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I presented my thoughts over my career , with a fellow S OZ surveyor at a recent conference

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 RADU
(@radu)
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This is my story (and I am sticking to it) from a graduate's view......

RADU

Attached files

The current Statler and Waldorf of South Australian Boundary Surveyinglatest final.pdf (63.5 KB) 

 
Posted : August 26, 2016 3:39 pm
paden-cash
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Man, are we all gettin' sentimental here lately? Pass the Kleenex...;)

Bravo, Mr. Abbott. A darn good "from the heart" spin on things. You've done your profession proud.

 
Posted : August 26, 2016 3:55 pm
holy-cow
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Very interesting reading. But, are you Statler or Waldorf? Might find the other half of the story to be of interest as well. Is it available?

 
Posted : August 26, 2016 4:28 pm
(@Anonymous)
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Yep. Can relate to that.
Difference for me was I grew up as an "Articled Cadet Surveyor" and not through the Uni degree system.

Re sole trading.
Here I'd suggest a good sole practitioner can still stand alongside the larger surveying firms.
As I was once turfed out of Government office, now, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend to the so minded to go it alone.
One man/woman shows have an opportunity to offer services that larger firms can't or won't give due to the dollar value speaking into the equation.
I do believe a sole operator has a unique opportunity even in today's hustle and bustle to build a practise that attracts clients through word of mouth.
That's my experience in rural Tasmania.
City living could be far different so I can only speak out of my experiences.
A common issue here (as in other professional occupations), rural living can be highly unattractive to many for many nominated reasons.

 
Posted : August 26, 2016 11:02 pm
(@rj-schneider)
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Richard, post: 388276, member: 833 wrote: A common issue here (as in other professional occupations), rural living can be highly unattractive to many for many nominated reasons

Watched an entire season of dangerous wildlife in Australia. Made me glad for water mocassins.

 
Posted : August 27, 2016 12:40 am

(@mattb)
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Hi Richard

I was at spatial day. Great presentation.

Well done.

Matt Bevan
(I used to work for Bruce Hewett)

 
Posted : August 27, 2016 2:58 am
brad-ott
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:gammon:
"
The most unexpected highlight and likely unknown to most, was from 2002 mentoring a number of
American surveyors because of my participation on a United States surveyors chat board, which
led to forming lifetime friendships...
"
:gammon:

 
Posted : August 27, 2016 5:25 am
holy-cow
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[USER=197]@Brad Ott[/USER]

That was the best part, wasn't it? Richard forgot to mention there may have been some mentoring headed in his direction as well.

 
Posted : August 27, 2016 6:18 am
(@sireath)
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Nice read. As a young guy who is into surveying, it is interesting reading about the past and how things was done. Though technology have changed with the advent of GPS, TS, CAD F2F... I feel the basic techniques and philosophy of surveying is and will be relevant to be able to appreciate and also to problem solve and provide solutions where others may not be able to.

Cheers.

 
Posted : August 27, 2016 6:55 am
dave-karoly
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"The introduction of the HP saw the demise of ranging those traditional parallel tie lines as a single skew traverse line across undulating terrain substantially enhancing traverse closure."

What does this mean? I think I know but not sure. Our Survey Crews were doing random traverse with transit and chain in the 1960s because running offset lines (or true line) wasn't very practical or efficient in steep, brushy terrain.

 
Posted : August 27, 2016 8:35 am

FL/GA PLS
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That was a ripper, mate! 😎

 
Posted : August 27, 2016 9:33 am
 RADU
(@radu)
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Holy Cow, post: 388236, member: 50 wrote: Very interesting reading. But, are you Statler or Waldorf? Might find the other half of the story to be of interest as well. Is it available?

Bryan , had some initial notes but ad libbed his response. I was more cautious wanting to ensure I got in my points in the allotted time.

 
Posted : August 27, 2016 3:24 pm
 RADU
(@radu)
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Richard, post: 388276, member: 833 wrote: Yep. Can relate to that.
Difference for me was I grew up as an "Articled Cadet Surveyor" and not through the Uni degree system.

Re sole trading.
Here I'd suggest a good sole practitioner can still stand alongside the larger surveying firms.
As I was once turfed out of Government office, now, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend to the so minded to go it alone.
One man/woman shows have an opportunity to offer services that larger firms can't or won't give due to the dollar value speaking into the equation.
I do believe a sole operator has a unique opportunity even in today's hustle and bustle to build a practise that attracts clients through word of mouth.
That's my experience in rural Tasmania.
City living could be far different so I can only speak out of my experiences.
A common issue here (as in other professional occupations), rural living can be highly unattractive to many for many nominated reasons.

