Overview

• Canadian Cutting & Scanning inspects two very different locations for structural defects. The first location the McLoughlin waste-water treatment plant, the second location is the hockey grandstand at Tamanawis Park, Canada.
• INSPECT software was used to record findings, create instant inspection reports and develop a ‘health’ record of the assets.
• They achieved same day reports for their clients and the ability to scale their business like never before.

Meet John Van Dyk, P.Eng., the owner and inspector at Canadian Cutting & Scanning. He has decades of experience in structural engineering, general contracting and bought Concrete Cutting 20 years ago.

In addition to Canadian's concrete cutting and GPR scanning services (using the Proceq GP8000) he provides specialist engineering services. Most of his work as a consulting engineer focuses on seismic restraints for electrical equipment in Vancouver, Canada, specifically transformers, standby power generators and electrical cable trays built to withstand earthquake loads.

The Challenge

All assets need detailed documentation including notes and images for every inspection. Traditionally, John would conduct inspections on site with paper, pen, and a digital camera.

After completing the onsite visit, he would take his notes and photos back to his office and spend several hours, even sometimes days compiling an inspection report for the asset owner.

This wasn’t ideal as asset owners often demand the report as soon as possible. He also had no historical data to reference when planning for his inspection, leaving him to start from scratch.

Wastewater Treatment Plant Inspection

As one of John’s bigger sites, he took about 30 minutes prior to the inspection to set up his inspection report template, uploading seven drawings into the 2D view in Inspect, and customizing the data fields he was going to need to collect when onsite.

While he was onsite, he had his iPad with the Inspect app, allowing him to take images and record spots with notes of any defects found throughout the building and surrounding area. All his data was instantly saved in the cloud with the Inspect app.

Once he completed the inspection, he spent only five minutes selecting all the spots on the drawings he wanted to include in his report for the owner, and generated the report using his electrical report template. John was very impressed with the amount of time (or lack thereof) it took to generate his detailed inspection report.

“” - _{John Van Dyk.}

Hockey Grandstand Inspection

For smaller inspections, John doesn’t need to do any prep work in Inspect. Throughout his inspection of the grandstand, John took photos of any defects found and annotated them in the Inspect app.

For example, a drain was placed wrong near the grandstand and the asphalt wasn’t sloped properly. This was quickly noted in the app and could be referenced easily later on when generating the report. After the inspection was completed, John set up the report in Inspect using his documentation and generated a report for his customer within the same day.

The Solution

With the data collected for this asset, John now has a historic record he can bring to the owner the following year when the next inspection is due. He’ll be able to show where defects have gotten worse, stayed the same, or improved and track the progress annually. This gives John the opportunity for potential repeat business and gives the owners a more comprehensive record of their assets overtime, saving them time and money on additional repairs and inspections.

Without Inspect, owners only get a snapshot of their asset’s health, creating duplicated work for inspectors and wasting valuable time and money each year.

With the saved time, plus the opportunity for regular inspections, Inspect has given Canadian Cutting & Scanning the ability to take on more clients and complete inspections in less time, helping their business grow exponentially.

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