Let’s be honest, everyone likes to make a saving on their budget. So, when you’re faced with the decision to commission your site’s utility and/or topographic survey, wouldn’t it be handy to know that there’s a hassle-free solution that comes with up to 50% off the cost? Well, SUMO has done the number crunching and presents its handy ‘one-stop-shop’ survey approach by combining its popular utility and topographic services.
So, what am I getting from SUMO?
It’s simple, our clients are getting a full topographic survey and full utility survey, all wrapped into one. You’ll receive a high-quality digital deliverable to industry standards. What’s more, any survey that is commissioned receives a whole host of additional benefits such as:
Fast Response from 1st enquiry to quotation
Rapid turnaround of final drawings
Complimentary on-site survey debrief from one of our trained surveyors
The opportunity to arrange a free training presentation which can enhance knowledge for future projects and counts towards your CPD requirement.
What equipment is used for a utility and topographic survey?
We have invested in a range of industry-leading equipment including Dual Frequency Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) systems. This equipment can locate both small shallow anomalies and larger features at depth, without the need to use two separate GPR systems, which may double the time spent collecting the data. What's more, such systems allow our surveyors to work in real time, so the location of utilities can be marked on the ground for immediate use, as well as being recorded on your survey drawing. In addition, the system can also collect data for post-processing, allowing more complex features to be identified.
Another workhorse for the surveyors is the cable and pipe locator, a technique that we call Electromagnetic Location (EML). We have worked closely with the manufacturers over the last 15 years and always strive to keep up-to-date with the latest systems. We currently use an advanced high-precision cable locator containing a unique arrangement of 5 custom-manufactured, precision-ground antennas. It allows our surveyors to choose the best method to locate specific pipes and cables.
Of course, we also utilise various Robotic Total Stations for the topographic elements of the job, including high accuracy units for control and monitoring works. GPS is also used to provide positioning to the Ordnance Survey Grid and Datum at the push of a button.
How does SUMO crunch the cost?
SUMO’s utility surveys utilise an element of topographic work as standard, irrespective of whether you commission any topographic work. This is because we supply all our clients with a basic record of the physical features of the site area (such as Kerb lines and buildings) which can be used to reference the overlaid utility information. As the basic topographical features will already have been mapped to be able to reference the utility survey data, it is a simple case of surveying the additional features to make up the full topographic drawing. You could see it as a topographic ‘top-up’!
In addition to this, SUMO has invested a lot of time cross-training our surveyors to ensure that they are multi-disciplined. Rather than having separate surveyors trained in each field, every SUMO surveyor can undertake a range of different surveys. We also have surveyors based strategically throughout the UK, meaning that we can respond quickly to urgent requests anywhere in the country. This also means that our surveyors are truly local to your site. This carefully developed flexibility allows us to undertake a combination of survey methodologies on the same site, reduce costs associated with travel and all in all, making our service even more competitive.