In these uncertain times we are all looking at how we work differently, and perhaps/hopefully a lot of these changes will remain in place for longer regardless of how much normality returns.
Working from home has in all honesty been so much nicer than working at an office, and there is so much at the office that we really don't need. We are lucky in the sense that there is space at home to work without getting under someone else's feet (or someone else getting under yours). There are only three real pains in the scenario:-
1) Whilst we can back up data to an outside server, we are not set up to back up to our in-house server.
2) Most of our equipment is the same for each Surveyor so they can be solo teams, but there are a few items where we had to introduce a 'dead drop' leaving at least 24 hours between drop off and collection, along with good wipe down! At least in the early stages - now it is more a case of remember how the kits works!
3) We are still paying for office space - which is in essence a fancy lok'n'store now!
Hardly difficult problems to overcome if we decided to follow this working style long term as a matter of choice. Software at the moment works well thanks to the consideration of Apps In CAD to provide 30 day license free of charge to supplement our existing license (on a dongle!). This might be something that stays in future, or we revert to an on-line license only. There might also be a few new laptops in the offing to make working remotely easier, but these are relatively small costs for a company to bare.
The situation has also provided the gift of time to train on something new, or enhance existing knowledge. The cost of this gift is yet to fully ascertained, but the removal of financial worry (in the short term at least) makes a massive difference and we can only hope those who can use any surplus to invest in companies who might need that little bit more support.
Looking at the books currently with the option of furlough & small business grants we are still in good financial stead, and there will be a tipping point between coming out with the books better than when we left them, and carrying a small financial burden ourselves for the good of all the staff. This in itself seems wrong so as company we will commit to ensure any financial benefit we have gained as a result of circumstance is redirected to those who need it most - we'll put that one down to a staff vote with a couple of options!
As Covid-19 progresses, and we see glimmers of hope in Italy and Spain were limited persons/companies are allowed back to work, there is the start of consideration about our return to work - whilst Surveying is part of construction there has never been any doubt that ceasing site activities was (and is) the right option. Regardless of Government advice this was a MORAL decision - whilst 'we could' the debate was whether 'we should'! Some thought they should continue so you must respect that decision if it can be justified, but the majority knew they had an obligation to the wider community not to continue. Whatever your decision there is no wrong or right answer as there is no way to tell what might have happened if things were done differently.
What will you do differently once this is over (or under some semblance of control?)
Work Less - Spend More Time with the Family - Stop Putting Off Those Jobs Around the House - Expand the Business - Promote Home Working - Spilt Your Profits more between Investments/Savings/Dividends to better cover the 'What If Scenario' - Build Up an Emergency Kit Supply - Read More Books - Take More Walks - Waste Less Food
The silver lining here could be a better and strong sense of community, and appreciation for the world we live in. What will you do differently?
Tuesday, 14 April 2020
Thursday, 9 April 2020
Finding a Different Perspective
First Day back after the 2019 Christmas break......always important to remove the out of office assistant (set for a few days time just in case you fancied a few extra days!) and check your calendar for the coming weeks before starting your first survey of the year...…..
...and of course got drenched, even at my size! The water droplets are massive, and the kit takes just as long to dry out!!
Sometimes we have to set up some unusual places to get our work done, but whenever you think you've gone far enough there is another challenge - keeping your feet dry!
But wherever you end up, you could always do with the helping hand and a slightly more elevated vantage point.
There are always days when a better vantage point makes absolutely no difference at all, you just have to knuckle down pull out the slasher and get on with the work at a much slower pace!
Unfortunately we have yet to invest in a 'mini' laser scanner so it is back to the tried and tested ways for me, but being this height makes the higher observations even harder to get in position for!
And of course no matter wherever you are or whatever you are doing someone always asks you to take their picture!! But from a safe distance of course!
Stay Safe People!
Wednesday, 8 April 2020
A World Gone Mad?
There is no wrong answer to this question - which comes first Business or Britain? (Sorry to Northern Ireland you are included but Britain sounded better in this instance!).
Over the past few weeks I have seen numerous posts showing companies doing all they can to maintain their business activities but with a difference. Adjusting their SOP's (Site Operating Procedures) to include Hand Sanitisers at all entrances, 2m personal working zones, scaling down operations where possible but maintaining a workable site, offset shift patterns....these are all laudable activities and fit nicely into the Government advice that the construction sector should continue where possible...of course there is an underlying moral issue of whilst we could you have to ask if we should.
Amending SOP's is great within that site bubble, but companies do also need to consider the wider picture, of which I have seen scant little of.
Bigger picture
Whilst a site might be isolated, and social distancing can be easily achieved, there is more to consider:-
1. The site might be isolated but the journey to and from won't be. On that journey they might (for example) breakdown, need fuel, or have an accident. Automatically isolation has gone and social distancing is more of a concern.
1a: If they breakdown someone has to go and recover them - so it's not just one person taking a risk now it is a second, and all the people that person interacts with.
1b: If they need fuel that means going to a busier location, and touching metal surfaces which are likely to be have been touched by hundreds/thousands of people over the past few weeks. Yet another point of risk.
1c: God forbid they have an accident but that is likely to involve recovery, police and an ambulance. You can see this snowballing already...
2. Once you're at site it is virtually impossible to spend the day not touching anything, and who knows whom might have contact with any of the surfaces in the past few days/weeks. Yes, a construction site is generally enclosed but as Surveyors we often arrive before the construction site to land open to the public. Whilst protection can be provided it will have its limitations, and will rely on everyone doing their bit. However, we are there, on a remote isolated site. What could possibly go wrong? -Well, our risk assessment does include death & broken limbs, so worst case scenario that happens and you have to call in help - putting more people at risk, and adding to the burden of the NHS, would you want to make that choice? Treat those who have fallen ill through no fault of their own or the worker who went to site and has an accident?
