BEFORE YOU START
Before you pour, bury or build.
Surveying is rarely one visit and a few pegs. The first survey gives the design team site information. Later visits put the design on the ground, check the work and record what was built. Plan those checks into the programme. Concrete does not accept change requests.
Use the stages below to plan those visits with your team. Some overlap or repeat as the work progresses. The detail and timing should suit your project, rather than follow a fixed number of visits.
THE QUICK VERSION
Plan the survey around the next decision.
| Stage | Survey input | Have ready |
|---|---|---|
| Evaluate | Topographical survey for design. | Site extent, proposed work and the designer’s information requirements. |
| Confirm constraints | Cadastral advice or boundary verification where needed. | Property records, known uncertainties and the appropriate specialist. |
| Prepare | Review the set-out information and survey references. | Authorised drawings, revisions, levels and tolerances. |
| Set out | Transfer agreed positions and levels to site. | Safe access, a ready working area and someone to receive the marks. |
| Check | Verify agreed work before the next operation. | Exposed features, design references and time to act on findings. |
| Record | As-built measurement and handover records. | Agreed deliverables and access before work is concealed. |
Who does what?
- Client or project lead: coordinates the brief, programme and people who need the results.
- Designer or engineer: provides the design, specifies tolerances and resolves design questions.
- Surveyor: measures, sets out and reports the agreed information against the stated references.
- Contractor: prepares the working area, protects marks and builds to the authorised information.
- Cadastral land surveyor: deals with legal boundary questions when the project requires that specialist work.
Agree who reviews each result and gives the go-ahead. A report sitting unread in an inbox is not a completed check.
01 / EVALUATE
Start with the ground. Then draw.
Start by telling the surveyor what the information will be used for. A designer preparing a building layout may need different detail from an engineer assessing a road connection or drainage route. Agree what needs measuring with the design team before anyone goes to site. “Survey everything” sounds thorough. It still needs a scope.
A topographical survey records the measured positions and levels of agreed features. It provides the starting information for design; it does not make the design decisions.
Who needs to be involved?
The client or project manager coordinates the brief. The designer identifies the information needed, and the surveyor agrees how it will be measured and delivered.
Have these ready
- A site pin, access arrangements and the area to be surveyed.
- Existing plans and a description of the proposed work.
- Required features, levels, accuracy and file formats, agreed with the designer.
- Any restricted areas or features that cannot safely be accessed.
Designing drainage? Ask for the right levels.
Ask the designer which surrounding levels, channels, kerbs, manholes and proposed connection points need to be included. Water does not stop at the edge of the drawing, so the survey extent may need to reach beyond the immediate building area, subject to access.
An invert level is the level at the inside bottom of a pipe or channel. A manhole cover level cannot substitute for it. Agree whether accessible invert levels, pipe sizes and flow directions are required, and identify anything that could not be verified. Breaklines describe changes in the ground’s slope, such as the top and bottom of a bank; capturing these helps the terrain model represent the actual shape of the site.
Before moving on
Confirm that the designer can use the supplied files and understands any missing or inaccessible detail. Resolve important gaps before the design depends on them.
A surface survey does not reveal every buried service. Agree separately whether records, specialist detection or physical verification are needed.
02 / CONFIRM CONSTRAINTS
Check the boundaries and restrictions.
Before positioning new work, establish which property information and restrictions the design team must use. Collect the relevant records and have uncertainties resolved by the appropriate professional. Do not assume a visible fence or wall is the legal boundary. “It has always been there” is a history lesson, not boundary confirmation.
Setting out an accurately drawn design cannot resolve an uncertain property boundary or an outstanding approval.
Who needs to be involved?
An appropriately registered land surveyor handles cadastral boundary work. The relevant planning, architectural, engineering and other professionals address their respective design and approval requirements. Mini Civils focuses on topographical surveys, construction set-out and as-built verification.
Have these ready
- The registered property description and available SG diagram or general plan.
- Title and servitude information for review by the relevant professional.
- Known boundary concerns and any existing beacon information.
- The design team’s confirmation of applicable restrictions and outstanding approvals.
Before moving on
Ask the project lead to confirm that unresolved boundaries, restrictions or approvals will not be carried into the construction layout.
Keep legal boundary confirmation separate from measuring existing site features. They answer different questions.
03 / PREPARE
One agreed revision. One set of references.
Send the drawings before the site visit. Identify the current construction issue, its revision and exactly what needs to be set out. If dimensions conflict, or two drawings show different positions, obtain a written clarification from the responsible designer.
Survey control is the set of reference points used to carry positions and levels through the job. A benchmark provides a height reference. Agree which references apply so different teams are working from the same starting point.
Who needs to be involved?
The designer supplies the authorised design and required construction tolerances. The surveyor checks whether the supplied information can be used for the agreed set-out. The contractor coordinates readiness and the sequence of work.
Have these ready
- Current issued drawings, revision numbers and suitable digital files.
