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Contract/ Consultant Survey CAD Technician usage
I am curious what everyone’s attitude toward the use of contractor/ consultant to perform survey drafting services would be. The idea would be to develop 3-4 solid working relationships to help offload some drafting backlog from prospective teammates. As a professional surveyor I understand the importance of quality work as well as the trepidation some might have toward the idea of this type of arrangement. All thoughts will be taken as constructive criticism. I would love to hear from you all!
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10 Replies
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Never been at a company that has done that. I’ve seen many field crews subbed out though. It is curious. Do you send them your CAD templates? A lot of companies develop their own styles and standards. There are some companies around here that I know where that plat came from before even looking at the title block.
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I am coming at it from the other side. I would be the consultant. Yes the clients would provide their templates and examples of prior works. That would be the idea behind having a maximum of 3-4 relationships. That would make sticking to each clients CAD standards a bit easier, rather than random clients who drop in for one time projects. If interesting one off clients/ projects pop up they would also be considered.
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I don’t have any fundamental problem with what you are proposing. The devil would be in the details. If a protocol was worked out whereby the LS in charge was kept in the loop … that might be better than the supervision some jobs being done by guys sitting in the next cubicle are getting.
I worked for one of the larger outfits here in PDX … several times we brought in temporary drafting help, typically to prepare Microstation deliverables.
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I have enough problems drafting my own work based on my notes and field data. Wouldn’t wish that confusion on anyone else. Sorry.
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It depends on what type of product you are having them prepare. Topographic maps dont require much in depth review as long as you’re standards are setup. Records of surveys can be finicky if they are done by drafting subconsultants. If i ever did that I would have them get the survey 75% of the way there and I’d finish it up.
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“If i ever did that I would have them get the survey 75% of the way there and I’d finish it up.”
My approach would be exactly the opposite. I’d resolve the boundary, probably on a yellow legal pad after resolving the data and making a rough plot. I’d hand that over with instructions to dress it up for presentation. In fact, this dressing up is exactly what I was doing for my LS when I started in this business.
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It is definitely not for everyone. It would depend on the organization of each firm and the systems and standards they had in place.
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The boundary line work would be resolved and ready to go before it ever left our office. It would be a drafting exercise at that point. So, we are on the same page. I mean, it better be. We don’t start drafting the surveys until the monuments are set.
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If you can get the work then I’d say go for it.
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From the surveyor/sole-proprietors perspective, I’ve looked at this a lot and have recently come to a workable solution.
For me the problem was obvious, I am a small shop, could really use drafting help but certainly not full time. Part time contract work would be ideal. The work flow would be just like you’re talking about, I process the data, start the template, resolve and draw boundary line work, make a bunch of notes, then send the whole thing over for drafting. Review-Redlines-Revise, send out.
A major issue became the IT logistics. First person I found had the skills, but did not have Carlson Survey. Second person I found had the skills, and an active Carlson Survey license…. that was provided by her full time employer. The claim was that her employer did not mind moonlighting, but I was not comfortable with her drafting my work on another companies hardware and software.
Finally, I decided the only way to make this work was to pony up and buy a CAD laptop and Carlson license. That way I whoever I was working with could just have the whole setup.
That’s working now. Have a guy who is full time employed, moonlighting with me on my equipment doing drafting.
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