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- Fayette County no longer enforces the UCC, so permits go through your municipality's Building Code Official.
- Coal mining has undermined most of the county, which makes a dated baseline scan useful before repairs or additions.
- Accuracy is set per project with USIBD LOA bands, and every quote is scoped to the site.
Laser Scanning Across Fayette County's 42 Municipalities
Fayette County covers 794 square miles between the Monongahela River, its entire western boundary, and the Mason-Dixon Line. It climbs from 740 feet at the river to nearly 3,000 feet on Laurel Hill in Springfield Township, and the Youghiogheny crosses the eastern half. Inside those lines are 42 municipalities, an 1892 courthouse, a string of coke-era company towns, the first cast-iron arch bridge in the country, and new industrial ground along US Route 119.
Where a scan pays for itself here
- Facade and interior records in the Uniontown Downtown and Brownsville historic districts
- On undermined ground, a dated baseline scan is worth having.
- Medical and commercial fit-outs going in along Route 119 in Connellsville
- Riverfront buildings and bridges in the floodplains, recorded before and after repairs
CAD Construct captures each site as a registered point cloud and turns it into the drawings or Revit model the project calls for. For the general method, see our 3D laser scanning service page or ask for a quote.
Connellsville and the Coke-Era Patch Towns
From the mid-1800s well into the twentieth century, Fayette County mined coal and turned it into coke in beehive ovens for Pittsburgh's steel mills. A Connellsville Coke marker on the Great Allegheny Passage near Dunbar tells that story. The coal was largely depleted by the 1960s, but the company patch towns remain. Shoaf in Georges Township, Star Junction and Whitsett in Perry Township, Smock, and Dawson are each listed on the National Register as historic districts, as is the New Deal-era Penn-Craft in Luzerne Township.
Patch-town houses went up fast, in rows, then changed owner by owner for a century. Original drawings, where they survive, predate the porch enclosures and rear additions. A scan records each building as it stands today, so a rehabilitation program or a single owner can plan from measured floor plans and elevations.
Recent work in Connellsville
State Local Share Account grants announced in March 2025 included $25,000 for facade repairs to Connellsville's 122-year-old Carnegie Free Library. Masonry repairs on a front that old start with an elevation locating every opening and bulge, which as-built elevations from a scan provide. The same round funded restoration of a historic AME church at the East End United Community Center in South Union Township (see scanning churches).
What Fallingwater's Conservation Shows About Documentation
Fallingwater, at Mill Run in Stewart Township, was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1935 and completed by 1939, using sandstone quarried on the property. The Western Pennsylvania Conservancy has owned it since 1963. In April 2026, a three-year, $7 million conservation project led by Architectural Preservation Studio was completed. The work covered re-waterproofing of the roofs and terraces, masonry repointing and grouting, new through-wall flashing, and window and door repairs.
The cause of the trouble is the useful part. Wright's design left out through-wall flashing and used river pebbles in the concrete, and the house leaked for decades. Correcting a flaw built into the design means knowing the real geometry: terrace slopes, parapet heights, and where masonry has moved from the drawings. We mention Fallingwater as a public example, not as a CAD Construct project, because it shows what any envelope repair on a historic building has to answer.
For other historic stone buildings in the county, typical deliverables are measured elevations and sections through roofs and terraces, plus a point cloud that can be compared with a later scan once repairs are done. Stewart Township handles its own zoning.
Uniontown: Courthouse, Downtown and the Mall
Uniontown is the county seat. The Fayette County Courthouse at 61 East Main Street was built in 1892 in the Richardsonian Romanesque style, and its clock tower anchors the view down Main Street. The blocks around it form the Uniontown Downtown Historic District on the National Register.
In September 2026 the Observer-Reporter described vacant storefronts at the Uniontown Mall, a parking garage rehabilitation being pursued in Uniontown, and a planned 34-mile Sheepskin Trail connector into downtown.
What those projects usually need
- Re-leasing a mall bay starts with a current floor plan, reflected ceiling plan and storefront elevation. Our tenant fit-out page lists the deliverables.
- For a garage rehabilitation: slab elevations, the column grid and deflection mapped level by level (see parking structure scanning).
- Upper floors of downtown commercial blocks, measured before a reuse study
- Hospital renovations: The Uniontown Hospital is the county's second-largest employer (see healthcare scanning).
Brownsville and the Dunlap's Creek Bridge
On Market Street in Brownsville stands one of the most significant pieces of engineering history in the country. The Dunlap's Creek Bridge, built from 1836 to 1839 to a design by Capt. Richard Delafield of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, is the first cast-iron arch bridge in the United States. The Historic American Engineering Record documented it as HAER PA-72.
A record like HAER PA-72 is what later engineers and historians start from. A point cloud of an arch, abutments and deck adds a current record to check against the historic set and a future scan. More on bridge scanning.
Brownsville's commercial core is on the National Register too, as the Brownsville Commercial and Brownsville Northside historic districts. Masonry blocks with shared party walls and decades of additions are slow to measure by tape and easy to get wrong. For commercial permits, Brownsville Borough posts a UCC commercial application from K2 Engineering, so that is the form to start with there.
Working in the Mon, Yough and Cheat Floodplains
The county's hazard mitigation plan maps major floodplains along the Monongahela, Youghiogheny and Cheat Rivers and along Redstone Creek. Flooding here can also open up old mine voids: after the flash flood of August 28, 2016, a sinkhole on Breakiron Road in Bullskin Township closed a bridge.