It isn't just Surveyors doing this, I have seen ads for Architects suggesting now is the time to build the swimming pool or outside office you have always wanted and are now in need of.... How exactly is this essential and do they not know that to achieve these ideas numerous people will have to visit the properties to map, design, approve, and build?! A hashtag doing the rounds seems like a pretty good one in these circumstances #covidiots.There is a clear duty of care, and 90% of our clients have accepted our decision and are willing to wait. R L Surveys are no longer undertaking site works - any existing jobs which have been postponed will be given priority once lockdown protocols are eased or rescinded, all other jobs are being ask to take a number and will be completed in the order instructions are received (13 and counting!!). At least our staff have the piece of mind that once we are through to the other side (what ever it may look like) the work will be there...and to be honest they are going to need to be well rested given the amount of work we have ready to start!
If your company are promoting your safe working systems - highlighting that your staff have all started to work from home - please respect & SUPPORT those people who work on site, and don't ask us to do something your own company is not willing to ask you to do - take the risk.
#StaySafe #Protectthenhs #Savelives
Tuesday, 28 January 2020
We've All Done It - haven't we??
I'm pretty sure it is safe to say we have all hard our fair share of 'problems on site', and since the last millennium I've had a few but I'm big enough (and old enough) to share a few with you without fear of (too much) embarrassment and retribution. **This is not a how to do guide, or best practise guide. In fact quite the opposite is true!**
Surveying Problems (mostly mine but there are a few I was only indirectly involved with)
1) Arriving on site without the instrument, the cardinal sin for a Surveyor. This was on the one occasion my Assistant had told me that the batteries were on charge so could I grab the kit before I left the office....did you spot mistake number one? Asking me to remember something when I was plotting the fastest route from my office desk to the car!! Well as I'm sure you have guessed the instrument remained in the office while we set off early the next day to North London. Imagine the dismay when we arrived on site and opened the boot! As luck would have it we didn't waste the trip as there were a few jobs to be done which didn't involve the instrument - but the phone call back to the office was not pretty!! And I'm fairly sure the return visit which had not been priced for did not go down well!
2) Next day (oh yes it gets worse!) tasked with returning to North London via a small site in South London. Kit all loaded, checked, and checked again. We headed off to the first site, nice and smooth finished quickly and efficiently. Packed up 'most' of the kit and went on to North London to complete yesterdays work....slight problem, this was in the days when the data was recorded on an external logger and not on board. It seems my Assistant (not me this time!) had left the logger on a wall in South London with all of the mornings work!! Calling the office was not an option (I fear a P45 would have been the result!), so we duly set about hand booking all of the observations over the next few hours (did I mention it was a high precision monitoring job?). Job done, so back to the first site as the eternal optimist, and this was pre phone or fleet tracking so no one would know what happened. Luck was back with us, the logger was still sitting on the wall where it had been left!! Over the course of the next hour we took a very slow drive back to the office as the my Assistant hand typed all of the data from the note book into the logger..... got to the office downloaded and everything was right in the world again. It could have been soo much worse, and until now the then boss never found out! (If you are reading sorry - it was only once and I'm sure it made me a better Surveyor in the long run).
3) Make sure you close the boot of the car!! Car packed and ready to go, the Senior Surveyor backs out of the parking spot and slowly pulls away. We reach a road junction and he decides to drop the clutch and speed away....the resulting forward motion shifted the equipment against the boot door which in fact hadn't latched shut. Open springs the boot and off goes the instrument down the road!! It's a testament to the instrument and the box, no damage done to box or instrument when we checked it and it's calibration before starting work the next day. They don't make them like they used to!
4) Surveying 101, always attach the tribrach to the tripod before turning away. In the days of vertical plummets it was fairly standard to separate the tribrach from the instrument while setting up. You centre and level the tribrach before putting the instrument on top to start work. So tripod set, tribrach levelled and centred. You turn around to get the instrument and lose your balance slightly. The only thing close by to grab for balance is the tripod, normally not a problem just a pain having to set up again. On this occasion I had management level and centre without actually screwing the tribrach back on, so said tribrach slides off the tripod, clips the legs and...…..oh did I mention I was working on an oil jetty half a mile out at sea...….falls off the jetty into the sea!! The boss was not amused when I start my recount of this incident with....funny story but.....
5) Health & Safety - you are joking. Before the days of fixed 360 prisms, we had circular prisms sitting in a plastic housing (often wedged with paper to stop them spinning). Carrying out the survey you are constantly checking the prism is pointing the right direction and hasn't twisted in the mount to look downwards. On this particular day I was in a dry suit surveying a structure on a tidal river (yes the dry suit was the health & safety), this involved a large amount of clambering and climbing on a wooden structure which, being in a tidal estuary, was prone to slippery patches. I had circumnavigated this structure (and others) during the day without any problems. Last few points and we were done home and dry, carefully placed my foot onto a cross beam and as I shifted my weight I slipped, reaching out I grabbed a support, clattering the detail pole against the structure in the process. Quietly smug that I'd styled out the slip I carried on across to the next point, set the base of the pole, checked the level, and them the......oh shit where was the prisim…...during my antics the clattering of the pole had knocked the prism out of it's plastic holder into the flowing river below...RIP.
6) Seen one field, seen them all. A lovely survey on a warm sunny day. Knocked off the work in a morning, headed back to the office, processed the data, and handed it over for checking. Next day the boss commended me on an excellent survey, but asked why I had surveyed the field on the opposite side of the road to the site - much to his amusement!!
7) It is important for the Surveyor to keep his assistant in their place, so when the opportunity for a wind up occurs it is too good to miss. Arrive at the office as usual, the Assistant loads the equipment for the day, while the Surveyor gets the job file (makes his coffee) and a quick briefing if needed. On this day I made a quick pre site comfort stop before going out to the car. My Assistant told me he was ready to go, and went out to the car, so I nipped to the little boys room, and on my way out noticed my batteries were still on charge in the office...….so safely stashed in my pocket off we went. Reached site and had a quick look around, before I knocked in the first nail and ask the Assistant to set up the instrument and get ready to start while I installed a few more stations. Usually only a quick job, but on this occasion milked it a little longer than needed before returning to the station to find an Assistant (only his second day) looking very worried with half my boot out on the floor. A little sheepishly he admitted he'd forgotten the batteries, and would need to phone someone to get them brought out. Well why leave it their I told him the only person at the office was the boss, so he could call him and ask him (colour disappearing from his face fast)....or use the batteries still stashed safely in my pocket. A tough life lesson but he never did it again.
