FAQs

Pricing of surveys is carried out by a director who will assess how long it will take to survey the site to the specification provided using a combination of experience, size of the survey area and by viewing the site either directly or on aerial/other photographs. This figure is then multiplied by our daily rate for a survey team and a travel adjustment added if necessary plus the cost of any extra-ordinary items required such as lighting, traffic management etc. to give a total price. We normally quote on a fixed price basis (exclusive of VAT) unless a day/hour rate is specifically requested.

You can obtain a quote by any of the following methods:

• Email a request
• Use one of the following quotation forms:

– Topographic
– Measured Building
– Underground utilities

• Phone through a request.

If you prefer not to use the online enquiry form it can be downloaded here or please contact us and we will be happy to email or post a hard copy.

Either send us you own specification if you have one or we can make suggestions based on our experience. So long as you can give us a plan or description of the area or building to be surveyed and the reason for the survey e.g. building plot, building conversion to apartments then we can produce a specification for you. We can also supply standard specifications for topographic and measured building surveys with check boxes which you can complete and return to us. The Survey Association also provide Guidance Notes for download on their site.

If you are sending us your own specification then please remember to double check everything is included that you need – whilst we will always try and survey items we think may be needed but not specified there will not always be time to do so and revisiting a site to add a few items is far more expensive than including them originally. You should also be careful not to over specify if cost is a significant constraint – for example a 5m spaced level grid over a 1ha site requires 400 survey points whereas a 10m grid requires 100 points.

• Your contact details including a phone number and email address
• Address of survey location including a postcode
• Type of survey needed (i.e. Topographical)
• Approximate size of survey area or marked up plan
• Level of detail required
• Provide additional information you feel may necessary. Items like old maps, photos and details of any unusual features.
• Please download one of our sample specification sheets:  Topographic, utilities, measured building survey.

On receipt of an initial enquiry, contact details are logged and a quotation number assigned by the office manager and these, together with any paperwork provided, are passed to one of the directors. The director then assesses the specification and plan provided and if necessary contacts the enquirer. On large or difficult projects a site visit for quotation may also be necessary.

A detailed quotation setting out price and expected time scale is then sent out, often the same day.

Should the quotation be successful, a job file is produced containing copies of all relevant paperwork and a job summary sheet produced by the relevant director. A project manager is assigned who assesses the resources needed.

A director conducts an office based H&S risk assessment for the site and an environmental risk assessment.

The job is assigned to a surveyor with the appropriate experience, scheduled and the client is informed of the likely commencement date.

On the appointed day(s) the survey team will carry out the survey work requested.

On return to the office data is downloaded on to a dedicated work station and the survey produced in AutoCAD.

The survey is checked for compliance with your original specifications and our own surveying and drafting standards by a senior surveyor not otherwise involved with the project. Any mistakes or inconsistencies are corrected and the drawing is issued to the client in the requested format(s) with a signed dispatch note.

The surveyor archives all digital data and fills out a QC sheet confirming that the specification has been met and that all necessary data has been issued and archived.

The office manager checks that all necessary QC information to comply with our ISO9001 accreditation is in the file and if so places it in archive. Invoicing details are passed to the accounts manager.

GNSS – Global Navigation Satellite System is a network of satellites system run by the U.S. government (GPS), the Russian government (GLONASS) and the European Union (Galileo) which constantly send out the time and their position, the difference in time when the signal is received multiplied by the speed of light gives the distance between the satellite and the receiver and the distance from 4 satellites enables a 3D position of the receiver to be calculated.

Due to differences in atmospheric composition, errors in satellite position and clock errors the best accuracy achievable using this method alone is only 2-5m.

Most clients require positional accuracy of about +/-20mm. This is achieved using the Ordnance Survey OS Net network of 110 continuously operating GNSS receivers to provide corrections using either RINEX data or the SmartNet service provided by Leica Geosystems for “real time” corrections.

GNSS is an excellent tool for the provision of survey control to national grid and to Ordnance Height datum; GNSS heights on sites where the Environment Agency requires a flood risk assessment are now mandatory.

Underground metallic services are detected using equipment which picks up electromagnetic or radio waves which are naturally concentrated and conducted by metallic pipes and cable.

We will use a RadioDetection signal generator to pass a fixed frequency signal into any services we can connect to directly – this is done by clamping on to stop taps, passing an induction loop around cables or by plugging the signal generator into a standard electrical socket. We can then use the RadioDetection CAT to pick up the signal produced as it flows along the pipe or cable.

Using the above method we should determine the location of most metallic services. We would then carry out a general sweep with the CAT to search for other metallic services, detecting them by the concentration of radio or electromagnetic radiation they carry.

To detect non-metallic services we would use Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) which sends a radar signal into the ground and measures the time and strength of returned signals to pick up changes in ground structure – e.g. the signal moves more quickly through the air in a pipe than through the adjacent wet soil.

As a general guide GPR works well in moist soils which are relatively undisturbed but works less well in very wet or very dry soils and ground which has been generally disturbed or built up.

It is important to realise that these tools are useful aids to locating services but it is not possible to locate all services without digging. We estimate from experience that it is possible to locate 95% of the services on a rural site, 85% of services on an urban site and 75% of services under a crowded city footpath.

No, sorry. You need a chartered building surveyor not a measured building surveyor; ask your estate agent for recommended companies or try www.reallymoving.com