Evolve or die

[Jims5543]

Best, idea, ever.

I suggested to the guy that runs the local office of my biggest client we meet up for a pint one afternoon and have a long overdue meeting.

We met up last night, very relaxed, we settled in, hashed out all our talking points, came up with solutions, then sat back and told stories for over an hour.

Cool ass dude, he lives on a boat in the local Marina, actually the Marina was 5 blocks from where we were sitting at the bar.

Learned a lot about him and his family, he did about me and my family. When we were done, he commented that my idea to meet up like that was really cool and we need to come up with some problems so we can do it again soon.


He asked if I wanted to take over all the work in Vero Beach (60 miles away) because he is sick of his surveyor up there and would love for me to take it all over. I declined too far away, I would be spread too thin.

I am nervous over our upcoming project, they purchased 300 lots in a subdivision with an option to buy 300 more, the subdivision will have 3 builders in it, and has over 1200 lots in it.

The problem is, it is 20 miles from my office and a good 40 minute drive one way.

I may be hiring again....

[94touring]

I use to fly with a guy who lived on a 60 foot boat.  I nearly bought one and did the same thing.

Sounds like you need more staff.

[Jims5543]

I use to fly with a guy who lived on a 60 foot boat.  I nearly bought one and did the same thing.

Sounds like you need more staff.

I knew a pilot online that did the same thing.  Lived on a sail boat.

He was a triple threat, he was a licensed commercial pilot, licensed and up to date aircraft mechanic and a Paramedic.

He worked for someone very very very wealthy and flew his private jet all over the world when he was needed.  Sometimes into remote areas where his last 2 qualifications would be very handy.

He owned a warehouse where kept his Porsche and motorcycle Collection.

I think we will be OK, we are only 4 days into running 2 crews, we are averaging 10-15 jobs a day. We are far ahead of the mortgage clients, so much so we are working on things due Wednesday next week now.

I am a little behind with the builders, every day that gets better, by the end of next week we should be caught up to them.

*edit #2*

I am also considering getting a second GPS unit, it is a huge time saver, I am working alone and can crush the work load.  I may put an order in next week.

[Jims5543]

I need a dedicated hotspot modem to use with my GPS, right now I am using my cel phone with my wifi hotspot turned on.

If I want to send Mike out with it, he will need to take my phone, I would prefer a dedicated wifi hotspot for the modem.

The salesman told me about this item from Verizon.  Another surveyor is using it and says it has amazing range.


https://www.verizonwireless.com/internet-devices/verizon-global-modem-usb730l/#sku=sku2540056?cmp=CSE-C-HQ-NON-R-AC-NONE-NONE-2C0PX0-PX-PLA-USB730L&cvosrc=cse.google.USB730L&cvo_crid=198324781386

Did some looking around and found this.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07JWGN9TK/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1




It is interesting, it is not actually a hotspot that other devices can connect to, it send the internet through a USB port. No one can see it, it is like a cel phone antennae. Lighting fast though I am ordering a second one today.


This GPS is such a game changer that I ordered a second unit, both crews need to be running on it.  I am a little sad after using it. You no longer need to know land surveying to be a land surveyor, any idiot can use this and be damn accurate.  It has changed a lot in the last 10 years since I last used it regularly.

What I do love is that once you localize, you are accurate to 0.01' (1/8") or less, I have been seeing 0.005"  (1/16") accuracy, this is accuracy on the FACE OF THE EARTH. Once I establish a job on GPS, I can walk back to that exact spot at any time in the future and stake that exact point merely by walking up with the unit and asking it to tell me where the point is.

I do recognize the huge amount of time this is saving and I also see the need for both crews to be on the same page.  Therefore, I had to order another unit in order to get there. I am just a tad nervous, as I still need to find my IRA's and April 15th is coming fast.  I decided to finance this unit, I hate financing anything, with the plan to pay it off by mid summer.

We are 1 week into running 2 crews, there have been some hiccups. i.e. I left the GPS software open all weekend on the tablet, when I got to my first job Monday, the battery was at 6% and fading. my day was cut short due to a dead battery, complete avoidable.  I also have an inverter built into the Fj Cruiser, if I had the charger with me I could have plugged in between jobs. I owned myself on Monday.

