The UK Construction Blog

Hire Sitemaster Building Kit

Professionally equipped while working in the field – complete boxed solutions

Save money by hiring a Sitemaster bundle.

Now you can hire the best Mobile Surveying Solution on the market. Recently made available by Mobile CAD Surveying, the Sitemaster Bundle is now available to hire.

For more information: Hire a Graebert Sitemaster Building Kit – Mobile Surveying Solution

Sitemaster Building v5.0 Launched with additional features.

Last week Mobile CAD Surveying announced the release of Sitemaster Building v5.0 with additional features. Sitemaster is their award winning mobile surveying solution software from the well known Graebert stable.

For those already familiar with Sitemaster Building, you will be aware that producing the CAD drawings ‘on site’ in ‘real time’  is the future of surveying and Measured Building Surveying,  in fact, isn’t it amazing to think that just five or six years ago virtually all surveyors took pencil and pad, tape measure or possibly a laser measuring device out into the field and spent several hours measuring up sites, buildings and all related detail before returning to the office to redraw the detail into their CAD package.

Now we have, NO more return visits to site due to blunt pencils and inaccurate paper documentation, NO guesswork, NO wrong data documentation NO sagging tape measures

Additional features include:-

* Support of the Windows 7 operating system

* Support of the Leica Disto D8 and D3A BT laser distance meters

* New Room Depth option….When creating door openings, you can not only measure the lengths of the wall right-hand and left-hand to the opening in the next room but also in one operation the depth of the room. Thus, the shape of a rectangular room can be generated immediately in the drawing. This will vastly speed up production of lower tolerance drawings…EPC for instance.

* New Building Services Library….The Symbols area of the program now additionally provides a Library for Building Services which allows you to insert blocks for electrical power supplies, water supplies, and equipment such as boilers or extractors, into your floor plans.

* New Dimensioned Symbols command… the Symbols area lets you now add a dimension line with a Symbol on it. You can quickly add to your site measurement plans, measured from one end point of a wall in the classic SiteMaster style. This feature is intended to be used especially to collect building services information (for example for kitchen planning), but basically can be used with any other symbol of the built-in or customized symbol library.

* Door and Windows can now be placed into any wall. These can be openings which cover the entire length of a wall (in fact replacing the wall), or openings which have zero distance at one end of a wall.

* The WIDTH attribute of door and window openings with retainer always gets the smallest (clear) distance of the opening.

Why not download a FREE trial version now and see for yourself the future of mobile surveying solutions.

Mobile CAD Surveying Ltd the main and preferred Graebert dealer in the UK, supplying mobile surveying solutions Worldwide.

Coming soon! Sitemaster Building v6 – the next Generation of SiteMaster Optimized for Building Information Modelling (BIM)  Combines Mobile Deployment, 3D Building Measurement and Object Modelling into a Single Solution

Using the ARES Core Engine for AutoCAD Compatibility. To express an interest or to be kept up to date with developments use their contact form.

The Rotosure Classique are extra heavy duty measuring wheels suitable for a wide range of applications. They have a heavy duty oval cross section handle making it the most robust measuring wheels available. Perfect balance ensures accurate measurement while sealed roller bearings provide a smooth action against the measured surface providing precision.

Common Uses

Road Marking, Construction, Paving, Fencing, Pool Building, General Construction, Garden Layouts, Sports Fields, Factory Layouts, Property Assessment, Traffic Control, Insurance Assessments and many more to numerious to mention. Mainly used on uneven surfaces over long distances

The UK’s leading provider of Graeberts Sitemaster software and Mobile CAD Solutions, Mobile CAD Surveying this week announced the launch of another  dedicated surveying site Mobile CAD Surveys.co.uk

This new site is designed to facilitate a growing numbers of customers who just want information on Measured Building Surveys rather than having to wade through their massive main site which has hundreds of additional products, from a Samsung Q1 ULTRA stylus pen, to software and on to surveying equipment.

Mobile CAD Surveys.co.uk will help customers find what they are looking for quickly and allow them to contact them with their requirements much faster.

So anyone interested in having some survey work carried out, take a look at their site and view some of the floor plans and elevational drawings they have produced for all types of customers.

Taken from their site:

When you need a measured building survey, a measured building surveyor or a full programme of surveys and floor plans, we can help you.. If time scales are tight, or clients time constraints are limited on site, we can work with you.

It doesn’t matter how big or small your project is, from just one house plan of a few square metres up to tens of thousands of square metres or several house plans, we can meet your requirements. We have large experience of  Measured Building Surveys, floor plans and elevational drawings, everything from private dwellings/homes, house plans and domestic premises, apartments and flats, to  supermarkets and shopping malls, churches and public buildings and have carried out Measured Survey programmes encompassing hundreds of properties,  so we can provide a schedule to suit you!

