Monday, November 16, 2015

The Changing Face of Land Surveying

Has anyone else noticed that the dynamic of the typical survey operation has changed?  I have operated as a one-man shop for the last 10 years and have found the hard work liberating.  Primarily because it has given me the latitude to stay flexible in a hostile economy.  The other reason is I do not have to rely on a technician to collect data for me.  Don't get me wrong; I working in an engineering firm with lots of crews and I was their manager.  However to be honest I really had no idea what they were doing or how well they weren't doing it.  I did catch one party chief: while working in Kansas; sitting in the truck playing on his playstation and small TV while his crew was in the snow staking power poles.  On another occasion I was asked to fire a young man who apparently could not keep his urine clean.  My point is this type of stuff was daily.  I was spending hours managing people and clients and very little time supervising the data.  It was impossible.

What I see now is more RLS partychiefs and one-man crews.  Plus more and more one-man operations.  Even the engineering firms have realized that it is more cost effective to sub-contract their surveying tasks rather than maintain survey operations in house.  I think this is a positive move.  It will be uncomfortable but it is in the right direction.  With the RLS being more hands on; there is better decision making in the field.  An added bonus of course is the experience.

I am hoping this progression will calm the competitive nature and begin to embrace a cooperative nature.  We should act as colleagues not enemies.  Its hard but it is possible.

6 comments:

  1. Dan

    The title of your post should probably be 'The Demise of Land Surveying'. I agree with your observations but disagree with your conclusions.

    I know that you are a proponent formal and continuing education and over the last few years I have come to agree with you least about continuing education. But education is not enough. The licensing boards a crossed the country and the spectrum of professions know this and rightly require an "apprenticeship" period. Our own Board is currently looking at increasing the experience requirement for land surveyors

    Schools can teach land surveying but you learn land surveying by doing. You learned from your father and others. I learned from a number of party chiefs and registrants. Who's instructing the next generation?

    Larry

    ReplyDelete
  2. Larry as always your opinion is highly considered but the education debate was not what my commentary was about.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The advent of one-man crews, whether the registrant or a party chief, allows no time for hands on experience, therefore affecting every aspect of the profession. Then let's talk about the safety issues.It's not a good idea and as Larry said, no one is gaining experience. A local firm here uses 1 man survey crews to bluetop and stake construction. I watched one of their poor guys carrying all that crap and bluetopping. I'm glad I'll be no part of it.

    In the early 90's I thought that small firms would replace multiple survey crews in the larger firms. It didn't happen. As equipment becomes more complex and expensive, it will be harder for the small outfits to compete on design projects. Our crews can have a scanner, digital level, GPS, robotic instrument and Mobile Mapper, as needed. But things are going to change at a rate that will make the last 50 years look like we were standing still.

    ReplyDelete
  4. All valid points but you must remeber my perspective is from that of the boundary surveyor. Not the do it all puppy mill. So I have a hard time believing that a RLS one man shop has a hard time gaining experience. However the BTR needs to re evaluate what it means to be a surveyor in trainig. Instead of our current system. The BTR would be wise to adopt a system where the guys who signed off on the experience act as peers for a 3 year peer review period before the new registrant should be turned loose on the public.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. When you speak of engineering companies contracting survey services that will include all aspects of surveying. That is very different from a 1-man boundary outfit, which is a viable solution for small boundary outfits..I agree on the needed experience requirement. We have two registrants who are taking their time learning all aspects before they start managing projects. But they would not be there with this 1-man crew crap.

      Delete
  5. All valid points but you must remeber my perspective is from that of the boundary surveyor. Not the do it all puppy mill. So I have a hard time believing that a RLS one man shop has a hard time gaining experience. However the BTR needs to re evaluate what it means to be a surveyor in trainig. Instead of our current system. The BTR would be wise to adopt a system where the guys who signed off on the experience act as peers for a 3 year peer review period before the new registrant should be turned loose on the public.

    ReplyDelete