Coming from an electrical contractor’s BIM department, I have seen firsthand that what we model isn’t necessarily getting installed. Field conditions shift, and digital as-builts are a must. What used to be done through redlines can now be done with simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) and LiDAR. These tools streamline documentation and change collaboration as a whole. As technology evolves, electrical contractors must pivot, not only in the collection of the scan, but what we do with it.

Stop hoarding the scan

Generally speaking, contractors have treated scans like proprietary information. If you’re scanning for internal documentation, as-built installation or QA/QC, that data would then be kept in the walls of your company. Think of what we could do if we stopped viewing it as a private asset and started thinking of it as a team resource?

Ask yourself: What if sharing this data helped our company more than protecting it?

The industry has a habit of locking down information, especially when we’re the ones controlling the tools. There is a bigger opportunity in collaboration. When we offer SLAM and LiDAR data to the full team—GCs and even the owners included—we don’t just improve coordination, we position ourselves as technology leaders and open doors that could potentially lead to an on-site presence after the project wraps up.

Collaboration is the new differentiator

Let’s be clear: controlling the scan has real benefits. We can prioritize capture schedules, convert the point cloud when we’re ready and ensure accuracy from our perspective. This does not mean we have to keep it to ourselves.

When we scan a project, consider stopping by the general contractor’s trailer to report progress and offer the scan to anyone who needs it. This isn’t about handing off trade secrets; it’s about building trust through the entire team.

This transparency can build partnerships, and in today’s industry, where GCs are evaluating more than just cost, this mindset matters. They’re looking for trade partners who bring more than tools. They want contractors who solve problems before they surface, share data freely and make the entire team’s job easier.

“We don’t just want an electrician anymore,” one GC told me recently. “We want someone who can walk into the coordination meeting and lead the conversation with data, not guesswork.”

Building influence with every point cloud

With the evolution of scanning tools, collecting the data can be done quickly and efficiently, and more importantly, it is becoming a requirement. We are getting the data anyways. Why not share it? By sharing scans, we create a culture of accountability. If a wall gets framed wrong, there’s a record. If the mechanical trade needs confirmation of their duct placement, we can point them to the data. We stop playing the blame game and start solving issues based on facts, not memory.

This doesn’t mean every scan needs to go public, or that we abandon discretion. But where it makes sense, especially on complex projects where multiple trades are coordinating in tight spaces and compressed schedules, sharing your scans can raise your stock across the team.

In my own work, the benefits of this approach have been clear. On a recent hospital job, weekly SLAM scans helped flag a misaligned structural beam that would’ve caused a tens of thousands of dollars in rework down the line. By proactively sharing the scan, we were able bring the concern up in a coordination meeting, show the model to scan discrepancy and avoid the issue entirely. This saved the entire team time and money. This example was the foundation for a great partnership with a mechanical contractor and GC that we continue to work with today.

What project leadership looks like now

In the past, leadership meant managing manpower, hitting milestones and delivering clean installs. That’s still the baseline. But today’s forward-looking contractors are expected to contribute on the digital front, too.

Yes, you’re still the expert in conduit, cable tray and sequencing. But when you also bring clear, visual data that helps the full team make decisions faster and more confidently, that’s when you become indispensable.

The next time you finish up a scan, don’t just file it away as an as-built. Ask yourself, who else can benefit from this? And how does sharing it build our reputation as a high-value partner?