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Key takeaways:
- Building permits come from the township, borough or city, not the county, so permit planning starts at the municipal office.
- Undermined ground and a housing stock mostly built before 1979 make a baseline scan worth having before an addition or repair.
- We set accuracy per project with USIBD LOA bands and scope every quote to the site.
Where Scanning Fits in Washington County
Washington County covers about 857 square miles and 66 municipalities: 2 cities, 32 townships and 32 boroughs. The Monongahela River forms its eastern border, and I-79 and I-70 intersect near the middle of the county. Inside that one county line you will find river-town storefronts, gas processing plants, farmsteads over coal seams and new retail near the interchanges.
Projects that usually call for a scan here
- Retrofits and expansions at gas processing and pipeline facilities
- In Charleroi and Donora, older commercial blocks being refitted for new tenants
- Homes, barns and shops over longwall-mined ground, where a dated baseline helps if movement appears later
- Brownfield reuse, since Hanover and Robinson townships hold two-thirds of the county's brownfield and mine-scarred acreage
Send the municipality and the deliverable you need through our quote form, and we will scope the capture.
Scanning in the Mon Valley River Towns
The Monongahela carries roughly a quarter of Washington County's freight, and the towns along it grew up around mills, glass plants and river traffic. At Charleroi, Locks and Dam 4, first built in 1931, received a new 84-by-720-foot river chamber in 2024 and was renamed the John P. Murtha Locks and Dam, part of the roughly $1 billion Lower Monongahela River Project.
Industrial change shows up on land as well. In September 2024, Anchor Hocking announced it would close its Charleroi glass plant, a former Corning plant that had run for more than 100 years with about 300 workers, and move the work to Lancaster, Ohio. A closed plant that size typically moves into due diligence, demolition planning or reuse design, and each of those depends on knowing what is standing. A due diligence scan records structure, floor elevations and equipment pads before a buyer commits.
Health care is the county's largest employment sector, and Penn Highlands Mon Valley Hospital appears among the top employers in the county plan. Hospital renovations are captured in phases around patient areas, as our healthcare facility page explains.
Deliverables for Washington County Projects
Most projects in the county need one of four outputs, and the right one depends on who uses the data next. A plant engineer at a midstream site may want the registered point cloud and a Revit model of pipe racks and steel. A borough council in the Mon Valley weighing repairs to its municipal building is usually better served by 2D CAD floor plans, elevations and sections. A township marketing a reused school or a vacant storefront can post a 360° virtual tour so out-of-town buyers can walk it remotely.
All four come from one field visit. We match the scanner and software to the site, so a long pipe gallery and a two-room borough office are not captured the same way. For the capture steps themselves, see our 3D laser scanning service page.
Gas Processing, Pipelines and Energy Sites
Energy is Washington County's most concentrated industry cluster, with an establishment location quotient of 5.9 in the 2023 county comprehensive plan, led by oil and gas extraction, coal mining and pipeline transportation. Shale development here goes back to 2004, when Range Resources drilled the Renz well, the first Marcellus Shale well, in Mt. Pleasant Township. In the Act 13 impact fee distributions announced in June 2026, the county ranked first in Pennsylvania at $21.3 million, and Amwell Township ranked fifth among municipalities statewide.
The MarkWest Houston Gas Plant on Western Avenue in Chartiers Township processes natural gas, and Mariner East 1, a pipeline system running about 300 miles across Pennsylvania, starts at that complex. Gas processing sites typically add compressors, tie-ins and pipe racks over years of operation while the drawings fall behind. A scan of an operating process area gives engineers measured locations for steel, nozzles and supports; our industrial and MEP scanning page shows how those models feed tie-in design, and we follow each operator's rules for job-site safety.
Longwall Mining and Subsidence Records
Coal is still mined under the county. In 2024, Alliance's Tunnel Ridge Mine was longwall-mining beneath I-70 in western Washington County near the West Virginia line, and Consol's Bailey Mine extends from southern Greene County into southern Washington County. During the state's August 2008 to August 2013 assessment period, the county accounted for 19 percent of Pennsylvania's longwall-mined acreage, mostly from the Enlow Fork and Mine 84 operations in the Pittsburgh Coalbed.
Subsidence claims and repair designs both depend on knowing what a structure looked like before it moved. A dated scan of foundations, slabs, walls and rooflines gives an owner, engineer or insurer a reference, and a deviation analysis against a later scan shows where things shifted. Repeat scanning is covered in our structural deformation monitoring guide, and claim documentation on the insurance and legal page.
Brownfields, Blight Removal and Reuse
The 2023 comprehensive plan counts nearly 9,600 acres of brownfields and mine-scarred land in the county, 66 percent of it in Hanover and Robinson townships. The Redevelopment Authority of the County of Washington also set aside about $13 million in ARPA funds for blight removal and had spent about $7.5 million by June 2025.