Suggest that the equipment costs will become an economic barrier. There are two types of client. The Value adding and the one-off who are forced by a third party to have a survey that is often not included in their budget. Who in turn expect a Rolls Royce product for a mini minor price tag. For that reason there are the desperate bottom feeders driving down their fees in order to survive. The only jobs worth while pursuing are the value adding where your expertise is genuinely appreciated by the client. Such tht you form teamwork bonds where your additional cost is surpassed by efficiency in delivering product. As time equates to development interest holding costs, which is far greater than any survey fee difference.

Sure word of mouth worked for me , but I have seen a huge change where the price is the only concern as people overlook the delay factor and its associated interest. For example I gave a price for an "urgent job" over Christmas period, when we traditionally close down with the development building industry. Rang back architect after a week who said client was waiting for another price from a surveyor still on leave for another week!

 
Posted : August 27, 2016 3:42 pm
 RADU
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mattb, post: 388283, member: 8629 wrote: Hi Richard

I was at spatial day. Great presentation.

Well done.

Matt Bevan
(I used to work for Bruce Hewett)

Thanks Matt. Who are you with now?

 
Posted : August 27, 2016 3:43 pm
 RADU
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Dave Karoly, post: 388305, member: 94 wrote: "The introduction of the HP saw the demise of ranging those traditional parallel tie lines as a single skew traverse line across undulating terrain substantially enhancing traverse closure."

What does this mean? I think I know but not sure. Our Survey Crews were doing random traverse with transit and chain in the 1960s because running offset lines (or true line) wasn't very practical or efficient in steep, brushy terrain.

David, In S OZ we have a relatively flat terrain with no rain forests. The early rural land surveying in 1836 plus were rectangular 80 acre sections in what would be good agricultural land often covered by low eucalyptus scrub with sparse covering of trees . In dry areas very stunted growth . As a consequence roads were generally long straights as there were few natural boundaries like mountains and especially rivers because we are the driest state in OZ. The early surveyors originally surveyed one side of road boundary cutting lines through the scrub
When roads constructed and land cleared following surveys meant surveyors could set up parallel tie lines. But often small undulations still required lining in . The HP gave flexibility of running a skew tie line with a single overall distance enabling a long straight line traverse angle reading. THE HP bringing for the first time distance and angular measuring into equal footing.

 
Posted : August 27, 2016 4:03 pm

 RADU
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gschrock, post: 388306, member: 556 wrote: Wonderful. You have made this old dude nostalgic for past days of surveying up in NW and SW Oz.
Don't miss the bushflies though...

I leant not to wave my arms at those pesky little black flies and to instead simply sharply blow air out corner of mouth directed at the fly as my theory is that the moment you lift your arms that is a smell magnet for those little black bush flies. I recall in Western Australia surveying a seismic line and keeping a dozer on line, 110F plus, miles from anywhere. Dressed only in boots and footy shorts my back provided the shade and moisture for hundreds of those bush flies. My brown back was black! The buggers were worse in early morning as they too were cold and very sluggish and likely to fly into your open mouth or get caught under your eye lashes.

Thanks for stirring those memories gschrock!

RADU

 
Posted : August 27, 2016 4:20 pm
 RADU
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R.J. Schneider, post: 388280, member: 409 wrote: Watched an entire season of dangerous wildlife in Australia. Made me glad for water mocassins.

I actually only saw three snakes while on the job , in 46 years.

One was a huge black snake sunning itself on a rock in the middle of winter ( when meant to be hibernating) Second was a 12 ft long sand python that disappeared into thin air as the said mentioned Gus and i ran to get a bag and the third was a brown snake in an elevated rock garden on a boundary line at shoulder height.

I think we made too many vibrations so the others all had disappeared,

RADU

 
Posted : August 27, 2016 5:46 pm
RADAR
(@dougie)
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Great hearing from you again Richard; thank you for another good read. It's been a long time; good to see you still kicking!

You planning another North American tour? It would be good seeing you again. Maybe we should try to pull off a BIG summit/conference; I bet we could get a lot of people to come to Las Vegas!!

Dougie

 
Posted : August 27, 2016 6:35 pm
(@mattb)
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Hi Richard

After Bruce retired i went out and started up my own little cadastral firm. Still doing that and also lecture surveying at tafe.

It scares me talking to some of the Surveying students what they are expected to do under little to no supervision. Much different to how i cut my teeth.

 
Posted : August 28, 2016 4:03 am
(@mike-mac)
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mattb,

I would agree...I know after 2 years of tech school I was still dumb as a stump when I started in the work force. Nothing teaches better than real world experience and learning from someone who has been there done that.

 
Posted : August 28, 2016 4:17 am

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