As-Built Surveys
An as-built survey answers a question every finished project eventually faces: what actually got built, and where. We measure the constructed work in the field and document it against the approved design - so deviations surface at closeout, while they are still someone's open item, instead of years later when they are a title problem or a failed inspection.
What This Service Covers
As-built work comes in two flavors, and both start with field measurement rather than paperwork. The first is post-construction verification: the project is finished or substantially finished, and the owner, engineer, or permitting authority needs documentation of what was constructed compared to the plans it was supposed to follow - locations, dimensions, grades, and the utility structures that will be invisible once the site is closed up.
The second is mapping infrastructure of unknown origin. Older sites routinely carry lines, structures, drives, and improvements that nobody has a drawing for. Before you design around them, buy the property, or dig near them, they have to be located and mapped as they actually exist. In both cases the deliverable is the same kind of document: an accurate record of real conditions that a design team, an owner, or a future surveyor can rely on.
How the Work Runs
Assemble the record.
We gather the approved plans, permits, and any prior survey control for the site. Where we performed the original staking, that control already exists and the as-built ties directly to it.
Field measurement of what was built.
The crew locates the constructed improvements - structures, pavement, drainage and utility structures, accessible inverts, and finished grades - to the level of detail the closeout or the design work requires.
Comparison and delivery.
The measurements are drafted into an as-built drawing and, where design plans exist, compared against them so any deviation is documented plainly rather than left for someone to discover later.
What You Get
- An as-built drawing of the constructed conditions, signed and sealed
- A comparison against the approved design plans where plans exist
- Located structures, pavement, drainage, and accessible utility features with elevations
- Documentation suited to project closeout, permit sign-off, or an owner's permanent records
What Affects Timing
- The size of the site and how much constructed work has to be located
- How much of the infrastructure is buried, submerged, or otherwise inaccessible
- Whether design plans and prior records exist to compare against
- Whether we performed the original staking - existing control shortens the work
- Site access and construction activity still underway
- Our current field schedule
When You Need This Survey
- At the close of a construction project, when the owner or engineer requires as-built verification
- When a permitting authority requires as-built documentation before sign-off
- Before designing an addition, renovation, or expansion around existing improvements
- When buying or evaluating a property with infrastructure nobody has a record of
- When a question comes up about whether something was built where it was supposed to be
Questions We Hear About As-Built Surveys
Can you locate utilities that are already buried?
We locate what is visible and accessible - manholes, valves, meters, cleanouts, and inverts we can safely measure - and we tie in locate marks placed by the utility owners or by a locating service. Anything fully buried and unmarked has to be marked or exposed by others before it can be mapped accurately, and we will tell you plainly which parts of a site fall into that category rather than drawing a line we cannot stand behind.
What is the difference between an as-built survey and a boundary survey?
They answer different questions. A boundary survey resolves where your property lines are; an as-built documents what has been constructed and where it sits. They are often run together - knowing that a building or a drive was built three feet from a line only means something once the line itself is established.
Do you need the original design plans?
It helps considerably - a comparison to design is only possible if there is a design to compare to. Without plans we can still map existing conditions accurately, which is exactly what the "infrastructure of unknown origin" case calls for. Send whatever you have and we will tell you what the survey can and cannot conclude.
Content reviewed by Jacob Doss, Licensed Surveyor (TN RLS 3333 | KY PLS 4612), Doss Land Surveying, LLC. Serving Macon, Smith, Sumner, Trousdale, Clay, and Jackson Counties, TN, and Allen and Monroe Counties, KY. We also take on projects throughout the rest of Tennessee and Kentucky - just ask.
Project closing out, or infrastructure nobody has a drawing for? Let us document it.
(615) 670-9856info@dosssurveying.comServing Macon, Smith, Sumner, Trousdale, Clay, and Jackson Counties, TN, and Allen and Monroe Counties, KY.
We also take on projects throughout the rest of Tennessee and Kentucky - just ask.