8) Another fine mess - again messing about on the river happily working our way down the river mapping sections with two poles and a prism while the Surveyor stayed dry on land with the instrument and fourth assistant. Seemed to be going far to smoothly, and it turns out it was our progress had been rapid and efficient. It turns out the progress was in somewhat assisted by the tide which was really starting to show it's effects as we reached the end of the survey area. Job done though time to paddle home....or not as the case was. Regardless of how hard we paddled we were still going the wrong way, and not one person and thought to bring a rope!!! After half and hour or nothing we decided Plan B was the only solution, and I don't know if you have every tried it but pulling an inflatable against the tide using the thick reeds and your bare hands is neither fun or rewarding. On the plus side we never made the same mistake again...we got someone else to do the boat work!!
9) Setting your alarm when working a spilt night/day week is a must, and these days with Alexa (others types do exist) an easy task! Well it turns out the only thing better than Alexa is a phone call from your boss at 10am the next morning asking if I had planned to work today is very effective - it did mean I missed all of the morning traffic, and thankful it seems this was a very regular thing for people just into the night/day system. Mistake made, embarrassment done, time to move on.
10) Spray paint is a necessary evil. It might look unsightly but for a Surveyor it is a god send, and you only realise how much when you forget one day, hammer a peg into the ground for your next station, walk back to the instrument to finish up. Then you lift the instrument and turn to walk to that peg you'd just put in, that timber coloured peg flash with the light brown dirt on the ground.....I never did find the station and had to reset on the previous station and put in a new peg! Lesson learnt always mark your stations somehow.
11) As every good Surveyor knows it is important to get a good feel for the site, how you are going to approach certain elements, where the difficulties might be, how to positions your stations and close your traverses. On the way to site it is in the back of your mind, but as you get closer to start looking out for possible benchmarks (yes pre GPS), parking places, the site. Then once at the site you are looking at everything. One important lesson I was taught (whilst in the passenger seat) is whilst the site is important hitting the bollard as you drive into the car park is a definite no no....on the plus side it was one less thing to survey.
12) We've all been there, right? Tracing a drainage system through an oily rail depot, lifting ever cover you see to follow the route of that all important surface of foul run. Gone through the first ten covers of the run no problems managed with the resonance (or hitting a hammer on the previous cover) and buckets of water. We then ground to a halt, every possible route we could hear the hammer echoing and see water flowing...time to crack open the tracing dye. Non toxic but bright green, what could possibly go wrong. Add a small amount to the water and pour away, sounds simple. Ten buckets later and still nothing!!! We were literally pulling our hair out....nothing else for it, had to be lunch. Cleaned up, grabbed our lunch and wander up the embankment to sit in the sun overlooking to beautiful bright green river....oh yes we had found the final exit point for all of that green dye slowly turning a Welsh river green!!
I'm sure over time I will come back to this little number, and add others as I remember them (or they happen!)
Surveying Problems (mostly mine but there are a few I was only indirectly involved with)
1) Arriving on site without the instrument, the cardinal sin for a Surveyor. This was on the one occasion my Assistant had told me that the batteries were on charge so could I grab the kit before I left the office....did you spot mistake number one? Asking me to remember something when I was plotting the fastest route from my office desk to the car!! Well as I'm sure you have guessed the instrument remained in the office while we set off early the next day to North London. Imagine the dismay when we arrived on site and opened the boot! As luck would have it we didn't waste the trip as there were a few jobs to be done which didn't involve the instrument - but the phone call back to the office was not pretty!! And I'm fairly sure the return visit which had not been priced for did not go down well!
2) Next day (oh yes it gets worse!) tasked with returning to North London via a small site in South London. Kit all loaded, checked, and checked again. We headed off to the first site, nice and smooth finished quickly and efficiently. Packed up 'most' of the kit and went on to North London to complete yesterdays work....slight problem, this was in the days when the data was recorded on an external logger and not on board. It seems my Assistant (not me this time!) had left the logger on a wall in South London with all of the mornings work!! Calling the office was not an option (I fear a P45 would have been the result!), so we duly set about hand booking all of the observations over the next few hours (did I mention it was a high precision monitoring job?). Job done, so back to the first site as the eternal optimist, and this was pre phone or fleet tracking so no one would know what happened. Luck was back with us, the logger was still sitting on the wall where it had been left!! Over the course of the next hour we took a very slow drive back to the office as the my Assistant hand typed all of the data from the note book into the logger..... got to the office downloaded and everything was right in the world again. It could have been soo much worse, and until now the then boss never found out! (If you are reading sorry - it was only once and I'm sure it made me a better Surveyor in the long run).
3) Make sure you close the boot of the car!! Car packed and ready to go, the Senior Surveyor backs out of the parking spot and slowly pulls away. We reach a road junction and he decides to drop the clutch and speed away....the resulting forward motion shifted the equipment against the boot door which in fact hadn't latched shut. Open springs the boot and off goes the instrument down the road!! It's a testament to the instrument and the box, no damage done to box or instrument when we checked it and it's calibration before starting work the next day. They don't make them like they used to!
4) Surveying 101, always attach the tribrach to the tripod before turning away. In the days of vertical plummets it was fairly standard to separate the tribrach from the instrument while setting up. You centre and level the tribrach before putting the instrument on top to start work. So tripod set, tribrach levelled and centred. You turn around to get the instrument and lose your balance slightly. The only thing close by to grab for balance is the tripod, normally not a problem just a pain having to set up again. On this occasion I had management level and centre without actually screwing the tribrach back on, so said tribrach slides off the tripod, clips the legs and...…..oh did I mention I was working on an oil jetty half a mile out at sea...….falls off the jetty into the sea!! The boss was not amused when I start my recount of this incident with....funny story but.....
