I have access to a RTK system. I know how to use it but I am not a licensed surveyor. Are there any things I can use it for to make some side money that would be legal for me to do without a license?
Obviously I can't do land surveying but I was wondering if there was some kind of need in some industry that I might could do a few hours of work here and there using the system to make extra money. Possibly fill some kind of need that real surveyors don't want to fool with or that doesn't pay enough for a licensed surveyor to do it.
What equipment do you have to play with
Im assuming that you have 1-2 receivers and a data controller and a CAD package?
Without all these i couldn't see much benefit from the service you would be able to provide.
What equipment do you have to play with
I have a base, high power radio, and two rovers. No CAD but I do have some GIS software.
What equipment do you have to play with
Is this Kent making a point?
🙂
It is a great tool for measuring up volumes and quantities, you could measure up stockpiles of gravel or sand for quarries or building sites, you could measure up pre and post rock blasts for blasters.
You could stake out orchards or vineyards and measure up crop field areas.
You could do contour plans for irrigation engineers, measure up road patches.
There are a lot of things.
Good luck.
Stumpy,
In addition to Pdop's suggestions, I see ads in Craigslist for "site surveys" to gather information for the design of solar power installations. The nice thing about RTK is you can get a quick approximation of "north" without having to tie to a basis of bearing or do an astronomic observation.
You might also ask some of the survey companies in your area if they need any extra off-hours help.
Dave
I call BS.
Randy
Huh? Can you elaborate?
Dave
What equipment do you have to play with
LOL
Depends on the state he lives in. One state I'm licensed allows roughly half of your list, another nothing from your list.
Thanks for the replies. Some good ideas so far. There is a ton of farming in my area and I know that a lot of the farmers are using guidance so there may be some way to provide services for them.
I helped a guy with a fence and it worked great. It was not a boundary fence but rather an internal one dividing up his pasture but he wanted it straight and you could not see from end to end due to topography and trees. Not only did I give him a straight line but I was able to tell him where he needed to put his brace posts based on the lengths of his wire and it helped him a lot.
I just think there are likely a lot of practical applications for this level of precision that don't require something that will hold up in court.
Did it fall off a cabbage truck?
There are many applications for RTK in the real world, most need the background of a skilled user to accomplish anything with any success.
There are three unlicensed semi retired minions locally that have RTK systems that surveyors employee from time to time to put more feet on the ground. Each having over priced themselves at rates of $700 - $800 a day to be called upon regularly.
I've used the service twice when to complete projects where an OPUS solution was required.
Don't get me wrong, I have seen some RTK operators that were dang near worth their weight in gold under the right circumstance.
Others were fools determining their own dreadful fate.
Basically you have entered a doorway, the direction you follow will determine what happens next.
😉
I am far from an expert but I have been working with positional systems for about 15 years. I have taken some graduate level classes related to GIS. I certainly do not know anywhere near the amount of stuff about this as a surveyor but I know enough to accomplish basic tasks. I have a full time job and am not looking to do something huge or try to make a living at it. I just was looking for a way to make some extra money from time to time.
I know a guy that was doing side work staking a fence , and did not do the research for the property and owner built fence in a utility right of way . Needless to say it was expensive fix for owner and said . I say what your doing is land surveying and need to be turned into the Board..
Where do you live and your name..
Seriously?
I am not promoting myself as a surveyor. This fence deal was for a guy I have known for years. He approached me because he knows I do this stuff and said he has a fence he wants to go from point a to point b and was not sure how to get a straight line between them because he had no line of sight. I told him sure and went there and he showed me the end points and I marked a straight line between the two. If something was in the way I guess that would be his problem not mine as I just marked a straight line between two points he showed me. I did not give any plats or research or anything else. In this case I am sure nothing was there as he would know as he has lived on this property over fifty years.
I could have marked a straight line using many other methods if I wanted too and I am sure most fence building contractors are just shown the starting and ending points of the fences they build. Do they need to be licensed surveyors to build a straight fence?
Don't get me wrong I know I need to be careful in what I do to not violate the law but I pretty sure doing things like this are ok. Another example I thought of was we had a metal barn built. Not a huge expensive building and no permits were required. I watched the guys building it struggling getting the forms for the slab square and oriented property and then they had to place anchor pads at various places in the wet concrete to be able to bolt the frame to. It was a lot of tape measuring and angles and seemed to take them a long time to do. This would have been a breeze to design and stake out with the Trimble. Again I doubt I could do this on anything requiring permits or that I would want the liability involved in a expensive building but for billy bob building a barn it could be very helpful I think.
Layout Corn Mazes
Corn maze layout
> I say what your doing is land surveying and need to be turned into the Board.
...I was wondering when this first comment would appear, sarcasm on or not...
"Carpenters of the world, drop your tapes and step out, you are taking measurements, hence you are surveying." :-@
Actually was sarcasm , but the story was true. Measure what you want ... But typically that sort of measuring is left up to a surveyor not a carpenter . Never seen one with a rtk unit.
I need another line of work!
What exactly does "access to an RTK system" mean? If it is an older system it may have illegal radios, which might get you in some hot water with the FCC.
Do you own it? If so, what do you do that you can afford a $100k system to play with?
Do you borrow it? I don't know many people or companies that would loan out $100k worth of equipment.
I need another line of work!
It is not a 100k system. Company bought it for around 25-30k used. It is R8's with TSC2's. They bought a new radio with the 12.5 spacing that is legal. The company (me really no one else uses it)uses it for their own projects which are not very often and they said I can use it whenever I want for other things as a perk.
