Surveying Services for Builders

Our contour / detail surveys set the standard within the industry, giving a true representation of the shape, features and services of a site.

We include more spot heights and general information, including the property boundary dimensions, sewerage connection points, all visible man made improvements, trees, changes of grade, digital photos, adjoining property information (if required), etc.

The plan is normally provided on the Australian Height Datum (AHD), and is provided in electronic format, along with a copy of the survey plan and the sewerage searches from council.

If the boundary pegs are not visible or missing, the block will be plotted using the registered survey plan dimensions, and orientated by “best fit” to any existing survey marks, retaining walls or fences. Unless boundary clearances are minimal, this is usually adequate for design purposes. Contour / Detail surveys can be orientated to the boundaries, at additional cost if required.

Don’t take the risk of missing something such as retaining walls, fencing irregularities, a traffic island, a storm water gully trap, a power pole or the extent of slope for driveway or drainage design. Our contour / detail surveys take the guess work out of designing a new house, or renovation, and have proven to save money and future problems, time and time again.

Our contour / detail surveys are also suitable to assist in the process of determining “Ground Level” under separate local authority rules, that dictate how high a new structure can be legally built to.

House set-outs are a high risk activity for the building industry. We can minimise that risk by preparing a suitable house set-out plan and setting out the main corners of a new house, building or extension in the approved position, and providing a certificate confirming that the house is in the correct location in relation to the boundaries.

Our setout calculations are nearly all done in the office, not on site. This ensures that any problems with the setout points or dimensions are resolved before the Surveyor goes to site.
It should be noted that fences and retaining walls don’t necessarily reflect the true boundaries, and only a Consulting Cadastral Surveyor can determine and certify the location of property boundaries.

In older areas it is normally more difficult and therefore more expensive to determine the property boundaries, to enable us to setout and certify the correct position of the new structure.
Axis Surveys can often setout a new structure and supply a certificate, without the need to replace boundary pegs, particularly when building in a newer area (less than 10 years old).
In many cases in older areas or where boundary definition attracts a higher level of risk, or if structures are being built on or near the boundaries, we may need to do an “Identification Survey” (remarking of existing property boundaries), (see below under “Boundary Survey Work”), before a set-out can be done.

We understand that every builder has different requirements and expectation in relation to house set-outs, and ask that you contact us to discuss your specific needs, to ensure you not only get what you want but also what you need.

Boundary remarking in Queensland, (to replace or remark existing boundary corners), is known as an Identification Survey.

Identification Surveys or part Identification Surveys, are more commonly required in older areas (older than 10 years), where the original survey marks are often missing or disturbed, and where structures are being built on or near the boundaries.
Identification Surveys are also common when checking that an existing house is fully contained within a property, or for fencing purposes, or when a boundary dispute exists between neighbours.

Identification survey costs depend on the age of the original survey, the size, the location and the characteristics of a particular site and also its proximity to more recent survey work.

In Queensland, it is illegal for us to place a survey mark on or near the boundary without preparing a formal Identification Survey plan and lodging it with the Department of Natural Resources & Mines (DNR&M).

Contact us for more information or an estimate of costs for your particular site.