We are tearing through the orders like no tomorrow.  In another week we will be so caught up I expect we will be going out the next day on all orders coming in. Which is what I am after.

[MiniDave]

Anyone can use it, it's that easy? Great, can I borrow it?   ;D ;D ;D ;D

I have a small 2-3 acre I need to sell and I would like to have the accurate plot of it.

[Jims5543]

Anyone can use it, it's that easy? Great, can I borrow it?   ;D ;D ;D ;D

I have a small 2-3 acre I need to sell and I would like to have the accurate plot of it.

Yeah, if you saw how much this thing cost you might be a tad bit nervous about playing with it. I am paranoid when using it and about to get insurance on both units next week.

When all is said and done I am into this GPS thing for over 30K.  BUT, I see the value in it and the fact that 2 crews running it can do the work of 4 crews if needed. 

Our plan right now is to leave around 7:00 each morning and be done by 12 noon all summer so we are not out in the 110° heat index every day.

We are kind of caught up, tomorrow I am taking the FNG out with me for a bit longer day. Friday I am in the office.  We are almost caught up.

Life changes:



On Wednesdays, I leave the office at 1:30 in the afternoon, if the weather is nice I grab the E30 or E21  and drive it down to get my 15 y/o from School. I joined him up at the local LA Fitness and we have a racquetball membership. We play for about 30 minutes then we do some circuit training for another 30 then leave for home for the evening.

On Fridays, I send my son Mike out in the field with Nick, it is my day in the office. I take my 15 year old to school in the morning then pick him up in the afternoon heading to the gym again.

My reasoning was, this 5 days a week taking him back and forth is insane, I wanted to give my wife a break from it and in the process spend some time with my son.

Sometimes something shaking up the daily routine is good, makes you open your eyes and look around and realize you are in a rut and need to get out of it.

I have to admit, so many times I want to call my wife and tell her I cannot get off early and to go get the kid instead of me.   Then I say to myself, no one ever wishes they worked more.

So I force myself to leave work at 1:30 pm, drive down to get the lad and take him to the gym.  We play racquetball for 30 minutes then do some weight training for another 30 minutes. 

Some days I take the rest of the day off, others I come back to the office for an hour or two.  I am usually back in the office at 4:00 if I need to be back.  I am almost done and ready to leave for the day.

Typically I have some work to check in the evening, I break out my laptop at home and go over some jobs later in the evening, usually the 15 y/o is next to me in the kitchen either doing homework or going over something for a test the next day.

[Jims5543]

So how easy is the GPS to use?

Nick is my new guy, never surveyed before coming to work for me.

I spend 15 minutes this morning showing him the basics of the GPS and the Win10 Tab interface.

Then set him loose all day, he ran the GPS while I worked on drawing up and measuring houses. Which prefer to do alone.

By the end of the day he was proficient running it.

I am pretty sure I could take my 15 year old out and have him run it in the same amount of time. As a matter of fact I am taking him to the 20 acre job tomorrow and plan on letting him run it.

[Jims5543]

Took delivery of the second GPS unit today, complete game changer. Ironically, the salesman agreed with my sentiment. You no longer need to be a land surveyor to survey land. Any idiot can fire this up and do a good job, it is idiot proof.  Which will make my life better as I can monitor the idiots.   ;D


That killed 2 hours of my day today, I am WAY behind with a lot of deadlines coming Tues. next week, I am trying to get ahead so I can take a long weekend road trip.

Before... @ around 7:30pm




After.... @ 11:30pm and some whiskey



Time to get some sleep before the alarm hits at 05:50..

[Jims5543]

Never assume.


I assumed when I placed an order for 200 pieces of #5 rebar cut in 18" lengths, they would be bundled in manageable amounts, like typically 25 pieces.

How wrong I was, I handed the purchase ticket off to the yard guy, he disappeared in his forklift, then arrived with this.....





Lesson learned....

[Jims5543]

18 March  took delivery of second GPS unit.

8 April so caught up to everyone we are a week or more ahead.

Running one crew again tomorrow then 2 again on Wed.

By the end of the week I hope to be beyond a week ahead of my builder.

[Jims5543]

OK the tablets wee pissing both of us off.  They kept turning off the USB port which basically shut off our wireless data.  We would have to unplug the wireless cel phone adapter then plug it back in.

