3 Benefits of a Topographical Survey on a Land Development Project
You'll commission a range of land surveys before you start work on your development project. One of the most useful early surveys is a topographical analysis of your plot. These surveys assess the land you want to build on. They look at the contours of the land, its boundaries and its features. However, what benefits come from having an early topographical survey?
1. Get a True Picture of the Land
The work you do to evaluate a plot of land before you buy it gives you some information. However, you don't get a complete picture of the land at this stage. Once you start planning, it's important to delve deeper. You need to understand more about the land before you start developing it.
A topographical survey gives you more information about the land on both a surface and underground level. For example, your survey will tell you if the land is level. It lists any features on or under the land that might affect your build.
2. Adapt Your Plans to the Land
Once you have a complete picture of the land, you can check your findings against your initial plans. If everything matches up, then you know that you can do what you planned in the build.
However, if your survey exposes problems or unforeseen results, then you can now adapt your plans. For example, if your survey shows problems with a water table, then you can evaluate if extra work needs to be done in that area. Or, you can shift the position of buildings to move them away from that part of the plot.
Topographical surveys also give you useful information about how the land has changed over time. This helps you predict potential future changes and helps you manage your build so that it fits in with the land in the future.
3. Create a Realistic Budget
While you might have a budget at the start of your project, you won't know true costs until you have complete and accurate plans. If you don't have a topographical survey, your spending could be higher than you anticipated.
For example, if you don't know the exact location of utilities under the plot, then you might run into problems with the building location. You might not take advantage of current utility lines. Or, you might try to build in places that will block utilities. This means you might have to pay to move them or replan the position of your structures. These measures incur extra costs.
Fortunately, if you have topographical information, then you create accurate and cost-effective plans. You can keep your budget low and on track.
To find out more about topographical surveys, contact land surveyors.
