construction stakeout nyc
Stakeout is the reverse of every other survey: instead of recording what exists, it places the approved design onto the ground so the contractor can build to it. Corners, offset lines, footing locations, foundation lines and finished grades get marked before excavation and re-established at stages as the work goes up. On a New York site the margins are unforgiving. Lots are narrow, the neighbours are attached or a few feet away, and a foundation set even slightly off line creates a problem that is discovered at inspection and solved with concrete. Sites are also tight enough that stakes get destroyed by the work itself, which is why offset lines set clear of the excavation are more useful than corner stakes that will not survive the first day. We work from the approved drawings and note the revision we staked from, so there is no ambiguity later about which version is in the ground.
Every other document we produce records what exists. Stakeout puts the approved design onto the ground so it can be built to. Corners, offset lines, footing positions, foundation lines and finished grades get marked before excavation and re-established as the structure goes up.
New York lots are narrow and the neighbours are either attached or a few feet away. A foundation set slightly off line on a fifty-foot suburban lot is absorbed by the side yard; on a twenty-foot Brooklyn or Queens rowhouse lot there is no side yard to absorb it, and the problem is discovered at inspection and solved with concrete. Tight sites also destroy their own marks - excavation removes corner stakes on the first day as a matter of routine - so we set control clear of the working area wherever the site allows and re-establish from it, which is far quicker than starting again.
Drawings get revised during construction. We note the drawing revision each set of marks was staked from, so there is never an argument six months later about which version the foundation was built to. On phased work we agree the staging against your programme up front so the visits are in the price rather than arriving as a series of surprises.
New build and extension work across Staten Island and the Bronx, infill throughout Brooklyn and Queens, and larger sites in Yonkers and New Rochelle. The topographic survey that preceded design gives us the grades to set to; the as-built survey afterwards records what was actually built; and where the parcel itself was reconfigured, the subdivision survey established the lines we are staking.
How long does it take? Scheduled in stages against the construction programme rather than as a single visit. Tell us the excavation date and we work back from it.
These are usually asked for on the same transaction:
Records what was constructed, as constructed - required when a filing is conditioned on it or the build departed from the approved plans.
Learn More →Existing grades, elevations and site conditions - what an architect or engineer needs before anything is designed.
Learn More →Establishes where the record property line runs and what sits over it - fences, extensions, stoops and a neighbour's addition.
Learn More →Free - No obligation
Two minutes. We come back to you the same business day.
If it is urgent, call us now on (315) 981-8556
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