Control Monument Costs

Don’t you have “a guy” that provides these things in your area? That guy in my neck of the woods goes by Steve who drives up and down the I-5 corridor making deliveries. Also get to catch up on the latest Survey Company gossip/drama.

Don’t you have “a guy” that provides these things in your area? 

Baseline Equipment, a local supplier of cotton gin spikes, is an Oregon Company and a SurveyorConnect supporter. I'm not on their regular rounds. I don't often see cotton gin spikes in the wild in this area, so I'm not certain many are. Very little cotton is grown in the PNW.

The "Survey Mark" spikes are more common. As for the other things, if bought locally the shipping cost will be built into the retail price.

I typically cut  #4 rebar with my chop saw, and as you suggest the longer lengths are more economical.  I chamfer the ends a bit with my bench grinder, which is a bit of a pain.  I did buy a few of the 5/8" x 18" steel form stakes at home depot but they are nearly 6 dollars each, but have such a nice point.   For traversing I use the 6" mag spikes which run about 40 cents apiece.  I also use 8" galvanized nails to mark along lot lines.  They run about 80 cents each.   I have a Lowes contractor card which gives me 5% off on any purchase.  In the past I made my own concrete monuments with a brass screw embedded on top and rebar within.  Not sure what that would cost now.

In the past I made my own concrete monuments with a brass screw embedded on top and rebar within.  Not sure what that would cost now.

A 60lb bag of concrete mix is over $4 right now.  But the big cost in that type of monument is going to be in your time, both building it and setting it.

I used to use wood stakes (wedges or cut down 1"x1") with tacks, but they rot away quickly, and it's surprising how often you return 5 years later and could really use that control point, if it was still there..

So have been using the Ecostakes from Bernsten. They are plastic and have a magnet inside. I drive them flush and set one of their other plastic stakes next to it as witness (or use no witness for stealth surveys). I think they cost $5 to $6 a piece, but I'm low volume, and might use only 3 or 4 per job.

My alternate would be #5 rebar driven flush with a Morasse "survey Mark" cap, especially for hard ground.

Since I work mostly in suburban lawns, I like the Ecostakes particularly because if a homeowner happened to hit one with a lawnmower, it probably wouldn't kill anyone, unlike a rebar.

I’ve been quite the fan of mag hubs over the past 3-4 years for control points. Can carry a bunch in my pocket, cheap, will sting up (unlike hub&tacks), and won’t rot if I come back to it in a few years like hub&mags. About $0.54 per 8” nail, $0.41 per 6” nail, and $0.17 per 4” nail.

@gordon-svedberg i chamber the edge of the rerod by just spinning it on the side of the chop saw blade takes 4 seconds

I've been setting 3/4 inch iron pipes which are currently $90 for a 21' length at your local NorCal Ace hardware which renders nine 28" long corner monuments (I believe it was $45/length pre-pandemic) .  Add in a mortar plug and a 1 1/2 inch #4 brass screw and tag and it's probably around $12 per corner.

I recently scored a pile of gently used 3/4 and 1/2 inch galvanized pipe on a buddy's remodel job so I will be set up for a few years at a low, low price.  Also the rust and faded patina on the recycled gear gives my corner monuments some street cred that the shiny new pipes just cannot match....

Also I cringe a little bit every time at the idea of cutting up perfectly good brand new pipe.

I get my irons from the local concrete supply house.  Years ago one of the local survey supply dealers told me that is where they bought irons and they are closer to my place that any dealers are.  Last time I bought 24" #4s (in January of 2022) they were $1.90 each.  They are nicely done & I don't have to waste my time picking up long sticks and cutting them.  At a billable rate of over $2 a minute they are way cheaper than cutting them myself (I can use that time on Beerleg).  I use a rebar driver to set them which leave a nice chamfered edge to set the cap on.

P.s Thanks for the reminder, I need to get more irons.

Local Ace Hardware and dealer in all things handy charges his worker time to cut 20-foot lengths of #4 rebar into 2-foot lengths, plus the very reasonable cost of the long pieces.  Typically, get 300-400 pieces at a time that are bundled and hoisted onto the bed of my truck for me.

The owners are also excellent clients for my work, so some of the pieces have come back to whence they came.

At a billable rate of over $2 a minute they are way cheaper than cutting them myself

I agree that paying to have having something like this done is frequently worth the price. The unspoken assumption is that the time you spend doing it yourself can be employed more productively doing something else.  If you have staff that needs something to do on rain days, for example, cutting rebar may be just the thing. 

Steve

I know Steve!

Lots of good gossip; Steve has his finger on the pulse of the survey community around here...

@norman-oklahoma 

And it goes pretty quick if you have one of these:

There were several other tools that showed up in my Google search.

And it goes pretty quick if you have one of these:

A cut off wheel on an angle grinder works quickly and provides a squared off "dowel cut".

I don't really consider the cost of the materials as we buy in bulk and often from a supplier that I have a relationship with the owner that spans over more than 25 years.  He supplies all of my wood, mag nails, rebar, paint and other misc items at a discounted cost because of the high volume and us being his largest customer with fast pay.

Most of our orders involve at least 50 bundles of stakes and lath ever month and the same with bundled 18" rebar.  We buy concrete monuments by the pallet and they load everything but the rebar into our supply barn with no labor involved on our end.  It's a great set up and delivery is free.

As far as costs, our fees to set corners more than cover the cost of the materials and labor.  Also keep in mind that I practice in NJ which requires corners to be set but allows the client to waive the setting of corners.  We are required to include the waiver form with each of our contracts and most will waive the setting of corners to save a few hundred bucks at settlement but about half in that pool will call us down the line to come back and set the corners and that cost them more because we have to remobilize to do it.

@dougie that will create spirs at the cut every time and rip your hands up if they are not ground off.

I don't really consider the cost of the materials

I don't think about it day to day, either. Nevertheless I think it appropriate to have an idea of the going rates, and to review business practices from time to time. 

This StL area is spoiled having Surveyor's Materials supplying everyone with everything they need that isn't Trimble.  Seiler Instrument covers that.  I couldn't imagine being in an area that didn't have a supplier handy.  I don't know how many times we'd just swing by and grab something to get us through the day.  

Concrete supply houses generally have the best prices on rebar.  Menards has the straightest cut #4 rebar when I'm working for those that use that size and are paying the bill.  They (and the other big box stores) are twice the price of the concrete supply places.  You could put in epoxy coated rebar from a concrete supply place with the same price as regular from a big box store.

There is a concrete supply place that has a hundred year old cam shear that goes up and down about once a second and they jam a rebar stick in there and it comes down without even noticing the rebar,  the cut piece comes flying off of the machine out into the yard and you wait until a bunch are cut or you are likely to be a target.  That machine still runs but I guess they finally decided there was no safety in the operation of it so they don't cut rebar anymore.