How Are You Laying Out Lots?

RowdyRed94

Since I can remember, we've pulled drylines, usually along a property line or street segment, and staked out our homes from that using 3-4-5 triangles. I've been researching new transit levels, and it seems that using trigonometry and spending some time in the office beforehand would allow two people to lay out a lot in no time.

What are your usual methods? Are you using transits and math or strings and tapes? Have you found any good software to plot out the primary points and autocalculate the rest of the layout?

We spend too much time trying to fit homes on irregular lots and adjusting angles for aesthetics. There has to be a better way.

Thanks.

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PipeGuy

GPS gear is getting cheaper and cheaper, and the level of accuracy greater and greater. Also, depending on the level of sophistication of local government, there's more and more boundary information available on-line. I just contracted with an engineering firm for a comprehensive boundary survey and existing condition plan and was surpised at the amount of data they could get from local govt. over the internet. In fact, depending on the amount of public domain overhead imagery available, freeware like Google Earth can be used to obtain fairly accurate lattitude, longitude, distance and topographic information. This morning I used information available from this image to order a utility locate.With a decent handheld GPS receiver, one man can probably do the job in no time.

RowdyRed94

I appreciate the suggestion, PG, but there's no way GPS is accurate enough for lot layout. We are often within inches of meeting setbacks, and in my experience with a WAAS enabled GPS reciever, accuracy is measured in feet (usually 7-12). Thanks, though. Maybe someday.

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Clint - carpenter, coordinator, webmaster

DecksEtc

Rowdy, just curious...

Why is it that when you ask for assistance or help here that you virtually shut down or criticize 1 or more of the suggestions given to you?

For example, Pipe's suggested method seems like a pretty good method to me yet, going by what you wrote, you implied that his method is useless.

And I won't even get it to the attitude you displayed in your Trex thread...

Just a word of advice, you may not always get answers to exactly what will work for you here but it's generally a good idea to take the advice your given, weigh it against what works/doesn't work for you and thank the poster(s) for the advice they gave you for free. Giving people attitude will eventually have you receiving no responses to any questions you ask.

Excalibur

I have a 8 year old handheld GPS and it gets to within 1 foot, usually tho the correction factor is 2 to 3 feet. With the improvements that have been made since mine was new they should be by far more accurate now. I havent looked at any new ones in years but I think it might be worth looking into. My gps wasnt a top of the line model either.

Bob

PipeGuy

Sorry, I was focused in on "we've...staked out our homes" and "spend too much time trying to fit homes on irregular lots" and didn't consider the title of the thread. I thought you were asking about means by which to lay out a buildng line within a predetermined lot location. My bad.
Just so I understand, you're saying that 3-4-5 triangles coordinated from 'drylines' are close enough for a foundation layout but GPS isn't? (I confess that after 27 years of working with and around engineers, surveyors, contractors, builders and developers I've never run across the term "dryline") I can tell you that we are more and more regularly having our work laid out by GPS and it has to be built within .10 feet (that's about 1-1/4 inches) of design locations in order to be accepted. But I know when you build a house foundation 8 feet deep that it's a lot more diffiicult to get it in the right place than if you're building a sewer 30 feet deep. I'd love to be able to work at the level of technical expertise required of backhoe services and residential foundation contractors. Maybe someday.

Mike Finley

Have things changed or doesn't the government still have the fuzzy setting on GPS to reduce the accuracy on purpose?

PipeGuy

The 'fuzzy' setting is now a lot less fuzzier than it used to be.http://www.topconpositioning.com/ind...tegory_ids/116

K2

TOTAL STATION / THEODOLITE . Just spray your points in. I havn't used one in 10 years but I think they are getting pretty reasonable. Some training required but I was trainable so it can't be too hard.

PipeGuy

I can appreciate what seems to be your disatisfaction with using various means and methods just because "it's always been done like that". I'm also someone that's always keeping my eyes open for opportunities to do things a little better (or a lot) than they're currently being done.
Around here builders/developers long ago stopped doing their own surveying/ layout; professional engineering firms have cornered the market. Stringent building and zoning policy enforcement practices has made the cost/benefit considerations of hiring professional surveyors a no brainer. No builder wants to accept the risk of laying out a house in the wrong place. They'd rather pay for a PE firm to accept the risk.
If your locale will be experiencing lots of growth in the coming years, and enforcement of BRL's is becoming a greater and greater issue, now might be a good time to establish a working relationship with a qualified PE firm. Such an arrangement might provide you the benefit of having increased time to focus on your comapny's core strengths.

Excalibur

That is an amazing piece of equipment!! It kicks the hell out of my POS GPS. Hey pipe; any idea what that unit sells for?

PipeGuy

I'm guessing 10's of K's.

Excalibur

OUCH!!!! Thats about what I was visualizing. It looks like it would make work a whole lot easier though!

Bob

jmic

Around here the zoning officials require surveys done by licensed surveyors if you're doing anything on your own as far as staking foundations within inches of setback lines it's only a matter of time before it comes back to haunt you or cost someone big bucks to rip a foundation out or worst. The way I look at it is why would you want to take the risk? Maybe you just don't have the stringent zoning laws where you're from.

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nadonailer

Transit - I held a job as a surveyor for a few years when I was younger and learned the ropes. If you haven't learned how yet, its pretty easy and gets easier with practice. Foolproof, quick and spot-on, too! Now I need glasses to read the vernier, though...

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Teetorbilt

A decent GPS will be accurate to 1-2 cm., about 1". A good one can tighten that down quite a bit to about 3 mm., expensive though.

Pres. Clinton abolished the military interference with GPS.

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PipeGuy

That's why instruments always came with a little magnifying glass

tgeb

I would have to say that reply #11 by Pipeguy is about right on.

It sounds like the problem you have is with house location, when you stake it out and let someone look at it and say "what if we turn it a little more to the south and move it 15' that a way." nobody can help with that! It can drive you nuts.

Hey Pipeguy, that photo in reply #3, My daughter was born in that Hospital, you 'round here? I am in germantown.

Tom

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Zendik

We use >>These<<