Measured Building Survey Guide | Get a Quote For Your Survey

What is a Measured Building Survey?

A measured building survey can represent almost as many things as the proverbial piece of string is long. As always when briefing consultants, it is essential to understand and describe exactly what you want, and why you want it, and communicate this to the survey team when setting the scope and fee for a project.

Typical requirements might be:
Site appraisal and checking of boundaries/site dimensions prior to development appraisal or initial design work, boundary dispute checking of boundary position or recording of adverse possession and movement of boundary or fence lines over time – either accidentally or as part of a ‘land grab’, or assessment of building positions to determine if the Party Wall etc Act might apply recording of site boundaries for Land Registry title registration, production of record drawings for a building including elevations or 3D plots prior to building extension/alteration work or Listed Building or Ancient Monument repair or alterations preparation of site and services record drawings prior to any site dig or other site investigations or for a health and safety site file

Measured Building Surveys Explained

Measured Building Surveys - Accuracy

Measured Building Surveys - Useful Info

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Measured Building Surveys

Measured surveys are typically undertaken by Chartered Land Surveyors (‘Geomatics surveyors’) or Commercial Building Surveyors, Civil Engineers and some other specialists. Each will tend to bring a particular experience, emphasis and skill set – land surveyors or engineers frequently will deal with large topography, engineers might have more experience of setting out for new development sites or possibly boundary disputes, building surveyors a particular experience of measured building surveys to prepare building record drawings or for alterations and within each group individuals will have overlapping skill sets and experience suited to a particular project. Some measured building surveys are used to plot or monitor building movement.

Access (or rather, safe access) to the site or building can be a heavily influencing factor on the ability to undertake the survey and to obtain the necessary levels of accuracy and hence also affects the time involved and the fee and

Depending on the purpose of the measured building survey and the complexity and accuracy and level of detail required, the time and fee might be governed by the amount or ease of safe access available to site and the specific equipment required to capture the relevant information. The simplest plan view measured building survey for example might be undertaken with a tape measure and hand held laser and can then be plotted in CAD (‘computer aided design’ drawing packages). More complex schemes may require very expensive equipment and access – use of ‘LIDAR’ laser 3d scanning for example can capture data not readily achieved by traditional techniques. Some LIDAR scanners can be deployed by drone where safe access is difficult but we are in the early days of this technology and the availability of skilled operators is currently limited. Site access may need forward planning by both client and professionals, and could include temporary road closures – for example if services are to be mapped.

Clarity on the reason for the survey and record will help assure the appropriate level of technology is applied to obtain the correct solution and sufficient programming time is allowed.

Measured Building Surveys – Accuracy

The degree of measured building survey accuracy will also be dictated by the survey requirement. Precise measurement of building movement over time based on a measured plot might require an extremely expensive set up to be maintained for several years and recording to a tolerance of a millimetre or so. The same building measured for alterations could be recorded with an acceptable margin of error of several millimetres and would be quicker and cheaper to deliver.

A boundary dispute would require a high level of plotting accuracy but with potentially limited ground data available if old boundaries or walls have been removed with little remaining to survey. Further; commercial surveyors for this type of work also require relevant court and expert witness experience to handle such situations with confidence. The experience of the building surveyor might be of equal or greater importance than the mechanics of the measured building survey, as interpretation of data (often including title documents or deeds and the like) is key to considering the strength of the clients case.

In determining the appropriate service the commercial surveyor or engineer will have regard to any or all of the relevant standards including International or ISO, British/European standards, the RICS Geomatics guidance and survey standard, and even Land Registry guidance notes if the plans will later form a new or revised title document.

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Measured Building Surveys – Useful Information

Measured building survey work may also prove much more extensive and involved than it initially appears – to produce an effective set of site record drawings in parts of London for example it may be necessary to also use signal tracing equipment to plot underground services, perhaps the position of nearby basements, cellars or even the Underground Railway, and to subsequently re-plot with the client or their developer positions for cranes and site access to avoid, if possible, crane oversailing costs.

All of this needs to be factored in to the brief (and the fee, and the time taken, to generate a reliable output). Ground penetrating radar (GPR) is sometimes coordinated with the measured building survey and might help detect underground archaeology or features such as old buildings or foundations which could affect new piling or foundation layouts for construction – typically on brown field sites.

Development delays and the associated costs of discovering hidden features usually far outweigh the cost of a properly developed and comprehensive measured site survey.

Remember that drawings – whether issued as paper or electronic copies may be the copyright of the surveyor or draughtsman producing them. Depending on the objectives you may need to include in the fee for either assignment of the copyright in the drawing/plot or the free use of the copyright in the plot – if you wish to give the data and electronic CAD file to an architect to subsequently develop a building design for example.

So; a measured building survey can record pretty much anything on site – either obvious visible features or extended to capture some hidden details – usually underground services or features.

Financial risk is usually underground when site development or redevelopment is involved and a good, if at first sight expensive, measured building survey and sub-site survey can prove a life saver ( literally if buried high voltage cables are located…) and considerably cheaper than an expensive mistake.

Measured building surveys can plot in 2D as a simple plan view, could include elevations showing main building walls or sections through buildings (critical to design staircase positions for example) or even 3D models of buildings – the latter can enable a ‘walk through’ of the building within a computer CAD model for marketing even before a development scheme has commenced on site.