'cutting his teeth' in project management consulting, then the 2016 pivot to mobile LiDAR when he and co-founder Dan McIntosh identified early timing in the Canadian market. The conversation covers the full service spectrum: reducing renovation change orders by ~50% on multi-million-dollar projects, above-ceiling 360-camera documentation for hospital renovations, geothermal pipe as-built scanning on new builds, historic-facade shift monitoring, volumetric salt-dome measurement, fire-safety plan production, accessibility auditing under the Rick Hansen 2030 certification, and 3D virtual tours that let developers pre-sell units before construction begins. Colin is candid about the sales challenge of convincing building owners to invest upfront for lifecycle payoffs and explicit about the company's 10-million-dollar growth target requiring expansion beyond Atlantic Canada. The host connects Smarter Spaces' work to a broader regional theme of BIM/Revit adoption and digital twinning already discussed with Dexel and DesignPoint guests.
// THE LESSONS
See all 18 lessons ▸Industry-standard 14% construction overages are largely preventable with existing-conditions LiDAR scanning, yet most building owners accept them as inevitable.
“typically in construction you're in for 14 percent in overages no matter what and it's just kind of crazy how it's just accepted”
Bringing a 3D scanning firm in at the preliminary stage can reduce renovation change orders by approximately 50%, translating to ~$700K savings on a $10M project.
“just by engaging us bringing us into update existing conditions we've reduced changers by about 50 so on a 10 million dollar project you're talking about 1.4 million”
Mobile LiDAR (walk-through, no photography) can be deployed in occupied spaces including hospitals and boardrooms, eliminating the need to clear a building for a scan.
“the mobile lidar is you don't have to empty the office it doesn't take idef photography so it's great we used it in nursing homes and hospitals”
Above-ceiling hospital renovations historically run 75% over their change-order budgets because of hidden MEP complexity; 360-HDR camera documentation virtually eliminates that surprise.
“above ceiling or even worse would be like 75 percent over like it was just ridiculous how much gets pushed through because you don't know what's there”
As-built scanning of geothermal pipes on new construction reveals deviations up to 10 feet from original drawings, a hidden liability that can turn a $10K parking-lot fix into a $500K repair.
“from the original drawings to what we scanned and where they're actually located could be off by as much as 10 feet”
Scanning historic facades on a bi-weekly basis catches structural shift early, providing both public-safety protection and a permanent digital record for heritage restoration.
“if it shifts a couple inches over two weeks then that's enough to say okay let's go check this out and shore it up”
Point-cloud data captured during construction provides a lifecycle maintenance asset: maintenance teams can remotely measure or trace a pipe from their phone years later, reducing call-out time.
“if you can pull up on your phone unit 302 jump into that unit and see where all the pipes are located exactly what's above the ceiling”
A knocked sprinkler head produces approximately $10,000 per minute in water damage — lifecycle documentation that lets maintenance staff locate sprinklers precisely before any intervention pays for itself quickly.
“a sprinkler head if you knock a sprinkler head off in any type of damage is about ten thousand dollars a minute”
Staying narrowly focused on a specific segment (commercial/institutional buildings) while resisting adjacent opportunities is what allowed Smarter Spaces to build deep expertise and avoid diluting capacity.
“you've got to stop chasing squirrels sometimes so like there's cool things you could do but your target is mainly commercial construction”
For a tech-services firm, the hardest sale is the lifecycle ROI argument — convincing clients to spend now for savings five years out is categorically harder than same-project change-order reduction.
“that's probably the toughest sellers is to spend up front to save five years from now”
Translating technical capability to non-technical decision-makers requires reframing from technology features to business outcomes: pre-sell units, cut change orders, reduce lifecycle maintenance costs.
“really not about the technology it's about the value and the problems you solve”
Repeat clients are the bedrock of a professional-services business: 80% of Smarter Spaces revenue comes from existing clients, managed largely by the operations co-founder without a formal sales title.
