The What and Why Behind W&A’s Custom Land Surveying Project Approach
The W&A Engineering team offers complete land surveying services, providing boundary, topographic, ALTA/NSPS Land Title, as-built surveys, construction staking, and more. Each of these survey classes involves a different approach to ensure that all data is properly, efficiently, and safely gathered to provide the client with deliverables that are as clear and accurate as possible.
With our team of Registered and Professional Land Surveyors supported by dozens of land surveying crew chiefs, instrument operators, and interns across our offices in Georgia and Tennessee, the W&A Engineering staff offers complete land surveying services across the southeastern United States.
Our team of seasoned and courteous land surveying professionals develop a project-specific approach each and every time they are called to a site, utilizing the breadth of services at our disposal. After all, no project, site, or client is built the same. Instead, each land surveying project allows our team the opportunity to mold our approach to the project’s unique specifications, the site’s unique challenges, and the client’s unique needs. Though the specifics of a project site might change, the goal of each project approach is always the same: to maximize crew safety and efficient data to provide the client with high quality deliverables on time and on budget. This common goal is the foundation which unites all W&A Engineering’s land surveying projects.
When creating custom project approaches prior to working in the field, our team members consider a wide variety of factors. Each of these factors carries with it effects on the project site, team, and schedule and thereby inspires our land surveying crews to encounter the project in a new and innovative way. Some variables that our team often considers when planning their project approach include reviewing any anticipated hazards such as inclement weather, animals present in the field, heavy vegetation, proximity to active roadways, highways, or bridges, and active construction on the project site. Any of these site hazards can result in project delays, additional time required in the field, on-site injury, and more, if not carefully considered and incorporated into the larger project plan.
In addition to reviewing site hazards, there is, of course, always the matter of defining the project scope with the client to ensure that all project goals are documented. The W&A Engineering team offers complete land surveying services, providing boundary, topographic, ALTA/NSPS Land Title, as-built surveys, construction staking, and more. Each of these surveys involve a different approach to ensure that all data is properly, efficiently, and safely gathered to provide the client with deliverables that are as clear and accurate as possible.
Many times, land surveyors are working directly with a pre-existing project team, gathering surveying data for engineers, drafters, architects, landscape architects, etc. in the initial phases of site development and design. Because W&A Engineering offers land surveying services in-house, our team knows exactly how their data will be utilized in the next phases of site development. Commonly referred to as civil/site surveys, these surveys collect data specifically for engineers, providing them with all the information they need— exactly how they need it— in a timely manner.
“Being a multi-disciplinary firm gives us a huge advantage,” added Nashville Director of Surveying Adam Bledsoe, RLS. “We already know how to work with engineers and what they’re going to be looking for.”
While the information required for client delivery naturally differs when performing different types of surveys, the attitudes, procedures, and goals of our land surveying teams always remain the same. In everything we do, W&A prioritizes the safety of our crew, the completeness of our data, and the timeliness with which that data is delivered to our clients.
The biggest change in the land surveying industry in recent years, on the other hand, has been the introduction of new, revolutionary technology allowing for faster data collection, faster data processing, and more seamless data delivery. At W&A, we pride ourselves on being industry innovators, so naturally we are dedicated to staying as up to date as possible on new technologies transforming the industry.
One such technology is LiDAR: a method of land surveying used for determining ranges by targeting an object with a laser and measuring the time for the reflected light to return to the receiver. The introduction of LiDAR technology has given the surveyor another tool for collecting data over remote or difficult terrain, such as 100+ acre sites or sites which are very densely vegetated. To ensure we are always able to provide our clients with the surveying service packages most compatible with their unique project needs, we are proud to offer LiDAR services with the ultimate goal of meeting the unique challenges for each project.
W&A Engineering knows that land surveyors are often the first point of contact for many projects, large or small. Oftentimes, surveying crews are the first on-site professionals for projects that will grow into industrial parks bringing hundreds of jobs to a community, multi-use paths connecting residential areas to areas previously inaccessible by foot or bike, or park and recreation facilities creating opportunities for connection and growth. It is for this reason that our land surveying professionals take their role in our commitment to build better communities as seriously as they do.
The W&A Engineering surveying team thrives on finding new and innovative ways to provide our clients with data that is complete, timely, and gathered with the upmost efficiency while keeping our surveying crews as safe as possible. Through the leadership of our seasoned land surveying directors and their support staff of dozens of industry professionals, the W&A Engineering team has been able to utilize these innovative methods to survey many notable locations, including the Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee; Ball Corporation in Rome, Georgia; the Caterpillar industrial facility in Athens, Georgia; and more. Our team is also the proud partner of numerous school districts, developers, and real estate firms across the American southeast and continues to improve our surveying techniques to best meet the evolving needs of our diverse clients.
Looking to the future, our team is dedicated to mentoring the next generation of land surveyors through our intensive internship and apprenticeship programs, exposing young people to the land surveying career path and offering on-the-job and in-the-office training with our seasoned surveying professionals.
Project Highlights
- Nissan Stadium: Our W&A Engineering Nashville survey crew coordinated with stadium leadership to survey the topography of the entire playing surface in preparation of the NHL’s 2022 Stadium Series. Working around several other crews on the field that day, our crew designed a custom project approach to ensure that they could work as efficiently as possible while not having their work disturbed or disturbing other stadium happenings throughout the day. Over the course of nearly five hours, our team gathered 700 points, ensuring that the entire field was surveyed with the upmost precision.
- Ball Corporation: In addition to preliminary concept planning and site development services, W&A Engineering also provided ALTA, topographic, and as-built surveys of the Ball Corporation facility in Rome, Georgia.
- Caterpillar Industrial Facility: W&A provided complete land surveying services for the 250-acre site home to the Caterpillar Industrial Facility in Athens, Georgia. The site also features an 892,063 square foot manufacturing facility and an 8,660 square foot product distribution center.