The more land surveyors I talk to, the more I realize that 3D machine control adoption is really hitting full steam. More and more land surveyors are seeing a dramatic decrease in their construction layout business. The various machine control dealers that I have talked to are also validating this. For a year with a down economy, machine control sales still seem to be increasing. Contractors that are using the technology are really seeing the advantages and the ones that aren’t, are not getting any work. The machine control dealers are seeing a lot of contractors and construction companies of all sizes looking to get into the technology. I realize this is nothing new and nothing that hasnt discussed before, but it seems to me that the trend is picking up momentum quicker than I had anticipated.

I am still not sure the land surveying industry realizes why this is happening at such a rapid pace. However, I think it is important for land surveyors to have an understanding of why machine control is becoming so popular and why contactors are looking to the technology. Believe it or not, it is not so contractors can eliminate the land surveyors. It is simply a matter of cost and efficiency.

During my education and training to become a licensed land surveyor, I spent years learning about land surveying and how you perform land-surveying tasks. The one thing that was seldom ever stressed was the costs involved while doing a survey. We had our prices for standard surveys and that is what we charged. Sure we calculated the hours we assumed it would take to complete a project, and then multiplied the time by our hourly rate. But we never really accounted for the various costs associated with a project. Sometimes we looked at a project after it was complete and realized that are costs were greater than our revenue and we lost money. Other times, the costs were less than our revenue and we actually made money on a project. But the idea of tracking your costs and understanding your costs during a project was never a priority part of the process.

At the beginning of my first day in the construction industry, I was taught that costs and the idea of tracking costs on a day to day basis is critical to making money. Every good contractor knows what their costs are on a project at any point in time and they do everything they can do reduce these costs during all phases throughout the project. That is why contractors see land surveying as a cost. When a contractor receives an invoice from a land surveyor, that is merely a cost in the eyes of the contractor.

By using machine control technology, contractors are reducing their cost. Not only are they reducing their cost of the land-surveying invoice, but also they are reducing the cost of their production time and they are reducing the cost their material. It is important to note that the land surveying costs associated with a project are usually insignificant compared to the production costs and material costs. So if the contractor can improve his production on a project by a small amount, it can add up to a lot of money. This is why machine control is so valuable.

In the past, part of the sales pitch for machine control dealers was the ability to remove the land surveying costs. However, now many do not even include the elimination of land surveying costs in their sales pitch. Most dealers have figured out that you can reduce your surveying costs, but in many cases, you still have surveying costs on a project and those costs are minimal compared to the savings you see with increased production gains and material savings. The dealers have also figured out the benefits of having land surveyors involved in the projects.

As an example of the cost reduction contractors can see with machine control, assume you have a project that requires you to move 10,000 yards of dirt. Also assume you can move about 500 yards per day with your dozer. This means it will take you about 20 days to complete the dirt moving on this project. You can also assume that it will cost you about $4.00 per yard to move the dirt, therefore we can assume your costs for moving the dirt on the project are right around $40,000, or $2,000 per day.

Now assume that you purchase a new GPS machine control dozer to do the work. With the new machine control dozer your production increases by 15%. This is a conservative estimate, with many contractors and construction companies claiming production increases of 50% with the technology. But for the sake of this example, we will assume your production increases to 575 yards a day and your project will now only take 17 days to complete.

That is a savings of 3 days. So now we can assume that our costs are going to be $2,000 per day times 17 days, or $36,000. Correct? Not exactly. By increasing our production, we also reduce the amount of time it takes to move the dirt. By decreasing the amount time it takes to move the dirt we decrease the costs associated with labor, equipment operation and fuel over time. Therefore when we reduce the amount of time it takes to move dirt, we also decrease the cost per yard. So by increasing production, in reality, we have reduced the cost per yard to around $3.50 per yard. So in our example, we are now moving 10,000 yards of dirt at $3.50 per yard for a total cost of $35,000. The increased production has saved us $5,000 in 20 days of work. Again, this example is very conservative.

What this example does not illustrate is the increased savings associated with material costs. You are not over undercutting or over filling areas since you know what your grade is at all times. This eliminates rework. It also does not illustrate the savings of ware and tear on your equipment. The cost of ownership and maintenance of large pieces of construction equipment is substantial. If you are renting the piece of equipment, you just saved 3 days in rent. The important thing to remember is when you increase your production, you save time. When you save time, you decrease your costs and save money.

I think it is important to note that in many cases, the initial investment to get into machine control and to outfit your first piece of equipment is substantial. In most cases you would purchase a GPS base station and rover and then outfit your equipment. This initial investment is around $100,000 and contractors and construction companies are saying that they are recouping their investment in less than 6 months. That means they are probably making $100,000 every six months with their investment and putting that money into their pocket.

What does all this mean? It means that machine control technology makes the contractors money and it makes them money fast. The return on their investment is almost immediate. This is the reason that contractors and construction companies are all diving head first into machine control technology and land surveyors are seeing a decrease in their construction layout business. Land surveyors need to understand this and realize why the construction industry is buying this technology. It is not to eliminate the land surveying; it is just a matter of cost.

However, the ever-increasing adoption rate also means that the opportunities for land surveyors in the machine control industry are also increasing. Technology redefines entire industries. To be aware of the changes is critical to business survival