5) Health & Safety - you are joking. Before the days of fixed 360 prisms, we had circular prisms sitting in a plastic housing (often wedged with paper to stop them spinning). Carrying out the survey you are constantly checking the prism is pointing the right direction and hasn't twisted in the mount to look downwards. On this particular day I was in a dry suit surveying a structure on a tidal river (yes the dry suit was the health & safety), this involved a large amount of clambering and climbing on a wooden structure which, being in a tidal estuary, was prone to slippery patches. I had circumnavigated this structure (and others) during the day without any problems. Last few points and we were done home and dry, carefully placed my foot onto a cross beam and as I shifted my weight I slipped, reaching out I grabbed a support, clattering the detail pole against the structure in the process. Quietly smug that I'd styled out the slip I carried on across to the next point, set the base of the pole, checked the level, and them the......oh shit where was the prisim…...during my antics the clattering of the pole had knocked the prism out of it's plastic holder into the flowing river below...RIP.
6) Seen one field, seen them all. A lovely survey on a warm sunny day. Knocked off the work in a morning, headed back to the office, processed the data, and handed it over for checking. Next day the boss commended me on an excellent survey, but asked why I had surveyed the field on the opposite side of the road to the site - much to his amusement!!
7) It is important for the Surveyor to keep his assistant in their place, so when the opportunity for a wind up occurs it is too good to miss. Arrive at the office as usual, the Assistant loads the equipment for the day, while the Surveyor gets the job file (makes his coffee) and a quick briefing if needed. On this day I made a quick pre site comfort stop before going out to the car. My Assistant told me he was ready to go, and went out to the car, so I nipped to the little boys room, and on my way out noticed my batteries were still on charge in the office...….so safely stashed in my pocket off we went. Reached site and had a quick look around, before I knocked in the first nail and ask the Assistant to set up the instrument and get ready to start while I installed a few more stations. Usually only a quick job, but on this occasion milked it a little longer than needed before returning to the station to find an Assistant (only his second day) looking very worried with half my boot out on the floor. A little sheepishly he admitted he'd forgotten the batteries, and would need to phone someone to get them brought out. Well why leave it their I told him the only person at the office was the boss, so he could call him and ask him (colour disappearing from his face fast)....or use the batteries still stashed safely in my pocket. A tough life lesson but he never did it again.
8) Another fine mess - again messing about on the river happily working our way down the river mapping sections with two poles and a prism while the Surveyor stayed dry on land with the instrument and fourth assistant. Seemed to be going far to smoothly, and it turns out it was our progress had been rapid and efficient. It turns out the progress was in somewhat assisted by the tide which was really starting to show it's effects as we reached the end of the survey area. Job done though time to paddle home....or not as the case was. Regardless of how hard we paddled we were still going the wrong way, and not one person and thought to bring a rope!!! After half and hour or nothing we decided Plan B was the only solution, and I don't know if you have every tried it but pulling an inflatable against the tide using the thick reeds and your bare hands is neither fun or rewarding. On the plus side we never made the same mistake again...we got someone else to do the boat work!!
9) Setting your alarm when working a spilt night/day week is a must, and these days with Alexa (others types do exist) an easy task! Well it turns out the only thing better than Alexa is a phone call from your boss at 10am the next morning asking if I had planned to work today is very effective - it did mean I missed all of the morning traffic, and thankful it seems this was a very regular thing for people just into the night/day system. Mistake made, embarrassment done, time to move on.
10) Spray paint is a necessary evil. It might look unsightly but for a Surveyor it is a god send, and you only realise how much when you forget one day, hammer a peg into the ground for your next station, walk back to the instrument to finish up. Then you lift the instrument and turn to walk to that peg you'd just put in, that timber coloured peg flash with the light brown dirt on the ground.....I never did find the station and had to reset on the previous station and put in a new peg! Lesson learnt always mark your stations somehow.
11) As every good Surveyor knows it is important to get a good feel for the site, how you are going to approach certain elements, where the difficulties might be, how to positions your stations and close your traverses. On the way to site it is in the back of your mind, but as you get closer to start looking out for possible benchmarks (yes pre GPS), parking places, the site. Then once at the site you are looking at everything. One important lesson I was taught (whilst in the passenger seat) is whilst the site is important hitting the bollard as you drive into the car park is a definite no no....on the plus side it was one less thing to survey.
12) We've all been there, right? Tracing a drainage system through an oily rail depot, lifting ever cover you see to follow the route of that all important surface of foul run. Gone through the first ten covers of the run no problems managed with the resonance (or hitting a hammer on the previous cover) and buckets of water. We then ground to a halt, every possible route we could hear the hammer echoing and see water flowing...time to crack open the tracing dye. Non toxic but bright green, what could possibly go wrong. Add a small amount to the water and pour away, sounds simple. Ten buckets later and still nothing!!! We were literally pulling our hair out....nothing else for it, had to be lunch. Cleaned up, grabbed our lunch and wander up the embankment to sit in the sun overlooking to beautiful bright green river....oh yes we had found the final exit point for all of that green dye slowly turning a Welsh river green!!
I'm sure over time I will come back to this little number, and add others as I remember them (or they happen!)
Tuesday, 7 January 2020
Authors of Our Own Downfall
You know we're sitting on four million pounds of fuel, one nuclear weapon and a thing that has 270,000 moving parts built by the lowest bidder. Makes you feel good, doesn't it? - Armaggedon 1998
OK not quite the same scenario, but the meaning can equally be applied to Land Surveyors, it is a race to the bottom in terms of price to win the work regardless of what we are told or advised.
You buy that fancy new piece of kit which the salesman has told you will save a day and a half on a two day job. So based on standard
surveys and 1000 points a day a survey that would have taken 4-5 days,
instead takes 1-2 days. Big difference in price, and the
quandry. Price at 1-2 days win the work but don't get the real benefit of
the kit, price at 4-5 days to get the cost benefit of the new kit but risk losing
the work. Either way the office time remains constant. It is a problem faced by all survey firms at one time or another, and whilst we'd all like to say we held firm on price and pocketed the time saving it never happens because there is alwaus someone willing to slash their prices to win the work...the race to the bottom. If
all survey firms toe the same party line and reap the benefits of a fast survey
time then everything is fine but in an increasingly competive industry you'll
never get everyone on the same page. So to coin a phrase - 'the choice is
yours'.