How scan data helps after a flood
A scan taken before repairs records floor levels, wall plumbness and damaged areas exactly as found. That record supports the engineer's assessment, the insurance file and the repair drawings, and a second scan after the work can be compared against it. Scan data supports a licensed surveyor's flood elevation work; it does not replace it. See scanning for insurance and legal records and how scans are tied to real-world coordinates.
Who Issues Permits in Fayette County
Fayette County no longer enforces the Uniform Construction Code. Owners now go to their municipality's Building Code Official. Georges Township's phone list still shows an old county UCC line, so confirm the current contact before you file.
- According to the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry (DLI), 41 of the county's 42 municipalities have opted in to enforce the UCC locally.
- Fayette City Borough is the one opt-out. DLI enforces the code there for non-residential buildings, and owners hire a certified third-party agency for residential work.
- K2 Engineering, based in Uniontown, is a DLI-certified third-party agency serving Fayette and five neighboring counties.
Zoning is a separate office
The county's Planning, Zoning and Community Development office handles zoning and planning for 31 municipalities. Eleven handle their own: Perryopolis and Ohiopyle boroughs, the cities of Uniontown and Connellsville, and Henry Clay, Menallen, South Union, Springhill (zoning only), Stewart, Washington and Wharton townships. The county also amended its subdivision and land development ordinance in March 2026.
This is orientation, not legal advice. Our part is the existing-conditions base: plans, elevations and sections your architect or engineer can build a permit set on.
Route 119, Fay-Penn and the County's Plants
US Route 119 carries much of the county's new building. The Fay-Penn Economic Development Council, based at Lemont Furnace, markets the Dunbar Township Business Park on Route 119, about five miles from Turnpike 43, with more than 129 acres and Phase I lots from 3.81 to 7.11 acres. In Connellsville, the 2025 state RACP round awarded Shallenberger Construction $2 million for a mixed-use medical and commercial complex on Route 119 North, the only Fayette County award in that round. WVU Medicine and Uniontown Hospital also opened an urgent care at 218 Memorial Boulevard in February 2026.
Plants and operating facilities
The county has 3,864 manufacturing jobs, and mining, quarrying and oil and gas carry a location quotient of 5.66, meaning that work is far more concentrated here than average. Heartland Fabrication, Sensus USA, Crown Cork & Seal and Xylem are among the county's top 50 employers. Plant retrofits depend on accurate locations for steel, piping and equipment. Read about industrial plant scanning and how we work safely on active sites. New buildings in the business park can be checked with construction verification scans.
Mine Subsidence and Building Movement
Coal-mined areas cover almost the entire county, particularly the southwestern and northeastern areas, according to the 2017 hazard mitigation plan, which counted 202 active, 94 inactive, 27 abandoned and 7 proposed coal mines. In late 2010, a mine only 17 feet below the street collapsed in Connellsville Township, closing roads and endangering two sanitary lines.
On undermined ground, existing conditions can change. Cracks and sloping floors may be decades old or new, and the engineer needs to know which. A registered scan fixes a building's geometry on a known date. A second scan months later, aligned to the same control, shows whether anything has moved and by how much. See deformation monitoring and deviation analysis.
Across the county
We work throughout Fayette County, from Perryopolis and Fayette City to Dunbar, Uniontown and the Laurel Highlands, and also cover Westmoreland County to the north and Washington County across the Monongahela.
Fayette County Scanning FAQ
Who issues building permits in Fayette County?
Fayette County no longer enforces the Uniform Construction Code, so permits come from your municipality's Building Code Official. According to DLI, 41 of the 42 municipalities have opted in to local enforcement. Fayette City Borough is the exception: DLI handles non-residential buildings there, and owners hire a certified third-party agency for residential work. Confirm current requirements with your municipality before filing.
How far is Fayette County from your Homestead office?
Connellsville is about 41 miles from our office in Homestead, Uniontown about 43 miles, and Ohiopyle about 63 miles. Without traffic, that is roughly 65 minutes to Uniontown or Connellsville and about an hour and a half to Ohiopyle. Actual travel time depends on the township and the site's road access.
Can laser scanning help with a building on undermined ground?
Yes. The county hazard mitigation plan says coal-mined areas cover almost the entire county. A registered scan records walls, floors and framing on a known date. A follow-up scan aligned to the same control can then show whether cracks, slopes or out-of-plumb walls are changing. The data supports your structural engineer's assessment; it does not replace it.
Do you document buildings in Uniontown's and Brownsville's historic districts?
Yes. The Uniontown Downtown, Brownsville Commercial and Brownsville Northside districts are listed on the National Register, along with patch towns such as Shoaf, Star Junction and Dawson. Scanning is non-contact, so facades, cornices and interiors are recorded without anchors or marks. We deliver plans, elevations and sections in the format your architect or grant reviewer asks for.
Can you scan operating plants and new sites along Route 119?
Yes. We scan operating industrial facilities and work within each site's safety and access rules. The same applies to existing plants and to new construction in the Dunbar Township Business Park or along Route 119 North in Connellsville. Deliverables range from a registered point cloud for your engineers to a Revit model of structure and equipment.
How is scan accuracy specified for a Fayette County project?
We specify accuracy per project using USIBD Level of Accuracy (LOA) bands instead of quoting one number for every job. A historic facade survey, a mine-subsidence baseline and a plant retrofit each call for different tolerances, so the LOA is agreed and written into the scope before any field work begins.
Request a Fayette County Scanning Quote
Send the address and what the drawings are for, and we will reply with a scope and a free quote. CAD Construct LLC is based at 119 West 10th Ave in Homestead and is DBE-certified through the Pennsylvania Unified Certification Program, which helps on public projects with DBE participation goals. Request a quote online or call (800) 967-2627.
Image credit: Fayette County Courthouse — photo by Jjscully, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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