Before a blighted structure comes down, a scan can record its footprint, its party walls and the condition of the buildings beside it, which helps if a neighbor later raises a damage question. On reuse projects, the scan becomes the measured starting point for design, and the tolerance goes into the written scope. We state that tolerance using USIBD Level of Accuracy (LOA) bands, so a site plan for a cleared lot and a structural survey of a building kept for reuse are each held to a defined standard.
Along the I-79 and I-70 Corridors
The interstates decide where much of the county's new construction lands. In North Franklin Township, the former Washington Crown Center at 1500 W. Chestnut Street sold in September 2025 to PREP Funds and Industry Realty Group, which began a conversion of more than $35 million to turn the enclosed mall into an open-air center called Franklin Crossroads Park, with entrances opening to the outside.
Turning an enclosed mall inside out is a classic scan-to-design job: the team has to know where columns, roof drains and utility runs sit before cutting new openings in exterior walls. The same need comes up in retail tenant fit-outs and warehouse expansions near the I-79 and I-70 interchanges, where an addition has to tie into an existing slab, roof and dock line.
Older Housing and Company-Town Architecture
The county plan notes that most of Washington County's housing units were built before 1979, and about 9,103 units, or 9.4 percent, stood vacant in 2020. Older houses and storefronts seldom have usable drawings, and many have been altered more than once, so a measured set of as-built drawings is often the first reliable record an owner or architect gets.
Donora has an unusual example. Its Cement City Historic District holds 80 poured-concrete homes, about 100 units, built in 1916 and 1917 by the American Steel and Wire Company with reusable cast-iron molds developed by Edison, and it joined the National Register in 1996. Repairs to concrete houses of that age call for measured wall planes, openings and floor levels, and a point cloud supplies them without coring or opening walls. Our historic preservation page lists the deliverables preservation reviewers usually want.
Permits and Planning in Washington County
Washington County does not issue building permits. Under Pennsylvania's Act 45, each of the 66 municipalities chooses to administer the Uniform Construction Code itself or through a certified third-party agency, or to opt out. Where a municipality has opted out, the state Department of Labor and Industry handles commercial construction, and residential applicants hire a certified third-party agency. The first call on any project goes to the township or borough office.
The county's role is planning. The Washington County Planning Commission, at 95 W. Beau Street, Suite 115, in Washington (724-228-6811), evaluates subdivisions and land development and maintains county mapping. Permit contacts for the county seat are on our Washington, PA page, and Cecil Township and Canonsburg Borough are covered on the Southpointe page. Treat this as general context rather than legal advice, and confirm requirements with the office that will review your plans.
Washington County Scanning FAQ
Does Washington County issue building permits?
No. Permits come from the municipality. Each of the 66 cities, townships and boroughs either administers the Uniform Construction Code itself or through a certified third-party agency, or has opted out, in which case the state Department of Labor and Industry reviews commercial work. The Washington County Planning Commission (724-228-6811) reviews subdivision and land development plans.
How far do you travel to reach Mon Valley towns like Charleroi?
Charleroi is about 26 miles from our office at 119 West 10th Ave in Homestead, and we cover all of Washington County, from the Monongahela River west to the West Virginia line. Tell us the municipality, the site contact and any access rules when you ask for a quote so the field day can be planned properly.
Can you scan an operating gas processing or pipeline facility?
Yes, under the operator's safety rules. Process areas are captured from the positions the site permits, and the data becomes a point cloud or Revit model of piping, steel and equipment for tie-in or expansion design. Energy is the county's most concentrated industry cluster, so retrofits at these facilities are a common reason to need measured conditions here.
Is a scan useful if my building sits over a longwall mine?
It can be. A dated scan of foundations, slabs, walls and rooflines records the structure's geometry at a known point in time. If movement is suspected later, a second scan compared against the first shows where the building changed and by how much. Longwall mining remains active beneath parts of western and southern Washington County.
Can you document a blighted building before it is demolished?
Yes. A scan records the footprint, shared walls and the condition of neighboring buildings before demolition starts, which helps redevelopment authorities, contractors and adjacent owners answer damage questions later. The county's ARPA-funded blight program had 45 properties razed, approved or out to bid by June 2025, including work in Chartiers and South Strabane townships.
What accuracy should I specify for a brownfield or mill reuse project?
Each project gets a stated tolerance using USIBD Level of Accuracy (LOA) bands, chosen for how the data will be used. A site plan for a cleared brownfield parcel and a structural survey of a mill building kept for reuse do not need the same band, and pricing follows that choice. Free quotes are available through our contact page.
Price a Scan Anywhere in Washington County
Send us the municipality, the building or site, and what the data has to support, such as a permit set, a retrofit model or a pre-demolition record, and we will scope and price the capture. CAD Construct is DBE-certified through the Pennsylvania Unified Certification Program, which can help on public bids with participation goals. Request a free quote online or call (800) 967-2627.
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