This keep it cheap or lose the work mentality is now leading to great industry wide problems. The demand for Surveyors is increasing, but firms cannot pay their Surveyors more because the price squeeze from a competitive market means the cuts have to be made somewhere. The resulting cost saving often comes at the expense of staff training or pay rises. Eventually we will be doing jobs at cost, with no room for error just in an effort to win the work and stay afloat.....
Now fast forward ten years, you have a little more grey hair and a lot more wrinkles after battling to stay in the industry, whilst maintaining a solid work/life balance, and ensuring the standards you've set yourself haven't dropped. How has the industry changed? There are a few more 'independent' survey firms out there along with a usual number of high profile names, and a wide selection in the medium size companies each within their own little bubble. The big difference is the age of the Surveyors, the industry is evolving, technology is changing, but the people in that industry are just ten years older, the pool of new talent coming in is slowly evaporating as people look to more lucrative careers in other areas within the sector, or in a totally different sector, or a completely different country . Our talent pool has been supplemented with skilled overseas (mainly European) workers who are more than able to take on the work and succeed.
Wham (no not the group) Brexit happens, does this mean the European talent pool will soon be harder to access, and that slowly evaporating home grown talent pool has got even smaller? What will it all mean - answers on a postcard to 10 Downing Street!?
For those of us in the industry on the wrong side of 40 it probably won't be an issue, but you might see your fees go up as the demand for Surveyors far out strips the available supply...happy days. The knock on effect of this supply/demand issue is higher fees, therefore higher salaries, thus that evaporating talent pool will start to fill up again as Land Surveying looks to be better financial proposition.....and the cycle starts all over again!!!
Ride out the strom, good times are coming faster than you might think.
Now fast forward ten years, you have a little more grey hair and a lot more wrinkles after battling to stay in the industry, whilst maintaining a solid work/life balance, and ensuring the standards you've set yourself haven't dropped. How has the industry changed? There are a few more 'independent' survey firms out there along with a usual number of high profile names, and a wide selection in the medium size companies each within their own little bubble. The big difference is the age of the Surveyors, the industry is evolving, technology is changing, but the people in that industry are just ten years older, the pool of new talent coming in is slowly evaporating as people look to more lucrative careers in other areas within the sector, or in a totally different sector, or a completely different country . Our talent pool has been supplemented with skilled overseas (mainly European) workers who are more than able to take on the work and succeed.
Wham (no not the group) Brexit happens, does this mean the European talent pool will soon be harder to access, and that slowly evaporating home grown talent pool has got even smaller? What will it all mean - answers on a postcard to 10 Downing Street!?
For those of us in the industry on the wrong side of 40 it probably won't be an issue, but you might see your fees go up as the demand for Surveyors far out strips the available supply...happy days. The knock on effect of this supply/demand issue is higher fees, therefore higher salaries, thus that evaporating talent pool will start to fill up again as Land Surveying looks to be better financial proposition.....and the cycle starts all over again!!!
Ride out the strom, good times are coming faster than you might think.
Monday, 21 January 2019
Surveying at Speed
With the progression of time the powers that be are seemingly obsessed with collecting as much data as possible in the shortest amount of time.
We'll brush over the transfer from Chain Surveys and Plane Tables onto Theodolites and Tacheometry, through handbooking of data onto on board data logging as these are gradually progressions of technology to achieve the same end goal....and geometrically accurate topographical survey. You can argue the accuracies change, and presentation varies but the basis information remains intact.
In the mid 1980's Wham, Madonna and Simple Minds where all taking it in turns topping the charts, CD's were introduced, Coca Cola introduced New Coke, and GPS (Global Positioning System) was being made commercially available. It wasn't until the late nineties and early noughties that Surveyors started accepting GPS as an every day essential as opposed to a very heavy luxury. Even then the GPS wasn't used for much more than establishing site control, then monitoring and finally for surveying site detail in certain circumstances. Then SmartNet reared it's head, and merged the growing mobile phone networks into the GPS to provide a reliable system for terrestrial land survey.
Take a look below, with the advent of GPS (Global Positioning System) and, in this instance, Leica's SmartNet. 90% of the survey shown was completed in one (long) site day by one Surveyor. Using the SmartNET system our Surveyor was able to measure 3,500 individual points in one day to an accuracy of +/-15mm which is more than good enough for most survey requirements. So was 3,500 points a lot, well yes when view historically at the time. In 2000 a good days work would have been 450-500 points depending on the nature of the work (open field is quicker than a woodland, but a road is more point intensive). By 2005/2006 this tally was closer to the 750-800 points, and then moving into 2010 anything less than 1000 points was seen as falling short....see targets everywhere but I'd rather have 500 accurate points, and a 1000 points with a higher degree of error! By 2010 SmartNet was coming into commercial markets, and you can see the massive jump in points collected from 1000 up to 3,500-4,000.
The image below shows roughly what 4,000 points looks like, covering all the detail between the two roundabouts, and the roads to the north and south. These we almost perfect conditions for surveying with the weather, and the network strength in our favour.
With GPS and SmartNet establishing themselves nicely the next step had started to evolve....3D laser scanning. For the first time in Surveying evolution we were about to enter a realm of surveying too much information (if that is even possible). Perhaps 'too much' is the wrong was to describe this. If a total station is a sniper rifle picking up the bare minimum to reflect the ground on a 2D or 3D plan, then a laser scanner is more like a paint bomb covering everything and anything. Recording everything within line of sight of the scanner, waiting for the Surveyor to get back to the office to trim out the superfluous data and produce the same 2D or 3D plan. The benefits are there, if there are any queries the site has been captured in perpetuity and can be revisited to respond to any queries. The Surveyor can spend less time on site, and can do the work from a safe (or at least safer) location without the need to get too close to the main road or cliff edge. On the downside (for some) it means a lot more time in the office interpreting the data and developing it into a format which can be utilised by the end user.
