What are the costs of a Land Survey?

It's the forgotten element of construction, but the bedrock of all developments (sorry not trying to offend anyone - we just start the ball rolling from a design and development process, everyone else keeps pushing long after we're gone).  You generally can't start without it but the cost of it is a risk since the development may never get off the ground, and any funds invested will never be recouped.  Hence no one wants to pay over the odds for a survey, yet they expect a good product at a low price.  But what does the price include - and no it's not just a full English at the local greasy spoon!

• Equipment Hire & Maintenance
• Cost of Processing Software (on going & one off)
• Salaries
• Insurances
• Travel to and from site
• A completed digital survey plan in either 2D or 3D
• If you've paid for it paper plots.
• Office Maintenance
• Professional Affiliations
• Ordnance Survey mapping and/or Land Registry plans
• This is not an exhaustive list ( I didn't even utter the word 'profit', but a good overview)

The largest determining factors in the cost of a Land or Measured Building Survey come from distance between site & office, and the length of site time required.  The first can be computed down to the mile (assuming we don't get lost), but the second is a personal perception based on years of experience.  But we do endeavour to provide an honest & competitive quote, and not add in cover for the 'just-in-case' scenario also know in professional circles as the buggeration factor.

Some of these costs are specific to certain jobs, other costs are those which must be spread out across a year and therefore are segmented down to each job - sadly this is more an educated guess than anything else but as with everything in life there will be some jobs which bare more of the cost than others.

A lot of clients have complained about the cost of a Land Survey in the past (with a former employer though).  We are now trying to work with our clients to offer a more tailored approach for pricing to avoid paying for unnecessary detail.  As a company we can set up our surveys to target any level of detail to find a price that is more in keeping with the speculative nature of Land Surveying.

For more details of the services we offer, and examples of our work, please visit www.rlsurveys.co.uk, or you can keep in touch with us on LinkedIn, Facebook & Twitter (@RLSurveys).