Another annoying feature was the tablet going to sleep after 4 minutes. Sometimes you need more than 4 minutes to find a property corner, then you grab the GPS and it is asleep and it takes a couple of minutes to wake it up, connect to the cel network to get GPS data then communicate with satellites and finally  start collecting data.

We started diving through the tablets last week and found out we can turn on the USB port so it does not power down until the unit does.

We also changed the power settings so the tablet will not sleep for 20 minutes when I battery.

What a difference, what was 30 minutes a day wasted fighting with the tablet is now productive time. As the 100+ heat index days of sumer slowly approach we are happy to be finishing up earlier.

Man, we are slammed busy, turning away work even with 2 crews.

[Jims5543]

Still coming to terms with this GPS, I do not know if my salesman is stupid, and my peers the same.

The results we were getting were not impressing me. While just OK for lot surveys and boundary work for mortgages and builders. I was not seeing the precision that was sold to me for tight construction staking.

The salesman was useless as was a friend of mine in the business who just said..  "ooohhh no I would not use GPS for tight work"

I was about to pull the trigger on a 25K robotic instrument, then I got pissed. I just spent close to 50K on something that I was told would do a certain job and it was coming short.

So we changed a few things and to be honest it was eye opening. We most likely were NEVER this accurate when using convention equipment pre-GPS oblivious to that fact.

I changed 3 things.

1. We plumb up the GPS poles every week to make sure the bubble level on them is perfect.

2. We changed the program in the GPS software to give us the ability to collect a random amount of observations then average them. We chose 20, one second observations that are all averaged then stored as onepoint.

3. I purchased two bi-pods for our GPS poles, this takes the last bit of human error out of this entire deal, we plumb up the GPS rod with the bi-pod then collect a 20 second observation.

The results are astounding, we are down to 0.01 to 0.02 feet accuracy. Good enough to do tight stake out work again.

Once again, evolving..

It is insane how busy we are and all my clients are ramping up production.

We are humming along,  I fired the useless Marine and I just hired on another new guy, we are running 2 crews solid now.  I am amazed we are pumping out more work than 3 crews did in 2007.

This GPS was a godsend.

[94touring]

I just want to say bi pod.

[Jims5543]

It is kinda sexy isn't it?

[Jims5543]

Sorry for the lack of presence here, I am working 14+ hour days and most weekends so not time to goof off.

Thought I would share this.

"I choose a lazy person to do a hard job. Because a lazy person will find an easy way to do it."

― Bill Gates

I was talking a few months ago with a surveyor friend of mine. He mentioned his one party chief is the laziest mutherfucker in the world. Out of his laziness comes moments of brilliance.

This is one of those.

He asked how I recovered paved over reference points, or as we call them, permanent control points (PCP's) confused I replied, I use a chisel and smaller heavy sledge. He laughed and told me how they use a battery powered angle grinder with a diamond masonry blade on it.   

I kind of forgot about the convo until about 2 weeks ago where I was having a run of paved over control points. So I shopped for a battery angle grinder that would use the same battery as my hammer drill that I keep in my truck to set nails in concrete.

I finally got to use it today, you could hear my maniacal laugh for blocks as I made short work of recovering a nail and disk under the pavement. What would take me 15 minutes to do now takes me about 1 minute.

[MiniDave]

How do you find them, metal detector? After you uncover them, do you cover them over again, and if so, with what?

[Jims5543]

Yes a $500 metal detector to be specific. I just purchased this one as my 10 year old one is showing signs of failing.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000KAZPIW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

You can see the paint mark, I locate the nail then place a paint mark so I can come back and cut out the nail.

I try to have nothing in the road with me except what I positively need, as the roads are active and I am typically in the centerline.

[94touring]

I never thought of using an angle grinder.  That metal detector looks like a modern version of what we used 20 years ago.

[Jims5543]

I never thought of using an angle grinder.  That metal detector looks like a modern version of what we used 20 years ago.

I think we both used the old school Schonstedt at almost $800 I will pass and go with the new, shockproof, waterproof models from other companies. They rest on their laurels too much.

https://www.engineersupply.com/schonstedt-magnetic-locator-model-ga-52cx-includes-case.aspx?utm_campaign=Schonstedt%205%25%20Off%20Selected%20Products%20%28Q5TkgX%29&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Engaged%20%283%20Months%29&_ke=eyJrbF9lbWFpbCI6ICJqaW1zNTU0M0BnbWFpbC5jb20iLCAia2xfY29tcGFueV9pZCI6ICJMOWJSVTcifQ%3D%3D



The angle grinder is a godsend.

