Subsurface Utility Engineering (SUE)
Non-destructive Pipe Thickness Testing &
Concrete Imaging

SurvTech Solutions' Subsurface Utility Engineering (SUE) division provides services throughout the United States with offices in Florida, Alabama, and Louisiana. We are equipped with a multitude of tools for utility mapping investigations, including ground-penetrating radars (GPR), electromagnetic devices (EM), ultrasonic pipe thickness gauges, and concrete imaging scanners. We own and operate five vacuum excavation rigs. These rigs range from a F-550 4x4 250-gallon wet/dry vacuum truck to custom-made vacuum excavation trailers that can be easily towed by F-150’s and work in tight spaces, where larger trucks would be problematic.

 

Subsurface Utility Location Crews Near You

With nine active and ready to deploy SUE crews in locations like Tampa, Orlando, Lakeland, Mulberry, Mobile, Fort Pierce, and New Orleans there is a team available to meet your needs. All SurvTech SUE crews are equipped with survey-grade GPS and total stations for data collection, allowing our findings to be easily added to your base map. Our services meet or exceed the standards set forth by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) under section 38-02 for conducting SUE. Our personnel are background-checked, OSHA 40 hour, Hazwoper, MSHA, intermediate and advanced Maintenance of Traffic (MOT) and CPR/first aid certified, as well as TWIC and MICCS (drug tested). We are badged for working at sensitive and secure facilities, such as military installations, utility plants, and active ports. SurvTech offers turnkey solutions for all your mapping needs, including mapping of above ground, below ground, and underwater features from the terrestrial, mobile, and aerial platforms. SurvTech is built upon a foundation of quality people equipped with technology. We look forward to providing utility Designation and Verification mapping services on your next project.

SurvTech is also a geophysical mapping firm, meaning we also have access to a wide array of technology and equipment that other firms may not have.
Those technologies include:
• Lower Frequency GPR (100 MHz)
• Electrical Resistivity Imaging (ERI)
• Seismic Technology

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Save Money with Subsurface Utility Engineering

SUE is crucial to any construction or remodeling site as it prevents the encounter of unknown utilities in the ground, reducing the occurrence of costly relocations, project delays and avoidable accidents. A recent study by Purdue University and the Federal Highway Administration found that for every dollar spent on SUE there was a quantified savings of $4.62.

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Four SUE quality levels are available to meet your needs

Each quality level includes the levels below it.

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• Utility Quality Level A: Underground Utility Locating (Test Hole). Subsurface utilities are safely located, exposed, measured, and mapped using nondestructive vacuum excavation equipment to establish precise horizontal and vertical location data. The SurvTech Solutions team marks utility locations on site to make construction safer for all workers and the public. Locations are typically marked with color coded paint and flags. Site photographs and field sketches are also provided. This is the highest level of accuracy and is recommended for complex projects that need more accuracy and want to reduce risk.

• Utility Quality Level B: Utility Designation. Surface geophysical sensing technologies like GPR are utilized to locate and mark underground utilities, and then tie their location to known data points on the project site.  The professionally collected field data is then mapped onto plan documents.

• Utility Quality Level C: Visible Surface Feature Utility Survey. Utility surface feature data is obtained from surveying and plotting aboveground utility features. Level C data supplements Level D data and identifies errors and omissions in record information.

• Utility Quality Level D: Record Research and Data Collection. Records research performed and verbal information is collected. Quality Level D provides a general idea for the overall congestion of utilities, rather than a comprehensiveness solution. Accuracy of this information is uncertain.

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SurvTech SUE services are performed in accordance with ASCE CI-38-02, but can be modified to meet your needs.