How Duane Erb Construction captured a century-home café in 3 stages
Wild & Free Café’s renovation required documenting a mechanically complex century home while keeping the project moving forward. By capturing the space at three key stages, Duane Erb Contracting created a reliable reference that supported construction decisions, trade coordination, and a launch-ready walkthrough—without relying on guesswork or repeat site visits.
Renovating a café inside a century home
Wild & Free Café is a crowdfunded café located in a restored century home in Elora, Ontario. The project involved renovating an older structure with layered mechanical systems, requiring coordination across multiple trades and careful planning throughout construction.
In parallel, the café was preparing to open as a brand-new business, with no existing photo library or online visuals to showcase the space ahead of launch.
Managing renovation risk without a single source of truth
Once construction began, the team needed a dependable way to reference what existed behind finished walls—plumbing runs, electrical paths, and structural elements that wouldn’t remain visible once work progressed.
Relying on manual measurements, hand-drawn sketches, and inconsistent site photos made it difficult to answer questions confidently or resolve issues without reopening walls.
At the same time, Wild & Free Café was preparing to open as a brand-new business, with no photo library or way for customers to preview the space online. The team needed a way to document the renovation accurately while also creating a polished, immersive walkthrough for launch.
It never fails — the wall where something goes wrong is always the one you don’t have a picture of.
Darren ErbCo-owner, Duane Erb Construction
Stage-by-stage renovation documentation with iGuide
To reduce renovation risk and create a reliable point of reference, the team documented the space using iGuide at three critical stages—either capturing scans themselves or working with an iGuide-certified professional, depending on the phase of the project
Each scan created a consistent, searchable record—giving the construction team confidence during build-out and supporting a smooth transition into launch and operations.
Pre-renovation documentation
Established a clear baseline before planning and construction began.
Mid-renovation mechanical capture
Recorded hidden systems before drywall closed walls.
Point cloud data access
Validated measurements and layouts against hand-drawn plans.
Final virtual walkthrough
Enabled online exploration ahead of the café’s opening.
Operational wins enabled by iGuide
Faster issue resolution
Hidden systems traced quickly without reopening walls or rework.
Reduced site visits
Reliable documentation reduced repeat site visits for measurement confirmation.
Confident trade coordination
Trades referenced shared scans to avoid errors during installation.
Launch-ready visibility
Customers explored the space online before opening day.
Results from staged site documentation
By documenting the space at key moments, the team gained a reliable record they could return to long after construction moved on.
This reduced uncertainty, sped up issue resolution, and supported confident trade coordination—while also giving the café a launch-ready walkthrough that continues to deliver value beyond opening day.
Clearer decisions
Reliable walkthroughs gave teams confidence to move forward without second-guessing.
Smoother handoffs
Accurate visuals aligned stakeholders across construction, operations, and launch planning.
Long-term value
The walkthrough remains a reference for maintenance, updates, and future planning.
Reducing renovation risk in existing buildings
Renovating an older structure needs confidence in what exists behind finished walls. By capturing accurate walkthroughs at key stages, the team reduced uncertainty during construction and avoided costly guesswork—creating a dependable reference they could rely on as the project moved from renovation to opening.
We can send a service provider the iGuide and they might not even need to come out right away.
Twila ErbOwner, Wild & Free CaféAccurate as-built documentation for future work
The completed walkthrough now serves as an as-built record of the space, supporting future maintenance, updates, and renovations. With a reliable digital reference in place, the team can address issues faster and plan changes with confidence—without starting from scratch or reopening finished areas.
As Twila shared,
"We have multiple versions of the scan, including one with all our mechanicals. That’s incredibly helpful if anything comes up."
See how iGuide supports renovation projects.
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