Setting Up Multi-Level Floor Plans for Commercial Properties

Residential multi-level scans are relatively straightforward: standard floor heights, similar room layouts per level, and a stairwell connecting them. Commercial properties are a different challenge — mixed-use floors with open plates, mezzanines, equipment rooms, and ceiling heights that vary from 8 feet in the back office to 24 feet in the lobby.

vPlan AR's multi-level system handles these buildings well once the level stack is set up deliberately. Here's how to configure it for a commercial project. (Adjusters handling commercial losses should also see our insurance adjuster workflow.)

Why Multi-Level Accuracy Matters in Commercial

In commercial construction and renovation, vertical accuracy has direct financial consequences. HVAC systems must route through ceiling plenums with specific clearance requirements. Electrical conduit runs between floors through designated penetrations. Fire suppression systems are zoned by floor area. An inaccurate floor-to-floor height translates into material waste, installation conflicts, and inspection failures.

For insurance adjusting on commercial properties, inaccurate floor plate areas multiply errors across every trade on a large-loss claim. A 3% area error on a 20,000 sq ft floor plate is 600 sq ft — which, multiplied across flooring, ceilings, drywall and paint, can mean a large estimate discrepancy.

Configuring Your Level Stack

Every project starts with a single Main Level at elevation 0. On iPhone, finish scanning a floor and tap "Add Another Level" to capture the next one. In the web editor, open the Levels tab on the right and click + (Add level) to choose a preset — Basement, Main Level, Level 2, Level 3 or Attic — or enter a custom name, elevation and ceiling height.

The presets assume 9-foot floors, which rarely matches a commercial building, so edit them. Each new level's suggested elevation is the previous level's elevation plus its ceiling height. For a building with a 14-foot ground floor and 10-foot upper floors, set Main Level = 0 ft with a 14 ft ceiling, Level 2 = 14 ft, Level 3 = 24 ft, and so on. Use architectural drawings if available.

Multi-level plans are available on every plan, including Free. Levels are saved with the project, so you can scan different floors on different days and the elevations stay correctly set.

Connecting Vertical Elements

Stairwells, elevator shafts, and open atriums need special handling because they're voids that pass through multiple floor plates. Draw them as their own labeled spaces on each level and set their Area Type to Other (or Unfinished) so they are kept out of finished living-area totals in square-footage reporting.

Add stairs with the editor's stair tool so they appear on the plan and on the dedicated STAIRS layer in DXF exports. Check that each stair footprint lines up with the opening on the level above.

Atriums that span multiple floors should be documented at the ground level with a note in the room label indicating the height. In the 3D view, all levels are shown simultaneously, making it easy to verify that vertical elements align correctly across floors.

Exporting the Complete Building Model

When all floors are scanned and reviewed, open the project and choose Export. The PDF covers every scanned level, with a room schedule that labels each room with its level name. The XML export can include all levels and their room data in a single file.

For engineering or architecture firms, DXF is usually the preferred format. vPlan AR can put every level in one DXF, each on its own layer set, stacked or side by side, with walls, doors, windows, openings, stairs, dimensions and annotations on separate layers. The 3D model export (GLB, USDZ or OBJ) stacks every level at its height for visualization, and Business adds IFC4 with a storey per level for Revit and ArchiCAD.

For structured data exports, the XML format includes each floor's rooms in sequence, with accurate dimensions and opening data per room. The recipient receives one file covering the entire building. Not sure which format fits your recipient? Our export format guide breaks down PDF, DXF, OBJ, and XML by who's actually opening the file.

Scanning Large Open Floor Plates

Open-plan offices, retail floors and warehouses are harder to scan than houses because there are fewer walls for the scanner to anchor to. Work in sections: scan along the perimeter walls first, then move through the interior in overlapping passes, and use columns and fixed partitions as reference points.

LiDAR on iPhone and iPad has a reliable range of roughly 15 feet, so very tall ceilings and deep open spaces may not be fully captured from one position. For high-ceiling spaces such as lobbies, enter or adjust the ceiling height on the level in the editor rather than relying on detection.

Basements, Mezzanines and Split Levels

Treat each distinct floor elevation as its own level. A mezzanine becomes a level with its own elevation, even if it covers only part of the floor below. A basement uses a negative elevation so it is recognized as below grade — which keeps it out of above-grade area totals in square-footage reporting.

Split-level buildings with half-flights between areas work the same way: create a level for each elevation band and name them clearly ("Lower Office", "Upper Office") so the exports read logically.