Of course sometimes the new technologies and old methods do merge into one. In the case below using the laser scanner (in this case a Leica C10) saved days on the site work, but this was offset by the additional office time required isolating the relevant information. This 'sorting' of information was formally done on site using the Surveyors experience, they can survey only the relevant information. The scanner take on a more global approach and picks up everything and in essence moves the elevation onto a computer for the Surveyor to work with. Again a big selling point was the surplus data collection which could be called upon if additional information were needed at a later date...hasn't happened yet. However three days in the office was far better than an additional three days on site in the rain! SO in this case speed helped the Surveyor with no either or option when tendering for the works.
But why stop there, there are more developments coming through the system with drone and uav surveys, some work on the same principle as the laser scanner others create the information in a method similar to photogrammtry. The end result in a full editable 3D model of the site - of all least that which can be seen from the air and is not buried in long grass or under the only parked car on the site. The theory is good, and the practise is good but there are some issues.
So is surveying at speed a good thing for the industry. In general I would say yes, it is impossible not to deny that collecting more data in less time is not a good thing. Will the every increasing need to more data in less time make the Surveyor a dying bred...probably but for now at least the demand remains for the 'person with the pole' to fight/wade/crawl/climb/walk around sites getting to that hard to reach spots, and find that manhole in the grass that hadn't seen the light of day for many years which would have gone unnoticed from the air...but change is coming and we all have to be ready to evolve.
Blogged Down!
Eight years in and the idea of a monthly blog has somewhat fallen by the wayside.....but after commissioning a new website and discussing the requirments with the developer it seems getting our blog back on track could be worth the effort, but I suspect we won't be anywhere as near prolific as when we first started....a severe case of writers block, and a grwoing client base to keep happy, but here goes.....
Over the coming year look out for the following:-
1) Surveying at Speed - A look at the advantage and disadvantages of drones and laser scanning.
2) Another Box Ticked...but is it worth it - Looking into the relevance of some specifications
3) After the Surveyor has gone - more of a retrospective look at a few sites we have worked on to see what has happened since.
4) Authors of Our Own Downfall - with a growing shortage of Land Surveyors available do we only have ourselves to blame?
It's out there now I'm commiting to a quarterly blog, I would ask for submission of other papers but I feel it will fall of deak ears.
For more information on the services R L Surveys can offer please visit our website at www.rlsurveys.co.uk, or for a more relaxed view we can be found on Facebook, or Twitter. We are also on LinkedIn, so pop along and say hi. #rls
Over the coming year look out for the following:-
1) Surveying at Speed - A look at the advantage and disadvantages of drones and laser scanning.
2) Another Box Ticked...but is it worth it - Looking into the relevance of some specifications
3) After the Surveyor has gone - more of a retrospective look at a few sites we have worked on to see what has happened since.
4) Authors of Our Own Downfall - with a growing shortage of Land Surveyors available do we only have ourselves to blame?
It's out there now I'm commiting to a quarterly blog, I would ask for submission of other papers but I feel it will fall of deak ears.
For more information on the services R L Surveys can offer please visit our website at www.rlsurveys.co.uk, or for a more relaxed view we can be found on Facebook, or Twitter. We are also on LinkedIn, so pop along and say hi. #rls
Wednesday, 31 January 2018
Know Your Boundaries
This is a very grey area in the world of the Chartered Surveyor, what are your boundaries? - I am talking about the fences, ditches, walls or posts around your property, or in some cases the imaginary line which has become a distant memory over the years of change.
www.rics.org this will direct you to the consumer guide for boundary disputes
www.landregistry.gov.uk - this is the primary source for finding your title documents, and the best item to read is Practice Guide 40
Before you go and put you foot in the neighbours' door claiming adverse possession or boundary encroachment based on a glance over your title documents, and your knowledge of the boundaries, there are certain points to consider:-
1) The red line on your filed title plan is only an general indication of where your boundary should fall. It is a 'General Boundary' and there is no way to quantify the degree of variation between this red line and the fence running through your back garden. It is best considered as a starting point for locating your boundary. As a rule if thumb if there is a boundary feature in the rough area of the red line on your plan it probably is the boundary.
2) The boundary on your field title plan is know as your legal boundary, however the boundary running through your garden is the physical boundary. In an ideal world these would be as one, but in reality this is almost never the case.
3) When considering the position of a boundary even the worlds best Chartered Surveyors (dare I say us?) are reliant on preexisting information to base their findings. This is a very grey area as many title documents were prepared on older Ordnance Survey digital mapping which is constantly being updated, therefore your Surveyor will have to bring the existing title documents onto the latest mapping, this process will inherently introduce a degree of error which cannot be avoided. As a general rule of thumb Ordnance Survey mapping is accurate to around 0.5m (but it is getting better) so you cannot simple assume this to be correct and ask it to be set out then act surprised when it doesn't agree with the true position on the ground.
4) How important is that final 10mm?? Most boundary disputes are driven by psychological factors such as greed and principle. Often people try to claim land which at the point of purchase they may not even known they legally owned, but on closer inspection of their filed tiled plan they discover that they may be entitled to a little bit more instead of accepting the 'sold as scene' philosophy!
5) It is really worth a dispute with your neighbours over what is really a trivial issue in the big scheme of things.
6) As a Chartered Surveyors the position of your boundary will not cause us to lose sleep, whilst we may be comissioned by one party in reality our only concern is getting the boundary right even if that is in disagreement with our client. It may seem unprofessional but we really don't care where the boundary falls - it is just a line to us.
7) The initial transfer document in the creation on of a title will in general be the definitive document of comparison even if it is disagrees with the final field plan. Plans do get drawn wrongly as a result of operator error, changes to the base mapping, even the quality of the original document.
8) Dimensions are the Chartered Surveyors curse. A dimension is all well and good, but it is only as good as the mapping it is based upon, and knowledge of the point it was measured from. Times change, features change, but the dimension is still based on a long distant concrete post.
