WORKING AS A LAND SURVEYOR

A day of land surveying in the Catskill Mountains. I thought it would be an interesting exercise to film a day of work. This is a pretty typical day for where I survey. We started the day marking out a property line for a client who was having trees cleared and then moved on to a small boundary survey. Work is always interesting and we get to see some very old and unique things out in the woods. Something new everyday when you survey.

[@farmerbob3007]

I enjoyed this video! Thank you. It is very interesting to watch another survey crew at work. I grew up downstate from the Catskills. My first taste of surveying was in forestry school up by Lake George. They taught us with brass compasses on jake staffs, plumb bobs, and chains. The old way. Our teacher was one of the greats! All of the 30 year surveyor veterans that have taught me are in that category. The Total Stations will always amaze me. Precise but easy. Precise but tough. Opening things up and cutting line maybe isn't so easy, but it's a price that is part of the job. This video was made in early spring I think. I've done field surveying in Florida, Alaska, the Dakotas, and Texas. Florida and Alaska have big vegetation so there we mostly used Total Stations (Leica). In the Plains though, that is mostly open ground and grass, so mostly GPS is used (Trimble). Surveying in the grasslands can really spoil a field surveyor. Surveying in the North Dakota Badlands above the Little Missouri is all Glory! That is GPS work. I had less fun surveying with grizzly bears around in Alaska. The alligators in Florida weren't so bad. Mosquitos and hornets are more terrible. Everybody likes boundary surveys the best. Its finding the old monuments, survey crews love finally finding them. Boundary that involves encroachment might become a bit more tense. Many say boundary surveying is the core of Land Surveying. But building things feels good too, construction surveys. And there is plenty of new to see walking that line! Just like that old house. I sure wish I was out with y'all that day! Been away a long time and just lately I've become real homesick for the woods of my home ground, New York State. Great video! Thanks again.

[@bouiglob]

Absolutely everything was shown in this video. I felt I had just spent another day at work watching this.

[@christiandenniston7177]

I love this comment.

[@WavyJayZ]

Surveying is interesting, I'll probably do this for the rest of my working life. One day you could be in a open field on a farm, the next you could be in a busy city.

[@christiandenniston7177]

That’s what I love about it. One day I’m on top of a mountain and the next day I’ve got my head down a sewer manhole attempting to measure an invert hahah. Quite the variety!

[@afonsorafael2728]

More like this please :)

[@KathysOutdoorAdventures]

Very cool to see how the surveying is done. Fun to get a looking to who you are. Thanks for sharing

[@joshuablackmouth6378]

Love seeing the dynamic of another survey crew. Surveyor from SoCal here! It’s good to see that our lingo and mindset is similar! Keep it up y’all 💪🏻

[@zeldasol]

Surveyor from BC Canada interesting to see a different team work together

[@dirtbagoutside]

Interesting.. I love the Catskills

[@Patriot1066Tom]

This is a very nice workday. Beautiful day in nature, peace and views. Not like when you work ob bussy highway trying to get your young intern of his phone while fighting bugs day.

[@christiandenniston7177]

I am very lucky to survey where I do. Granted we have miserable days too, but almost never work in large cities. I prefer the woods, mountains, and fields.

[@MeetMeOutside]

Nice ! Looks like very interesting work. I can see why that wouldn’t get boring ! Thanks for the insight into your occupation ! Cheers !

[@christiandenniston7177]

Yes it is never is boring! Got to love spending time out in the woods everyday (aside from office days).

[@greermcgreer8596]

Easy breezy haha. I’m up in the pacific NW, high desert terrain. We do a wide variety of surveying at my company. Lots of construction staking, gets monotonous as the ground is pure rock. Occasionally, we get to the Portland area for some clients with untouched land. It’s crazy trying to tunnel through 15ft tall blackberry thickets (not even sure how to describe it) for line of sight. Interesting to see how it is in other parts of the US.

[@christiandenniston7177]

You should post a video of your day sometime! This was an easy/simple day for us and that is why i took the opportunity to film it. We have plenty of mountains, ticks, thick brush, snow, and such to keep things fun and interesting! Haha. We do construction staking but nothing large scale commercial, which is fine with me because I agree that it gets monotonous. I prefer boundary work and manual topo mixed in every so often.

[@amodelersfilebox2652]

Great video Christian.

[@christiandenniston7177]

Thank you!!

[@honeyssurveyadventures]

Hi..great video..thanks for sharing your experiences in field..im a surveyor too..😁

[@christiandenniston7177]

Best job in the world!

