California Surveyors Forums

http://pwmag.com/industry-news.asp?sect ... ID=1812519

This article is a good reason why the industry regards surveying as a trade and not a professional service.

The role of the surveyor in construction is not being lost due to equipment, its due to perception and the bottom line.

original article: http://www.concreteconstruction.net/sit ... ork_1.aspx

Hopefully the growing trend of the importance of the pre-design data collection (ie scanning, BIM, utility mapping) offsets lost revenues on the construction side.

Don't be so surprised. I worked for years directly for contractors doing construction layout. When I returned to land surveying in 1980, I found that most land survey companies were not equipped by training to do layout for anything other than subdivisions. Heavy plant construction is it's own sub-specialty, as are highways, tunnels, mining, buildings, etc., all of which do not require land surveying, in most instances, once the actual construction phases are started.