A Building Survey Defined
July 21, 2010
According to the United States Department of Labor, there are listings for the occupations of blogger.., botanist…, building inspector…, surveyor…, but not “building surveyor”. Also, Wikipedia makes no mention of such a US occupation when it states, “Building Surveying emerged in the 1970s as a profession in the United Kingdom by a group of technically minded General Practice Surveyors. Building Surveying is a recognized profession within Britain and Australia….There are still many countries where it is not widely recognized as a profession.” In spite of this the term building survey is still used within the US AEC Industry.
A Building Survey is Not Similar to a Land Survey
A building survey is not performed in the same manner as land surveying is done. A land survey is performed by a licensed Surveyor who ultimately creates from his field work (i.e. survey) a drawing which is stamped, whereas a building survey is created by an unlicensed tradesman who ultimately creates from his field work (i.e. survey) a CAD file that is not stamped or certified in any way. The field work for a land survey may require the use of surveying equipment such as a level, theodolite, total station, and tripod, whereas the field work for a building survey simply consists of (And this may be the primary difference between the two different types of surveys, besides the requirement of a license for a professional land surveyor.) the process of visiting a building in order to take measurements of it with a hand held tape measure and a hand held laser distance measuring device.
The Purpose of a Building Survey
Often times a building survey is required on an AEC Industry building restoration, remodel or similar type of project, when no existing plans for the building can be found. A typical scenario is something like this: A building owner would like to gut out and remodel his six story building, and hires an Architect to design the interior renovation. The Architect cannot find existing plans for the building that would show the existing structure and mechanical systems, which need to be known in order to design the remodel.
Therefore, a building survey needs to be performed in order to create plans of the building.
Who can perform a Building Survey
Building surveying, in the context that I have mentioned, is loosely speaking a trade. It could be performed by someone who has a sufficient understanding of what would need to be documented and created, and who also would have the skill to accomplish it. For example, in the scenario project that I have previously mentioned, the Architect’s office personnel would probably perform the building survey. However, if the Architect’s staff happened to be busy working on another project, but still wanted to get the scenario project off the ground, then they could outsource the building survey work.
Closing
The question could be posed, “Could a licensed Surveyor perform a building survey?” The answer is, yes he could, but normally he would not. One reason for this would be that a skilled tradesman could provide the accuracy required for the drawings, using less technology and without the need of a license. All of these factors would reduce the service cost, at which point the Surveyor could not financially compete.
About the author: From New York City the AutoCAD Drafter Brian M. Curran runs a CAD drafting service that provides outsourced AutoCAD drafting services to AEC industry companies, homeowners and others with CAD drafting needs throughout the entire United States. For more information on Brian M. Curran’s Computer Drafting Services, or to see the original posting of this article, please visit:
http://www.draftingservices.com/building_survey.html
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Brian_M._Curran