[@halabujioutdoors]

Good stuff! Working is training ground for more serious hobby, I see, carry gears on your back, going up n down, here n there, looking through lens, pack the gears up, etcetera etcetera etcetera. Like I said, Good stuff! 👍👍

[@christiandenniston7177]

They call me the mountain goat at work! Haha. I joke that hiking mountains is what I do for fun haha. Which is not a lie.

[@diskjokey1993]

Hi I`m interest in that field and considering studying a Diploma in Surveying. How are the exams , are they difficult? And also is the Diploma enough to have a good career ?

[@NikLyons]

I'm about 12 months in as a instrument man in west central Florida. Started at $15 now at $20 hourly. I like being in nature and active but I'm not sure if I want to continue making $20 an hr. I'm running the prism rod a little. I want to learn to draw and take notes and use Carlson software. I think I would enjoy working larger areas and less residential and busy hot city work. The temp yesterday was 105° farenheit, 80 percent humidity. I like that river you guys were near. More peaceful than home owner association deed restricted mosquito paradise that is where I been mostly working in. I want to continue but I want to make better pay and get a license. If I get a license in Florida can I move and maybe start my own company in another state. I'm 40 and so I really need to make more than 20$ an hour if I'm going to own a home and ever be able to afford to have a family. It's a bit daunting and I am not even sure what to do but I heard that you won't get rich in this line of work and some of the attitudes are negative at work

[@greenberet3699]

find a new place to work. there is plenty of different types of surveying work. Wages in the southeast are way lower on average friend, if you want to make more money now. Get out of Flat Florida. You can get your degree/license and work the office side from another state yeah. but thats years away.

[@NikLyons]

@@greenberet3699 thanks for the reply. Things are a little better now that they paired me with another crew chief that is a little more considerate and less in a hurry all the time. I been getting more overtime lately and he's teaching me how to draw and some new skills. I'm not sure I want to stay in this line of work so I figure I learn what I can while taking an online course to get a job where I can live where I want and work remotely.

[@christiandenniston7177]

@@NikLyons work towards your license. I think if you're working towards you can justify the difficulties as you learn and work your way up. Like any profession, there are upsides and downsides, but I love surveying. Though I recognize its not for everyone!

[@NikLyons]

@@christiandenniston7177 I actually started working with a different company. I left on good terms with the other company. We're on location and I been getting lots of overtime and per diem and learning some good stuff running base stations and rtk. I'm not as getting in as many shots as some of the other guys. I guess they know a few tricks typing in the next code during the 3 second observation. I like the guys I'm working with now and I'm making more money. I been away from my wife but she understands what I'm trying to do for us and she appreciates it. I'm not doing residential anymore. We're working on a huge 8 year project for Everglades restoration building a huge reservoir to help filter out runoff that was causing algae bloom problems. Or at least that's my understanding of what we're doing. I actually will travel out of state with this company so it's interesting. Thanks for the positive response and keep up the good Surveying!

[@yunusemrekarpuz668]

Great video thanks Christian.. what did the noisy device find and whats its name?

[@christiandenniston7177]

It’s a Schonstedt metal locator. We use it to assist us in locating property corners and also for recovering control points.

[@josefranca6392]

I work at the largest sanitation company in Brazil as a surveyor. How could I become a surveyor in the USA?

[@hg2.]

Great work - excellent videography. (Are you sure you don't do videos first, just "acting" as a surveyor? Ha.)

[@mts7274]

What type of measuring devices were land surveyors using in the 1950's or 1960's to insure that a 20,122.4 sq ft was exactly that?

[@GotDubs]

They pulled chain

[@amodelersfilebox2652]

Steel chain or tape, Gurley Transit, Logarithm Tables, at least two more people, plumb bobs, range poles etc.

[@RyanONeal1995]

Did you have to do any schooling for this job our was it on the job training? Thinking of making a career change.

[@christiandenniston7177]

No schooling for me. I do have a degree but it is in an unrelated field. Depending on the state you’re located you may need a degree for licensure but it is possible to have a good career in surveying without a license. If you ever have questions or need advice just let me know. Your first step would be applying to local surveying/engineering firms as a survey field tech. That will get you started and you’ll know pretty quick if it’s a job you enjoy!

[@RyanONeal1995]

@@christiandenniston7177 i really appreciate it thank you

[@asdrubalvivanco2301]

Really you did nothing...lol

[@christiandenniston7177]

Nothing you say? How so?! Haha.