Marco, an architect we’d already worked with before, got in touch about a two-storey terraced house just off Boundary Road in Wood Green. His clients, David and Kate, were planning future works and needed a solid measured base in CAD so design decisions wouldn’t be guesswork.
The brief was clear and focused:
- Ground floor plan
- First floor plan
- Roof plan
- Front and rear elevations (including a slice of the adjoining properties either side)
- One long section
- All delivered in DWG format, ready for design, planning, and any technical work.
Because the house was fully occupied and it was half-term for the family, we knew good coordination and minimal disruption would be just as important as accurate drawings.
Scoping the work and agreeing the slot
Marco first emailed with the scope and a Google Maps pin so we could quickly understand the property. From there, we:
- Prepared a detailed written quotation listing every drawing and confirming DWG deliverables.
- Shared the quote with Marco and confirmed we could accommodate the project promptly.
Once David and Kate confirmed they wanted to go ahead, we moved the conversation onto dates. We initially suggested Sunday for the survey, but with half-term plans that wasn’t ideal for the family. After a few back-and-forth emails, we agreed on:
- Survey date: Wednesday 29th October
- Arrival time: Between 10:00 am and 10:30 am
We then issued the initial invoice to secure the slot. There was a small mix-up on who was paying the deposit, but once Kate had the invoice attached, she sent the payment through and confirmed. When the funds landed, we:
- Sent the payment receipt
- Confirmed the survey as booked and locked in
- Shared the surveyor’s details (Ali, with contact number and arrival window) so they knew exactly who would be arriving.
On site – measured survey in a busy family home
On the day, Ali attended within the agreed time window. The flat was lived in (as Kate had warned us), so he worked carefully around furniture and family life to keep the disruption to a minimum.
Equipment and approach included:
- Disto laser for quick, accurate internal dimensions on both floors
- Tape checks for key diagonals, stair runs and tighter spaces
- Careful noting of:
- Structural walls vs partitions
- Stair position and headroom for the long section
- Door and window locations, sill and head heights
- External checks at the front and rear to support:
- Accurate elevations
- The long section through the house
- A simple front/rear garden outline based on OS mapping with spot levels at the thresholds (as requested in the original brief)
Because Marco’s scope didn’t require a full topographical survey, we focused on capturing exactly what he needed for design, and no more.
Turning the survey into drawings
Back in the studio, our CAD team converted the field data into a clean, standardised drawing set:
- Existing ground floor plan
- Existing first floor plan
- Existing roof plan
- Existing front and rear elevations (including a small portion of the neighbours either side for context)
- A long section through the property
Everything was produced in AutoCAD with our usual UK-friendly layering (separate layers for walls, doors, windows, structure, annotation, etc.), so Marco could immediately start blocking out proposed layouts and extension options.
Once the drawings were through our internal QA checks (dimensions tying up, floor-to-eaves and roof levels consistent across plans, section and elevations), we:
- Exported a draft PDF pack
- Issued it to Marco, David and Kate along with the final invoice
- Confirmed that on settlement of the balance, we’d release:
- Final DWG file
- Signed-off PDFs
- Any associated photos as required.
Marco had a quick review and came back with a simple “all looks great, thanks again for all your hard work,” which is exactly what we like to hear at the draft stage.
Final issue and inviting feedback
Once David confirmed that the final invoice had been paid, we:
- Sent a formal payment receipt
- Shared a secure link – “HERE” – giving them access to all final drawings and related files
- Closed the project on our system as Completed
In our closing email, Harry also invited David and Kate to leave a short review of their experience, with a view to supporting their future property developments and Marco’s ongoing design work.
Outcome
- David and Kate now have a reliable, to-scale CAD base of their terraced home.
- Marco has a clean, consistent drawing set (plans, elevations, section, roof) to develop future proposals without re-measuring.
- The project moved from booking to final DWGs in roughly two weeks, even with half-term scheduling constraints.
For us, it was another example of collaborating smoothly with a returning architect while keeping things simple and stress-free for the homeowners in a lived-in London terrace.
Project Details
| Service Type | Measured survey + existing drawings (2 floor plans, roof plan, front & rear elevations, long section) |
| Time Taken | Around 2 weeks |
| Budget | £750–£850 |
| Location | Boundary Road, Wood Green, North London |
