Anderson Estimating Service

Question to all my Civil contractors and Surveyors: I just received "benchmarks" on a 140 acre project that were to the nearest 100th decimal place (0.00) I was always taught that points were to the 100th and Benchmarks to the 1000th (0.000), but I am old school. Isn't it industry standard that benchmarks are to the 1000th? I am just thinking that if these are truncated or even rounded off the point could be +/- from 0.05 to 0.09 foot and then my GPS is good to the 0.05 foot. So, I could literally be off 0.10 foot or more from the get go. That is how I think of it. Is this wrong?

Well, today I fixed two models provided by other services. Two in one day! One of them was so messed up. I told my client that it was unusable. I am rushing to get a model out tomorrow so he can keep going. No ridge lines, Curbs offset were incorrect, No gutter lip elevations, Flat spots where there should be flow, and on and on. It was a train wreck with a school bus involved (really bad.) The other one was from a service that claimed my model was bad, and they had the client pay for a redo. I did not charge him for mine, since I have a 100% satisfaction guarantee. However, when I looked at what the other service provided, it had 2 foot busts and several bad spots. Actually, I had time to review my original "bad" model at that point. The only thing I had done wrong was I forgot to uncheck the "tin surface" when I made the line work file (dxf). So, the TIN linework would show up on the controller. Just needed to either remove it or uncheck so it didn't display. It had no affect on the functionality of the model. The surface file was fine. The engineer had provided a really clean TIN file (I verified it). So, I used it, which is extremely rare. Please, be careful who you use for models. You could end up grading things twice, which I am sure your do not put in your estimate. I hate throwing out the "40 years experience" line too much, but it kind of applies in this situation. Have a blessed day!

Watch out what you pray for you might get it! After 3 or 4 months of very poor sales, I am now swamped. God has blessed me more than I could have ever ask for. If anyone out there looking to be there own boss. You just need to be very skilled at Agtek.

I had a project today in which I was running the refusal volumes (rock). I noticed the soils report stated the exploration was done using trenches and not a drill rig. Then I looked at the piece of equipment. It was a mini excavator! Of course, I would expect the mini-x to have refusals way shallower than a drill rig or an adult size excavator. So, this soils report is misleading, and my client will hopefully get the job knowing this. Another instance I had was a soils report that called for significant moisture remediation (It was really wet). Then I looked at the date of the borings and find out they had drilled right after a major storm. You have to watch for things like this. Again, I got the project knowing this remediation was way exaggerated. I guess these are the things you just learn along the way....

After years of doing estimating, I have figured out this... There are Three (3) kinds of people in the world: People that can count, and people who can't. It is just that simple.

I think I figured out a way to explain the volume calculation misunderstanding... Unless the dirt is filled/cut to the final design grade, it can't be counted in the balance of the project. You always compare everything to the final elevations. Much of the dirt on a project is, unfortunately, moved twice. You cut to grade. So, that means you actually over fill finish areas. There is also remedial work which is appropriately called over-excavation. Meaning: You excavate beyond the design grades. So, comparing the initial excavation with the progress topo will NOT give you numbers that are relevant to the final balance. You always compare topo to final design. I can explain it to you, but I can't understand it for you.

I think I figured out a way to explain the volume calculation misunderstanding... Unless the dirt is filled/cut to the final design grade, it can't be counted in the balance of the project. You always compare everything to the final elevations. Much of the dirt on a project is, unfortunately, moved twice. You cut to grade. So, that means you actually over fill finish areas. There is also remedial work which is appropriately called over-excavation. Meaning: You excavate beyond the design grades. So, comparing the initial excavation with the progress topo will NOT give you numbers that are relevant to the final balance. You always compare topo to final design. I can explain it to you, but I can't understand it for you.

All my projects and customers are TOP SECRET. So, I really can't say anything about it. I will say this: "Next BIG Park site" A ton of different scope items on this project. Sometimes, I really would like to discuss all the projects and consulting work I do, but it is all hush hush. I do some pretty cool projects all over the country.