Supporting the Local Community

An area I'm sure we all agree with, but putting ideals into practise is a far more difficult affair!  For a smaller company defining local community is a simple affair, but as you grow the communities you could be involved with also grows.

What are the true options available?  There are the very business orientated routes such as employing local suppliers & employing staff from the local community, but in both these instances there is always the underlying consideration of economics.  Why buy local when a supplier from out of area can provide at a lower cost, and what if the staff with the skills you need are not based locally?

From a much more out going stand point you have to look at considerations such as doing work for local charities either at no cost or at a considerable discount.  This is an option we have gone down in the past when working for certain charities.  Then next option might be supporting local schools in their career programmes, offering work experience to teenagers in  half terms breaks or offering talks on the industry in schools (this should possibly be a demise of the RICS or CICES).  Finally you could sponsor local events such as fireworks displays,summers fairs, sponsor local leagues, or even a roundabout!  The problem with the sponsorship options is the lack of return on an investment - it would generally be done out of sheer good will, with the slim possibility it might lead to more.

For many years I have played table tennis in Medway, Maidstone & Ashford.  Currently I am only playing in the Maidstone league for Hillreed Homes.  The firm sponsor the local league, cover all the costs of entering their teams, and provide a venue for the home matches.  The firm have a very long and successful affiliation with the league, but recent developments mean a nationwide house builder have brought the firm and it will lead to their withdrawal from the league in any capacity.  What this means for the league only time will tell, and I'm sure alternative sponsors will be sought to assist the league financially (and in many other ways).  What is certainly true is that the league/local community has benefited from the company support, and may suffer as a result.  But the support was purely to support the league, there was no true financial benefit to the company beyond a small amount of publicity, and the odd blog!

Perhaps it is any area every business should be required to help in, part of the big community - I seem to be turning conservative!!!!

Food for thought, and make sure you watch out for our first sponsored event!!  But for now you can find out more about R L Surveys through our website, or follow us through Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin.  Failing that we can always be reached on 01233 800109.

A Week in the Life

In this industry no two weeks are the same, but that is part of the enjoyment of the job.  This week has taken me from London to the middle of the River Medway via Hurstpierpoint in West Sussex!

Monday:  A small land survey for a client looking to extend an existing survey they had in Canterbury (one I priced and won for a previous employer by complete coincidence!).  The quote came in on the Friday, and we squeezed the work in on the Monday - so much for putting my feet up!

Tuesday: Up to Pfizers (Sandwich, Kent) for the day with Method Statement & Risk Assessment in hand, upon arrival the permits office gave me the news that no permit had been requested for the work.  However on discussion with the office I didn't need one, and the RAMS were not required as the work was on the public highway outside the site. Spent the rest of the day covering 10km of walking - you'd think taking in the scenery etc., but no it was over the same 200m of road walking up and down doing the survey!!

Wednesday:  Change of pace again down to Hurstpierpoint (West Sussex) to survey a 2.5acre garden for a potential extension to the existing property and garden landscaping.  This was combined with returning some hire kit to Opti-cal down near Gatwick airport.  The day started at 6, and finished at 6 for all those of you thinking I keep short hours!

Thursday: A more leisurely start setting out the ends of five gas pipes covered over by chalk fill at a local landfill which is in the process of being reclaimed.   Then from here I was off to an afternoon meeting with the CICES visiting the Hydrographic Office at Sheerness Docks, with a trip out on the Medway Surveyor to map a wreck just off the terminals for Grain LNG.  More pictures can be seen on our Facebook page, and eventually on the CICES website.  Fascinating to see Surveyors from other sectors at work for a change.

Friday: Hoping on a train up to London to carry out a measured internal survey for a property rental & future lease plan.  I was looking forward to nicely maintained property given the client, but found myself in the dark in a flat clearly not used for 20-30 years with ceilings falling part, a concrete floor covered in dust etc..  Of course on the plus side all the corners were easily accessible to carry out a quick survey, and give me time for a quick nephew cuddle (2 months old) on the way home.

So I've managed to clock up a ridiculous amount of miles in the car, on the train, and on foot.  It also means I now have a lot of data to process next week to issue the information out to the clients, although I did managed to process and issue work from Monday & Tuesday on the following day in an attempt to stay on top of my inbox.

Next week I'll be hitting Dover, Ashford & Upchurch at the moment, but that could easily be added to at any time.

For more information about the area we cover, and the work we do, please visit our website www.rlsurveys.co.uk.  To keep in touch we can be followed on Facebook, LinkedIN, and through twitter (@RLSurveys), alternatively you can subscribe to our bi-annual newsletter through the link at the top right of this blog.

The next blog will (I hope) be entitled - Advertising & Trade Shows.

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).

Our Product

All these blogs and we have been concentrating on the business element of the work, but the important factor is the final product, as reputation is everything, and repeat business is your best source of income.  So what do we produce:-

Topographical Surveys or Land Surveys: 1:200 Survey Plans

Measured Building Surveys: Floor Plans & Elevations

It is impossible to get the true feeling for a survey from a tiny image on screen but is does give a good idea of what we produce, and we like to think that this is a product that will constantly be evolving.  Albeit some of the improvements will be in the stages leading up to this point, but any suggestions you might have on the presentation please let us know so we might incorporate them into the third presentation revision.  Till now the ideas have been solely ours, and great pains have been taken to avoid deliberately copying the format of any styles used by any of our former employers but the natural development of the product may take us that way anyway.

Please keep checking back as new products and services will gradually be added, but with less than a year on the books our pool of examples is limited (yet fairly diverse within themselves).


More details of the services we offer, and examples of our work can be found at www.rlsurveys.co.uk, or you can keep in touch with us on LinkedIn, Facebook (www.facebook.com/rlsurveys) & Twitter (@RLSurveys).

Policies & Paperwork

Everyone wants something be it an Environmental Policy, Health & Safety Policy, QA Policy, Insurance Policy!

Does the one cap fits all really work, or do we need a rising scale depending on the nature of your work and the level at which you work at. From my stand point our environmental impact whilst present is fairly insignificant - fuel to travel between office & site, energy to run the office, and paper to produce plots, then any environmental impact caused by our suppliers. It may be me being blind to the obvious but there is very little to be done to improve this or mention in an Environmental Policy!

Health & Safety - paper work gone mad. Yes it is critical to all businesses, but please let common sense prevail. I'll happily follow site rules laid down by others but I'm not wearing a hard hat on every site I attended especially when the owner of the house is in shorts & t-shirts gardening not ten metres from me!! In this instance even hi-vis seems a little OTT but there has to be a line somewhere. I once covered a job where is was a requirement to wear hard hat, gloves, goggles, hi vis top & trousers at all times when on site - that included at 2am driving down the road laser scanning whilst the road remained open to everyone - they did relent on the end and allowed us to put the hat, goggles & gloves on only as we left the vehicle, but only after a heated argument.

QA - Enough said, we all live a die by this and it's one of the few policies which I believe can be constant no matter what the level of the company.

You may have noted I'm not a fan of paperwork unless it is necessary in the line of the job. However I must embrace the trend now and set to on revise and developing all of our company policies in line with continued growth into more mainline industry.

More details of the services we offer, and examples of our work can be found at www.rlsurveys.co.uk, or you can keep in touch with us on LinkedIn, Facebook (www.facebook.com/rlsurveys) & Twitter (@RLSurveys).