Life is short, and whilst we are ever thankful for the work boundaries generates, do you really want to waste time and effort over a small amount of land?
#boundarydispute #landregistry
First Steps.......
There are a number of sources of information, and often a Solicitor is the first call. Unfortunately this is when the money really starts to disappear, read up on the subject first and consult a wealth of material that is out there:-www.rics.org this will direct you to the consumer guide for boundary disputes
www.landregistry.gov.uk - this is the primary source for finding your title documents, and the best item to read is Practice Guide 40
Important Points of Consideration
Before you go and put you foot in the neighbours' door claiming adverse possession or boundary encroachment based on a glance over your title documents, and your knowledge of the boundaries, there are certain points to consider:-
1) The red line on your filed title plan is only an general indication of where your boundary should fall. It is a 'General Boundary' and there is no way to quantify the degree of variation between this red line and the fence running through your back garden. It is best considered as a starting point for locating your boundary. As a rule if thumb if there is a boundary feature in the rough area of the red line on your plan it probably is the boundary.
2) The boundary on your field title plan is know as your legal boundary, however the boundary running through your garden is the physical boundary. In an ideal world these would be as one, but in reality this is almost never the case.
3) When considering the position of a boundary even the worlds best Chartered Surveyors (dare I say us?) are reliant on preexisting information to base their findings. This is a very grey area as many title documents were prepared on older Ordnance Survey digital mapping which is constantly being updated, therefore your Surveyor will have to bring the existing title documents onto the latest mapping, this process will inherently introduce a degree of error which cannot be avoided. As a general rule of thumb Ordnance Survey mapping is accurate to around 0.5m (but it is getting better) so you cannot simple assume this to be correct and ask it to be set out then act surprised when it doesn't agree with the true position on the ground.
4) How important is that final 10mm?? Most boundary disputes are driven by psychological factors such as greed and principle. Often people try to claim land which at the point of purchase they may not even known they legally owned, but on closer inspection of their filed tiled plan they discover that they may be entitled to a little bit more instead of accepting the 'sold as scene' philosophy!
5) It is really worth a dispute with your neighbours over what is really a trivial issue in the big scheme of things.
6) As a Chartered Surveyors the position of your boundary will not cause us to lose sleep, whilst we may be comissioned by one party in reality our only concern is getting the boundary right even if that is in disagreement with our client. It may seem unprofessional but we really don't care where the boundary falls - it is just a line to us.
7) The initial transfer document in the creation on of a title will in general be the definitive document of comparison even if it is disagrees with the final field plan. Plans do get drawn wrongly as a result of operator error, changes to the base mapping, even the quality of the original document.
8) Dimensions are the Chartered Surveyors curse. A dimension is all well and good, but it is only as good as the mapping it is based upon, and knowledge of the point it was measured from. Times change, features change, but the dimension is still based on a long distant concrete post.
Life is short, and whilst we are ever thankful for the work boundaries generates, do you really want to waste time and effort over a small amount of land?
#boundarydispute #landregistry
Tuesday, 15 September 2015
Vague ramblings of a distracted Surveyor!
Odds & Sods - the ideas which haven't (or haven't yet) evolved into blogs!
The Law of Diminshing Returns - Many months ago I started a list of possible blog subjects, and this was one of them. Unfortunately I have no idea what this might have meant. Clearly a moment of clarity, or inspiration, whilst waiting from my daughter to come out of ballet listening to the inane chatting of mothers waiting for their daughters. However on Friday I was back sitting in the cloakroom listening to the chatter when inspiration hit again..... The law of diminishing returns - at what point will the level of detail you are providing out weigh the time spent in obtaining that information. Case in point, we spent hours breaking out way into this site, and gained the grand total of 15 points - was it really worth it? The client seemed impressed so I guess it was worth it, but in hindsight a level top and bottom would have given the same result - but you never know what you might find buried in undergrowth.
All in a name - having spent an excessive amount of time on construction sites over the years you hear a wide variety of terms to connect to different industries. Carpenters generally respond to Chippie, Electricians are Sparkies, Bricklayers are the Brickies, Plasterers are Spreads. Now I'm stumped any ideas for Plumbers, Engineers or Surveyors?? Try and kept it polite.
Then & Now - When I first started in this career a mobile phone was something the MD had but no one else could get close to, life was so much quieter and days were more productive. Now everyone has a mobile phone, and are willing to use it far to easily. I may be getting old but there was a time when you have to solve your own problems on site, now the first step is to phone the office!.....this might turn into a full on moaning blog one day about changes in the industry since my first day! This idea only came as a result of a day in Petham (Canterbury) which appears to be a mobile phone black spot or heaven.
Surveyors Claim to Fame - Surely there must be more references to Surveyors in popular culture through the music, movies, TV & books. I can think of only a few, and some of those are only passing moments:-
The Law of Diminshing Returns - Many months ago I started a list of possible blog subjects, and this was one of them. Unfortunately I have no idea what this might have meant. Clearly a moment of clarity, or inspiration, whilst waiting from my daughter to come out of ballet listening to the inane chatting of mothers waiting for their daughters. However on Friday I was back sitting in the cloakroom listening to the chatter when inspiration hit again..... The law of diminishing returns - at what point will the level of detail you are providing out weigh the time spent in obtaining that information. Case in point, we spent hours breaking out way into this site, and gained the grand total of 15 points - was it really worth it? The client seemed impressed so I guess it was worth it, but in hindsight a level top and bottom would have given the same result - but you never know what you might find buried in undergrowth.All in a name - having spent an excessive amount of time on construction sites over the years you hear a wide variety of terms to connect to different industries. Carpenters generally respond to Chippie, Electricians are Sparkies, Bricklayers are the Brickies, Plasterers are Spreads. Now I'm stumped any ideas for Plumbers, Engineers or Surveyors?? Try and kept it polite.
Then & Now - When I first started in this career a mobile phone was something the MD had but no one else could get close to, life was so much quieter and days were more productive. Now everyone has a mobile phone, and are willing to use it far to easily. I may be getting old but there was a time when you have to solve your own problems on site, now the first step is to phone the office!.....this might turn into a full on moaning blog one day about changes in the industry since my first day! This idea only came as a result of a day in Petham (Canterbury) which appears to be a mobile phone black spot or heaven.