“existing clients are 80 of our business and he manages those relationships so he does a fabulous job there”
Post-COVID remote work delivered a unanimous vote in favor of no office: productivity rose and the field/production nature of the work meant many staff weren't in the office anyway.
“does anybody want to go back to the office the answer is no — productivity has really gone up”
Hiring from NSCC architectural technology and drafting programs provides Revit-literate graduates who fit the production workflow; culture and personality fit matter more than program variances.
“at that point they both have skills in revit so for us it's really about the personality and the fit with our culture”
For every field hour of 3D scanning, a firm needs 3-4 production hours of processing, creating a leveraged local employment model where one field hire can justify two to three processing hires.
“for every hour we're in the field there's probably three to four hours of production to turn that into a usable item”
Pre-construction 3D virtual tours allow developers to pre-sell units and potentially commit to bulk material orders (flooring, countertops) before a shovel is in the ground, compressing supply-chain lead times.
“if you could pre-sell 80 of your units and know what kind of flooring you're going to use then you can place a bulk order”
COVID accelerated construction-technology adoption by a decade, and firms that pivoted during lockdown (e.g., marketing virtual tours, above-ceiling documentation) emerged with differentiated offerings.
“kovit accelerated the whole construction industry related to 3d scanning and technology and drones”
Regulatory pressure (fire-safety legislation, Rick Hansen 2030 accessibility mandate) creates reliable, recurring demand for scanning and documentation services tied to compliance deadlines.
“we recognized that there was a large gap there and the auditor general from the city shone a big light on it”
// CLIPS FROM THIS EPISODE
All 18 lessons from this episode, on one page.
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// FEATURED BUSINESSES
Smarter Spaces Inc.
Halifax-based reality-capture firm that uses mobile 2D/3D LiDAR laser scanning to produce as-built dra…
Crombie Real Estate Investment Trust
A publicly traded Canadian real estate investment trust (TSX: CRR.UN) that owns, operates, and develop…
BANC Group of Companies
Halifax-based developer and manager of residential, mixed-use, and commercial real estate, operating a…
IPECC (Initiate, Plan, Execute, Control, Close)
Halifax-based project management and relocation-planning firm co-founded by Colin Gillis and Dan MacIn…
// FACT-CHECKED ✓ web-verified, with sources
✓ VERIFIED
Regulatory pressure from fire-safety legislation and the Rick Hansen 2030 accessibility mandate creates reliable, recurring demand for scanning services.
Both pillars confirmed: (1) Nova Scotia Fire Safety Act and National Fire Code require approved fire safety plans for buildings with fire alarm systems — confirmed real regulatory requirement. (2) Nova Scotia's Accessibility Act (2017) sets an accessible Nova Scotia goal by 2030, in partnership with…
SOURCE ▸✓ VERIFIED
Halifax auditor-general flagged uninspected buildings, creating compliance demand for fire-safety plan scanning.
The 2023 Report of the Auditor General to the Nova Scotia House of Assembly identified that the Office of the Fire Marshal does not complete required audits, does not conduct oversight of municipal inspections, and 100% of inspection files tested lacked appropriate supporting evidence. This validate…
SOURCE ▸// COMPANIES & ORGS ✓ verified
Smarter Spaces Inc. ▸Colin Gillis, BBA, MCPMDan MacIntosh, AT, MCPMIPECC Inc. ▸BANC Group of Companies ▸Crombie Real Estate Investment Trust ▸Rick Hansen Foundation Accessibility Certification (RHFAC)
// PROJECTS NAMED
Halifax Infirmary above-ceiling renovationPress Block (Province House adjacent)George's Island tunnel scanningCitadel Hill preservationMcMac Mall exterior scanBANC Group of CompaniesThe George (Alluvian Group)22 Minute Studio floor-level surveyIWK Health Centre scanningQueens General Hospital scanning
SOURCE: podscope · public episode data · dZWhmTFCsTA