As the economy has slowed down over the past year so has the housing market and house prices have started to fall. The economic crisis has made property development an even more risky business than it was before and the effect has also been felt with commercial properties and development.

As profit margins in development projects are shortened it is has become even more imperative to ensure that as a developer you know exactly what you are letting yourself in for when starting a new project or refurbishing an existing property. Carrying out a thorough land survey at the start of a project can provide the accurate information needed to ensure that any development work gets off to the best possible start.

Land Surveys measure the outside or internal environment of the proposed site or building. From these measurements accurate scaled drawings can be produced, usually in digital format allowing for easy and efficient distribution to developers, architects and clients.

Advances in the technology used to carry out land surveys has steadily improved and there have been significant advances over the years. The main advancement has been the move to the electronic theodolite instruments which allows for increased accuracy and increased data capture. All measured data can be exported to Computer Aided Design (CAD) packages and plotted to create scaled 3D models with accompanying drawings.

Understanding the property and surrounding area before any development work commences will always save costs in the long run, as will accurate drawings that are correct and free from human error. Digital surveying means there is less chance of important structural factors being missed and any potential problems can be spotted earlier as they will be included on the drawings, there is nowhere to hide!