Accuracy Is Crucial When Conducting Underground Surveys

Accuracy is always critical for surveys of all types. But when you’re performing work with underground utilities, it becomes especially important that you know exactly where all of your utilities are laid out.

Here’s some information from a professional in the field of underground utility surveying in Guadalupe County, TX to give you an idea of why it’s so important you work with someone who can provide outstanding precision and accuracy in their surveying.

All about underground utility mapping

Finding and then mapping out the locations of utilities under the ground is a crucial part of planning for any construction project. It will help you determine what you are able to do with the land, where you can break ground and whether or not you will need to perform any more in-depth excavations or utility alterations. By combining underground utility surveys with more traditional topographical surveys, you can provide your full building team with a comprehensive map of everything they need to know about, both above and below the ground.

One of the ways to ensure greater accuracy with your utility mapping is to color code the specific types of utilities that are present on the surveyed property. All electrical cables, sewer lines, telecommunications lines, gas lines and water lines should have their own colors and labels. By doing so, you’ll make it easier for teams in charge of construction to know exactly what must be done to avoid or work around them to prevent any unnecessary difficulties or damage resulting from the project.

The big reason to make sure you’ve properly marked all these utilities is so you can avoid accidentally digging into them during excavation and construction. You may be surprised at how common this is. Contractors must get the proper survey work done in advance because running into any of these utilities might not just affect the single property being worked on, but a number of other properties in the area as well. Depending on the kind of service affected, an outage could be anything from a mild nuisance to a legitimate danger. Interrupting these services due to poor planning and surveying can result in construction teams being subject to fines.

It’s not just new building construction projects that need to worry about the location of utilities, either. New road construction and utility installations must also be preceded by utility surveys. Digging a new roadway or excavating an existing one can be quite dangerous without performing all of the necessary surveys and inspections before getting started.

The technology for these surveys has come a long way in recent years. You’ll find electromagnetic and radar equipment available to locate all underground services with outstanding accuracy. There should be no need for excavation during the survey process.

For more information about the importance of underground utility surveying and mapping in Guadalupe County, TX, contact Bettersworth & Associates, Inc. We look forward to working with you and answering any questions you have about the surveying process to better prepare you for your job.

Categorised in: Underground Utility Surveying