Guides
Guides: from survey to finished plan
Most real questions are not about tools but about sequence: in what order do you measure? How much of a balcony counts? What do you do with an old JPEG whose source file is long gone?
Each guide walks one concrete task from start to finish, names the usual pitfalls, and is honest about the limits — for example where a survey has to stand up legally.
Every page in this section
- Calculating living area under the German WoFlVCalculating living area under the German Wohnflächenverordnung: every factor, which rooms drop out, how balconies and slopes count, step by step.
- Digitising a floor plan from a photoTurn a photo or scan of an old floor plan into an editable drawing: preparation, workflow, clean-up afterwards, and the limits of the method.
- Creating a floor plan for a property listingWhat makes a listing floor plan sell: labelling, reduction, furniture, areas, and the right output for print, portals and email.
- Drawing a floor plan to scaleDrawing to scale means calibrating once, then working consistently in metres. Which scale for which job and how it survives the export.
- Balconies in the living area: 25 or 50 per cent?How balconies, loggias, roof gardens and terraces enter the German living area figure: 25 per cent as the rule, 50 as the exception, and how to evidence it.
- Sloped ceilings: calculating living area correctlyBelow one metre counts nothing, one to two metres counts half, above two metres counts in full: finding the lines under a sloped ceiling, step by step.
- Creating a 3D floor plan from a 2D drawingTurning a drawn plan into a spatial view: where 3D helps in sales, which viewing angle works, and where the limits of the method are.
- Checking a floor plan before publicationThe automatic plan check finds doors off walls, rooms with no access and furniture inside walls — errors that only show once a portal enlarges the image.
- Furnishing a floor plan sensiblyUsing furniture on a plan properly: realistic dimensions, clear circulation, few symbols. Prove that a room works instead of claiming it.
- Setting up floor plans across several storeysDocumenting multi-level properties: aligning storeys, connecting stairs, keeping areas per floor and getting everything into one document.
- Sharing a floor plan by linkSharing a plan through a view-only link: always current, nothing editable, no attachment in the inbox. When it is the better option.
- Scanning a floor plan with LiDARCapturing rooms with the LiDAR sensor and turning them into a plan: workflow, accuracy, typical failure points and the clean-up afterwards.
- Edit a floor plan online, without installing anythingEdit a floor plan in the browser: move walls, rename rooms, recalculate areas, place furniture. Editing is free; the PDF export is part of the subscription.
- Digitise a floor plan – four routes to an editable fileFour routes from the floor plan you have to an editable file: photo, PDF, iPhone scan or template – with scale, areas and the export for listings and CAD.
- A free floor plan for your listing – what is free and what is notDrawing, editing, checking and the 3D view cost nothing; the listing PDF, OpenImmo and AI are part of the subscription. What you get without an account.