How a survey actually gets done.

1. 01

   Enquiry and triage

   Same working day

   You send the address, what it is for and your deadline. I work out which survey is actually needed — sometimes that is not the one you asked for, and I will say so. If it is outside the area or outside my competence, you hear that now rather than in three weeks.

   You receive

   • →A definite recommendation
   • →An indicative price
   • →A realistic programme

2. 02

   Records and desk research

   Before mobilising

   Historic OS maps, title plans, existing service records, flood zones, planning history and any control already in the area. Desk work regularly removes the need for a return visit, and it gives me something to check the field observations against rather than starting from nothing.

   You receive

   • →A plan of what is already known
   • →A list of gaps to fill on site

3. 03

   Site visit

   Usually one day

   Control first, detail second. Nothing is measured until there is something proved to measure it from. Independent check points are placed and left unmoved, so the accuracy claim can be demonstrated rather than asserted. Where aerial capture is part of the job, the flight is planned before arrival and flown in a single window if possible.

   You receive

   • →Observed control and check residuals
   • →Raw instrument and GNSS observations

4. 04

   Adjustment and quality control

   Before any drawing

   The network is adjusted and the check residuals reported honestly. If the control does not meet the accuracy the job needs, it gets re-observed. This is the stage most firms skip, and it is the reason a control figure can be trusted when it appears on a drawing.

   You receive

   • →Adjusted coordinates
   • →A stated accuracy figure, not a target one

5. 05

   Processing and drafting

   Two to five working days

   Data reduced, features coded, and the deliverable produced in the format you specified. Point clouds are registered, classified and checked. Drawings are drawn from the adjusted data rather than sketched on site and tidied up later.

   You receive

   • →Deliverables in your requested format
   • →The raw data alongside them

6. 06

   Handover and support

   On issue

   You get the files, a written statement of accuracy achieved and any limitations, and a direct line for questions. If something in the data does not make sense when you open it, that is a conversation rather than a dispute.

   You receive

   • →Files and a written accuracy statement
   • →Someone to ask

The accuracy, stated once

Repeated on every service page because it is the number that matters, and because a surveyor who will not state one is telling you something.

Horizontal control

±10mm typical

Vertical control

±8mm typical

Registered point cloud

±5–10mm

Aerial reconstruction

±30mm with control

These are the control figures, not the accuracy of every point in every deliverable. Aerial work over vegetation, non-invasive service detection and thermal imaging each have their own limits, and every deliverable comes with a written statement of what it can and cannot be relied on for.