An architect needs a base plan
Extensions, new builds and landscaping schemes are designed on the topo. A guessed base plan surfaces its errors later, in the expensive part of the project.
Farnham-based site surveys
Topographical surveys your design team can build on.
Levels, boundaries, features and drainage measured on site and issued as a layered DWG and PDF drawing. Every design decision that follows stands on this drawing - so it is measured, not assumed.
- Layered DWG + PDF issue
- Drainage traced and levelled, not symbolised
Based in
Farnham, Surrey
Serving
Surrey & North Hampshire
Typical residential site
One day on site
Core output
Layered DWG + PDF
The site as it actually is
When a topographical survey is the right next step
Every drawing your architect, engineer or drainage designer produces is only as good as the base plan under it. A measured topo removes the guesswork before it becomes concrete.
Planning or drainage design
Levels and existing drainage feed straight into drainage strategies, soakaway design and planning submissions - measured once, used everywhere.
Levels are in dispute
Boundary questions, flood-risk arguments and party-wall conversations settle faster on a measured drawing than on opinion.
Measured, drawn, layered
What the survey captures
The drawing is layered so drainage, levels and features switch on and off as your design team needs them.
Levels and ground model
A grid of spot levels with breaklines on banks, kerbs and steps - the surface your falls, sections and drainage designs hang off.
Boundaries and structures
Walls, fences, buildings and offsets, with floor levels where they matter to the design.
Features and surfaces
Trees with spreads, hard and soft landscaping, and visible services - drawn, not approximated.
Drainage, actually surveyed
Chambers lifted, invert levels measured, buried runs traced with a sonde and drawn with flow direction - not a manhole symbol and a guess.
From booking to issued drawing
A survey process with a defined deliverable
The scope is agreed before we book and the drawing is issued in the formats your project actually uses. Where the topo supports drainage design or planning, it slots straight into our drainage impact assessments, soakaway design and site investigation work - one team on site once, instead of three contractors on three dates.
- 01
Scope the drawing
Tell us the site and what the drawing needs to support - the deliverable is agreed before we book, along with a fixed price.
- 02
Survey the site
Levels, boundaries, features and drainage captured in one visit. A typical residential site takes a day on site.
- 03
Draw and check
The survey is drawn into a layered, scaled CAD model - drainage, levels and features on their own switchable layers.
- 04
Issue DWG + PDF
Your design team gets the DWG, everyone else gets the PDF issue - typically within the week for residential sites.
Asked before booking
Topographical survey questions, answered clearly
What format is a topographical survey issued in?
A layered, scaled DWG for CAD work plus a PDF issue - the formats architects, engineers and planning consultants expect. If your design team has specific layering or grid requirements, tell us when booking and we will draw to them.
Do you include drainage in the survey?
Yes, properly. Chambers are lifted, invert levels measured, and buried runs traced with a sonde and drawn with flow direction. Most topographical surveys mark a manhole symbol and move on; ours record the network, because we are drainage engineers as well as surveyors.
Can a topo be combined with a site investigation?
Yes - levels, drainage tracing, trial pits and BRE365 percolation testing can be done as one visit and issued as one coordinated pack, which is usually cheaper than instructing separate contractors on separate dates.
How long does a topographical survey take?
A typical residential site is a day on site, with the drawing issued within the week. Larger or more complex sites are scoped and quoted individually before anything is booked.
Fixed quote, defined deliverable
Tell us what the drawing needs to support.
Send the site address and what you are planning - an extension, a planning application, a drainage design - and we will scope the survey to it and quote a fixed price before anything is booked.