Got a weird tip from an old surveyor on a job in Tulsa that changed my drafting workflow

I was on a site visit last month for a commercial renovation in Tulsa, and this crusty old surveyor saw me struggling with a tricky set of existing conditions. He just pointed at my tape measure and said 'stop trying to be perfect with the numbers, feel for the geometry first.' I thought he was nuts, but I tried it on a couple of tricky corners and it actually saved me an hour of re-drawing back at the office. Now I rough out the shape by hand on site, then go back with precise measurements for the tricky parts. It's cut down my field time by maybe 30% on these older buildings. Has anyone else gotten a weird piece of advice from a contractor or surveyor that actually worked better than what you learned in school?

3 comments

3 Comments

wendyprice1d ago

Old school guys know stuff you just don't learn in class. That "feel for it" thing sounds weird but it makes sense for old buildings with all their quirks.

the_jennifer3d ago

That surveyor sounds like someone who's been around the block a few times. My first drafting mentor told me something similar when I was fresh out of school working on an old warehouse downtown. He said "stop measuring twice and draw once with your eyes first." Took me a while to realize he meant trusting your judgment about the space before you even pull out the tape. That one piece of advice probably saved me more time than any class I took because it taught me to see the whole building instead of just the numbers.

derek_perez3d ago

Whoa wait, that mentor told you to draw before measuring? Thats wild to think about with an old warehouse. Those places are usually full of surprises like hidden beams and shifted walls. I feel like one crooked line on that first sketch and you'd be totally lost in the as-builts later. @the_jennifer, your mentor must have had some serious gut instincts to pull that off.