[94touring]

That's the one!

[Jims5543]

That's the one!

Frustrated with the sub surface units crapping the bed early. I broke down and purchased two $700  Schonstedts (after rebates $900 new!!) for both crews.

Now the cool part... I upgraded again... more when I have time as I am still working... this is my new co-worker.

I has a robot, more later because it is a hybrid robot tied into my GPS and is like being a super hero.

[Jims5543]

I have a few minutes, the internet is acting up at work and making uploads horribly slow.

How the robot works.

I paid a little extra for what they call a hybrid robot. It is intertwined with the GPS, as in the software in my Win10 Tablet allows me to jump back and forth between the GPS and robot when needed.

I needed it on a 5 acre job I did this week.

All the front property corners were under heavy tree cover impossible to get good GPS reading on.

So I would set the Robot up in a place where I can see one property corner in direct sight. (or more if possible)

I initialize the instrument and walk away from it 100' or so and tell it to shoot a distance to me, it does, then I take a GPS reading on that spot getting Latitude and Longitude of the point it just located, it can be a random point, just wherever I decided to put down the rod with the GPS on it.

Then I walk to another point about the same distance away, preferably in a different direction (I try to go 90°) and repeat, I have it shoot me, then I take a GPS reading. 

With those 2 points having GPS coordinates on them, then the instrument knowing the angle and distance both of them are at in relation to each other.  It can perform what is called a 2 point resection and figure out where the instrument is in GPS world, and know where everything I am locating with it is too.

I also did this to locate the house and detached garage, I just plopped down the Robot, initialized it, walked away and did a 2 point resection and it was on GPS coordinates or state plain coordinates.

Here is another cool trick, I can use my tablet to tell the Robot to switch from prism shots to prismless, where it uses a laser to get distances to hard objects.  I then run the instrument myself and can take shots of the corners of the house (shoots = locations) I stood behind it and located the house and garage in about 1 minute taking about 10 shots.  As fast as I can aim and tell it to shoot a distance was all it took.

On Friday last week at 430 in the afternoon one of my good clients, ordered a 5 acre survey and wanted it by Wednesday this week. I freaked out because we were supposed to be clobbered by a tropical storm Monday and Tues.  As it would turn out Monday was a decent day, and Tues was the bad day.

Of course I picked Tues. to do this job. I ended up working in sideways rain while measuring the houses. Then I waited for about 30 minutes in my truck for the bad stuff to pass and was able to get out in the drizzle and finish it.  By the time I finished the sun was coming out, of course.

It took me 3 hours to survey this job, in the old days using conventional equipment (Like what I sent Drmini) it would have been an 8 hour job easy running a 2 man crew.

I did it alone.

When I was out in the back of the property I thought to myself I should probably start carrying my gun. Just in case a Panther or Bobcat or Coyote decide they do not like me out in the sticks with them.

I also keep my eyes peeled for rattle snakes.  I am probably deaded if one bites me out on acreage, not sure I could hike back out in time.

This robot is a second best purchase I have made for this business, it is a close second to the GPS.  Another huge game changer.

[cstudep]

Just read through this whole thread for the first time. Surveying classes in college were my absolute favorite part, absolutely loved going out in the field. Now the equipment is smarter than the surveyor most of the time.

[94touring]

Can the robot carry you out if a snake attempts to dead you?

[Jims5543]

Can the robot carry you out if a snake attempts to dead you?

Danger!! Danger!!

I should record the Robot going into full retard mode.  If if loses me it starts flailing around looking for me.  I can switch to control to my tablet, then aim it back at me and let it lock back in.

I can also take a GPS reading where I am standing and tell the robot where I am, it will turn straight to me.

I have to be careful passing around trees and objects that block its view, if it loses lock with me it gets kinda funny.

There was an option to add a $4K radio link to them that keeps them locked no matter what through some sort of witchcraft I do not understand.  I opted to pass on it, so far I can manage it very well and feel no need to upgrade it.