Services Offered By Roper Engineering Civil Engineering Services usually required on civil engineering projects, where both design and liaison during construction are desired, can be described in four phases, as follows:  Preliminary.  This phase involves preliminary studies, layouts, budget estimates and feasibility reports.  It may include liaison with regulatory agencies and other design professionals, such as architects and soils engineers.  Design.  After the feasibility of a project is determined and accepted by the client, and by regulatory agencies where necessary, the design phase begins.  During this phase final drawings and specifications, suitable for bidding and construction, are prepared.  Furnishing engineering data as required for regulatory agency permits is included.  Pre-construction.  After plan approval and prior to selection of the contractor, documents related to construction contracts may be prepared for review and approval by the client.  These documents may include contract forms, invitations to bid, and instructions to bidders.  Assistance may be furnished in securing bids, analyzing bid results and recommendations regarding choice of the contractor. Construction.  After award of the contract, periodic visits to the project site may be made by the design professional during construction to observe the progress and quality of the work, followed by reports to the client.  Also required may be interpretation and clarification of the plans and change orders when required.  Determining progress payments to the contractor based on the amount of work accomplished is a valuable service during this phase.  The final inspection and report regarding completion and final payment concludes the services for a particular project.   Land Surveying Surveying can be generally described as the determination of the relative location of points on or near the surface of the earth.  Within that general description are many specialized services the Land Surveyor can provide.  These services include boundary surveying, topographic surveying, photogrammetric control work, and construction staking.  These are described in more detail below:  Boundary surveying.  This involves determination of property lines on the surface of the ground.  To accomplish this requires research of the client's deed and deeds of adjoining property owners and available maps, physically measuring between existing property corners, analysis of these measurements versus measurements described in the deed and maps and finally setting the desired property corners.  This service may be required in order to subdivide a piece of property, or to determine where a building is to be situated, or to build a fence.  It may be required to settle a dispute by neighbors over the location of their common boundary.  Topographic surveying.  This involves determination of the physical shape of the ground.  Again, physical measurements are necessary, followed by preparation of a topographic map.  The map may show, as desired, contours, elevations, existing buildings, trees and other natural or artificial features.  This service is generally required when improvements to the property are proposed, whether it be a building or a subdivision.  The information may be used during the preliminary phase of a civil engineering project.  Photogrammetric control.  At times, a topographic map may be more economically prepared by a process called photogrammetry.  This is a special service which uses stereo photographs taken from an airplane and specialized plotting equipment.  The land surveyor coordinates with this specialist and provides the "photo-crosses" which appear in the photographs and the necessary measurements for calibrating and operating the photogrammetrist's plotting equipment.  The end result is a topographic map similar to one previously described.  Construction staking.  In order to construct, a contractor needs to have pertinent data transferred from plans to the project site.  The surveyor interprets the plans and sets stakes that are marked for the contractor's reference.  Global Positioning Systems (GPS).  This system utilizes navigational satellites and GPS receivers to measure high accuracy control networks.  The surveyor uses this method to establish geodetic coordinates (latitude and longitude) and elevations for points of unknown elevation.  The latitude and longitude can be converted to the California Coordinate System.  This data has many survey applications, one of which is mapping large areas for planning purposes and utilization in geographic information systems. Expert Witness Engineers and Land Surveyors are frequently called upon for court appearances in the role of expert witness - a term referring to an individual whose educational background, training, and professional experience indicate superior knowledge about a particular field of endeavor and serve as the foundation for presumably meaningful conclusion and opinions. The design professional may be asked also for testimony and statements of opinions in arbitration proceedings, commission hearings, conferences pertaining to contract disputes, hearings before zoning boards, and many other proceedings which are not held in courts but which are nevertheless of great importance.  The ability of the individual to express his ideas cogently and to conduct himself well while serving in the capacity of an expert witness and while giving evidence under difficult circumstances may be a great asset to the client. Copyright © Roper Engineering.