- Grid lines, dimensions and design levels for the work requested.
- The project coordinate and height references, with existing control information.
- The required date, site contact and agreed checks before work proceeds.
Before moving on
Confirm the revision and reference system with the team. If the drawings disagree, get the designer to resolve it. Choosing the dimension you like best is not a checking procedure.
Changing a finished floor level or moving a grid is a design decision. Get the authorised revision before transferring it to the ground.
04 / SET OUT
Put the agreed design on the ground.
Construction set-out transfers the agreed design into identifiable positions, lines and levels on site. Arrange the visit when the area is accessible and ready for the work requested. Explain the sequence so marks can be placed where the team can use and protect them.
A mark only helps if the person using it understands what it represents. An offset mark is deliberately placed a stated distance and direction away from the intended position. Treat it as the actual corner and you’ve built a very precise mistake.
Who needs to be involved?
The surveyor establishes and communicates the agreed marks. The contractor’s nominated representative receives the handover and makes sure the site team understands them.
Have these ready
- A clear working area and safe access to the required positions.
- A nominated person to receive the set-out information.
- The agreed marking method and any required offset distances.
- A way to protect reference marks from excavation, traffic and stockpiles.
Before moving on
Confirm which marks represent centres, edges, offsets or level references. Record the handover and arrange any required verification before the next irreversible operation.
If a mark is knocked out or a control point is disturbed, have it checked or reinstated. “More or less where it was” is not a survey reference.
05 / CHECK
Check it before you cover it.
Agree checking points around the construction programme. Book checks early enough for the results to be reviewed before work is poured, covered, fabricated or built upon. Leave time to act on the result. A check booked after the pour can tell you what happened. It cannot unpour the concrete.
Compare measured positions and levels with the relevant design revision and agreed tolerances. A difference must be reported clearly so the responsible person can decide what action is required.
Who needs to be involved?
The surveyor reports the measured result. The responsible designer or engineer assesses departures where required; the contractor implements the authorised response. A survey check does not, by itself, approve a design change.
Have these ready
- The element to be checked and the decision the result must support.
- The relevant drawing revision and specified tolerances.
- A booking before the work becomes hidden or inaccessible.
- The person who will receive the result and authorise the next step.
Before backfilling: agree what must be captured.
- Confirm which installed services and sections need an as-built record, and book the survey before they are concealed.
- Agree the required positions and levels, including junctions, changes in direction, crossings and connection points.
- Agree which attributes must accompany the measurements, such as service type, pipe size and material. Identify information supplied by the contractor separately from measured information.
- Arrange safe access and visibility. An open trench is not an invitation to climb in; coordinate any access with the site’s responsible person.
- Confirm that the required measurements are complete and any discrepancies have been referred to the responsible person before covering the work.
Before moving on
Close out discrepancies and keep the record of the decision. Where remedial work changes the measured position or level, agree whether a further check is needed.
Construction verification is not automatically structural movement monitoring. If movement is the concern, specify that as a separate brief.
06 / RECORD
Record what was actually built.
An as-built survey records the measured condition of the agreed completed work. Decide what must be captured during construction, particularly anything that will later be buried or concealed. Once the work is buried or concealed, some details can no longer be measured directly. Arrange the survey while they are still accessible.
The design shows what is intended. The as-built survey records what was measured after construction. The final record should make clear what was measured, when it was measured and which references were used. Identify information taken from other records and any areas that could not be surveyed.
Who needs to be involved?
The client or project lead agrees the handover requirements. The surveyor supplies the commissioned survey outputs. The relevant professionals remain responsible for their certificates, approvals and other completion documents.
Have these ready
- The agreed list of completed features and required deliverables.
- Access before concealed work is closed up, where measurement is required.
- The intended recipient and required drawing or data formats.
- The design reference if a measured-versus-design comparison is required.
Before moving on
Check that the recipient can open and interpret the files, that limitations are stated and that outstanding survey items are recorded. Store the final revision where the team can find it. A drawing lost in someone’s WhatsApp history is not much of a handover.
An as-built drawing records measured information. It is not, on its own, an occupancy approval or a certificate of structural compliance.
KEEP THIS HANDY
Tell us what needs doing.
Before requesting a visit or quotation, put the following in one message. If you do not know something, say so. We can work through a question; an assumption is harder to spot.
- Where: site pin, address, access contact and working restrictions.
- What: the work to be measured, set out or checked, and its extent.
- Why: the decision or next construction operation it will support.
- Which information: current drawings, revision numbers and any existing survey files.
- When: the required date and the operation that depends on the result.
- What you need back: marks on site, drawings, data, a comparison report or other agreed output.
- Who receives it: the person responsible for reviewing and acting on the result.
READY TO ARRANGE THE SURVEY?
Send the site. Explain the next step.
We can help scope the topographical survey, construction set-out or as-built verification needed for your project.
DISCUSS THE SURVEY →