Surveyors Claim to Fame - Surely there must be more references to Surveyors in popular culture through the music, movies, TV & books. I can think of only a few, and some of those are only passing moments:-
- The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill (Hugh Grant) - OK they were Cartographers but lets not split hairs here! Haven't seem it myself though, but perhaps I should have!
- Raiders of the Lost Ark (Harrison Ford) - There was even an earlier theodolite in the hands of Indiana Jones, but again not a Surveyor.
- Seven Years in Tibet (Brad Pitt) - Again that early theodolite was out again
- The English Patient (Ralph Finnes)
- Far & Away (Tom Cruise) - land prospecting in America
- The Great Escape (Nigel Stock) - Wouldn't have got far in that tunnel without one!
- The X-Files (David Duchovney) - Vague recollections of an episode from my youth, ok very vague!
I'm sure there are more films, but perhaps people could enlighten me!
Please stay in touch with R L Surveys though the wonders of social media at Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Alternatively we are always at the end of the phone line on 01233 800109.
Please stay in touch with R L Surveys though the wonders of social media at Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Alternatively we are always at the end of the phone line on 01233 800109.
Wednesday, 12 August 2015
Thames Path Challenge 2014
A bright crisp Saturday morning, and thousands of nutters are descending onto a small park just north of Putney Bridge, the reason..........they have all given up their weekend to walk, run or jog for charity. Walking on behalf of the Alzheimers Society, in a moment of weakness I had signed up for the 100km (approximately 80km further than I had walked previously in any one go!). In the months leading up to the event I had managed to build up my walking to 40km in one go (although never made it home without a lift - due to time not fatigue!), but this was a completely different scale!
We set off into the sunshine at 7:20 in the morning after the worlds most expensive taxi ride from Wandsworth to Putney Bridge (we must have been wearing our 'mug' look!). The walk was going to take in some of the sights of London - obviously the Thames, but Kew Gardens, Hampton Court, Staines (ok might be stretch this a little now), Runnymede, & finally Henley-On-Thames (very steep High Street here!). ALl this doe mean that people looking to sell their houses in Henley-On-Thames can say they are within walking distance of central London!
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| The Relief |
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| The Anticipation |
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| The Reward |
What next? Well that was almost a year ago now so time to start thinking about the next stupid thing to do!!
Wednesday, 21 May 2014
15 Not Out
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| T1300 - Robust & reliable |
28th June 1999 - my first day as a qualified Land Surveyor. I was sent up to the Three Rivers Project in Staines with a Principle Surveyor and Assistant to learn the ropes, with all the kit crammed into an old Toyota Corolla plus the three of us we were off travelling round the M25 in the hammering rain, with the traffic getting heavier, and the rain unrelenting. We never did get to site!
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| Cutting Edge at the time |
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| DOS!!!!! |
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| TS Series - All gizmos & gadgets |
The age of the Survey Assistant is fast dying as instruments are increasingly robotic for one man operation. Instead of the 200 points in a day, we can now easily top 1500 points in full colour with a mass of information associated with every point, and a plan of the site as you go so you know the survey works before you even reach the office. Transfer of data from the instrument takes seconds, and within minutes you can have a drawing of the site in front of you which is ready to be tidied and sent to the client! But then why mess about on site coding points when you can laser scan and get the information in a 3D model of a building in seconds, and it is not just buildings the development of airborne UAV's and drones means you can scan the ground equally as quickly without even leaving the office!
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| UAV Drone for Aerial Scanning |
Was it better 15 years ago, or will it be better in 15 years time......................
Check back in 15 years I might be able to pass comment. Right now I'm off to watch Back to the Future see if I can work out how that capacitor works, and get the answers sooner!
Please stay in touch with R L Surveys though the wonders of social media at Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Alternatively we are always at the end of the phone line on 01233 800109.
Monday, 10 March 2014
Customer Service or Customer Interference?
How is your Customer Service?
Over the years people have many causes for complaint, and thanks, for customer service. Generally I find myself feeling sorry for the front line staff on the telephone taking the brunt of peoples frustrations with little thanks. Of course a lot of that might be down to the 100's of questions (I may be exaggerating) you have to answer on your touch tone phone before actually speaking to someone!In recent dealings with a reputable organisation the staff I speak to are friendly and helpful; but completely at the mercy of the industry or company they work within. They try to help but the system set up does not allow them the freedom to help unless the computer lets them, for example.....
- An on line bank call me, on my own phone but can't tell me anything because I fail the second security question. Does anyone know sort codes and credit limits off the top of their heads whilst doing the weekly shop? The call was only to check some unusual activity on the account (and no not that i was spending on it!). I know the transactions and amounts but they wouldn't accept this as proof it was me.......result card blocked, so much for the shop I was half way through. Sorry to the big supermarket with an orange colouration for the full but abandoned shopping trolley!
- A large professional body who charge for every step of progression. However I discover a route open to me which was never mentioned, so I progress along the route then complain about the fees retrospectively. After getting agreement that a refund was due which took a month, I spent the next month chasing the refund. Turn the tables on that one, if my fees were late I'd be facing late fees, interest, expulsion? You might want to read an earlier blog on that subject before I divert off on a tangent.
Our Customer Service.......
First rate but I suspect you will all think I am somewhat biased in this area. It might be the size of the organisation but at R L Surveys we pride ourselves on a fast efficient personal service. All calls returned within three hours, all quotes responded to within 24 hours (if not quoted), and a general job turn around of 1-2 weeks (unless there is a sudden up turn in the economic climate as we are currently seeing). This service is something we feel all companies should aspire to, and as a result we have won jobs without being the lowest tenderer.
Courtesy costs nothing, but happy clients are priceless (thank you MasterCard an excellent tag line!)
As usual you can follow our progress through Facebook & Twitter, or with a growing number of people on Linkedin. But as always best place to find us is at www.rlsurveys.co.uk
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