Written by: Michael Terpstra
Understanding how civil construction, legal, and structural plans correlate with surveying can significantly help one throughout a project. The following explains the importance of being competent in reading these plans and how it can play to an advantage when surveying a project.
Reading civil construction plans heavily relates to the quality of layout on construction sites. Design data won’t necessarily match the construction drawings, and contractors must build a project from the latest set of revised construction drawings. When it is understood how construction drawings are created, the surveyor will know what to look for to lay infrastructure out correctly. Surveyors must rely on the set of construction drawings as opposed to Civil 3D design information. The reason for this is because some design information can display good data on paper but does not necessarily meet adequate design standards for survey layout. Grades, elevations, pipe inverts, minimum cover, etc. need to be able to be derived from construction drawings into the survey layout in case design data can’t be relied upon. When a surveyor understands how to read civil construction drawings it makes the survey prep easier and mistakes can be eliminated while completing construction layout. Error can be eliminated because surveyors are able to check construction plans while they are laying out infrastructure. When surveyors check their plans during the job, they are thinking about the problem as it arises in the moment and are less likely to make a mistake. For example, a number that doesn’t make sense on the design will stand out and be more obvious to the surveyor because they are currently at the site and not far away in the office. A wrong grade will show up much more drastically in the field because we can use our common sense to see that something doesn’t look right.
Being able to read legal plans also plays a strong role with its relation to construction surveying. At the beginning of any construction project, a surveyor must tie design data into an existing site’s property boundary. To complete this effectively, one must understand how to read legal plans. The surveyor must understand different types of legal markers that surveyors use to define land boundaries. Then they will know what specifically to look for when tying in property markers. This also helps them differentiate what part of the boundary they are specifically looking at. They must also understand bearings, distances, azimuths, and how to apply these terms to field calculations. These concepts that are understood can make the process of searching for property evidence less cumbersome and time consuming. The surveyor also must understand how legal surveyors calculate boundary locations from legal plans, and how they define a boundary with field evidence. Understanding this enables the surveyor to understand the minimum information required to tie proposed construction works into an existing subject property.
Understanding structural plans is also a key asset in construction surveying. When a surveyor understands structural plans, he can give the client what he wants and is effectively able to back check his work. For example, when completing any type of structural layout, it is crucial to understand where distances are in the drawings and always backcheck these from the design data. Structural drawings are also crucial to understanding elevations. It is important to know where to find elevations and understand thicknesses in concrete etc. If these concepts aren’t understood it could lead to a wrong elevation being used. Reading the plans also helps a surveyor understand where an effective benchmark should be placed.
Therefore, understanding civil construction, legal, and structural drawings play a large role in effective and quality construction layout. If design data were to be relied upon, there is a chance that a costly mistake could be made. This is the reason why it is crucial to always back check work to the engineering drawings.