Floor Plans can be produced and required for lots of different reasons. Let us know why you require them and we will be able to provide you with an accurate quotation.

Sitemaster Building LT

SPECIAL OFFER – LIMITED TIME ONLY
REDUCED from £550.00 to ONLY £250.00

Take advantage now of this limited time offer,

SiteMaster Building LT (now REDUCED by £300) is an ideal starter programme for someone who is about to invest £600 or equivalent $/€ rate on the Leica Disto D8 laser distance meter and wants to interface with an intelligent mobile drawing package which supports .dwg format CAD package; SiteMaster Building LT will give you the flexibility you need as an ideal starter package with an easy upgrade through to the full version should you so wish. Limited time offer ONLY

For occasional building surveys

BuildingLT gives you many handy ways to create walls (even double line walls), windows, doors, openings and symbols. You can measure and draw rectangular and circular columns, recesses, chimneys and niches/ductes. You can use the EnterPoint dialog for precise entry of coordinates and angle/distance values.

The extensive features are especially interesting for users that need to create and deliver professional digital floor plans.

The layer management supports the combination of several floor plans in one single file. Heights of rooms, openings and symbols can be recorded and exported. Lasered distances are recorded in the background and saved on an extra layer for proofing purposes.

The Camera function allows you to insert icon-referenced inspection photos and images. SiteMaster Building contains an Image function for direct insertion and scaling of photos and image underlays with support for file formats as BMP, JPG, PNG, TIFF and RLC digital photos and images.

VoiceNotes that can easily been inserted eliminate time consuming text markup by providing record and playback of high-compressed audio notes and instructions directly inside your drawings.

AutoCAD-compatible drawing symbols / blocks can be used. The Visual Symbol Manager lets you insert symbols ? as-measured, referenced or free in the drawing. You can export Excel-compatible .csv files with room/area lists and room schedule reports/symbol lists. The Check Distance function lets you compare »as-built« distances to plan distances and record this comparison.

Experienced power users can use the visual Desktop, Menu and Toolbar Editor (DME2) and Lisp and/or C++ programming APIs to customize and extend the program furthermore.

Xtend & Climb Home Telescopic Ladders

Xtend & Climb Home Telescopic Ladders

Introducing the all new Horizon Xtend & Climb Home – arguably the most compact ladder on the market!

It stores at a mere 0.68m and opens up to an amazing 2.59m – meaning you can store it in the most confined spaces such as under the stairs, under the bed or between the fridge and the washing machine and still be able to access lofts, windows and high wardrobes.

Introducing the all new Horizon Xtend & Climb Home – arguably the most compact ladder on the market!

It stores at a mere 0.68m and opens up to an amazing 2.59m – meaning you can store it in the most confined spaces such as under the stairs, under the bed or between the fridge and the washing machine and still be able to access lofts, windows and high wardrobes.

Xtend & Climb Home has a new ergonomic design, making opening and closing the ladder even easier, especially for those with smaller hands.

Sitemaster Building Software

SiteMaster Building - Mobile CAD Software
The mobile solution for Professional Building Surveys and CAD Drawings carried out On Site in Real Time. Draw fast and accurate walls (as single or double line), windows, doors and symbols rectangular and circular columns,
recesses, ,chimneys, ducts, room areas, volumes, perimeters and much more.

Point ~ Shoot ~ Drawn = Instant Floor Plans

For professional building surveys

The extensive features of SiteMaster Building are especially interesting for users that need to create and deliver professional CAD drawings.

The layer management supports the combination of several floor plans in one single file. Heights of rooms, openings and symbols can be recorded and exported. Lasered distances are recorded in the background and saved on an extra layer for proofing purposes.

Draw fast and accurate walls (as single or double line), windows, doors and symbols. You can draw rectangular and circular columns, Recess

es, chimneys and niches/ducts. SiteMaster Building offers you more than 250 CAD and numerous editing commands. The program features associative dimensioning and room area calculation.

The Camera function allows you to insert icon-referenced inspection photos and images.The SiteMaster Building software contains an Image function for direct insertion and scaling of photos and image underlays with support for file formats as BMP, JPG, PNG, TIFF and RLC digital photos and images.

VoiceNotes that can easily been inserted eliminate time consuming text markup by providing record and playback of high-compressed audio notes and instructions directly inside your drawings.

AutoCAD-compatible drawing symbols / blocks can be used. The Visual Symbol Manager lets you insert symbols ? as-measured, referenced or free in the drawing. You can export Excel-compatible .csv files with room/area lists and room schedule reports/symbol lists. The Check Distance function lets you compare »as-built« distances to plan distances and record this comparison.

Experienced power users can use the visual Desktop, Menu and Toolbar Editor (DME2) and Lisp and/or C++ programming APIs to customize and extend the program furthermore.

The future of CAD is MOBILE!

The future of CAD is MOBILE

Isn’t it amazing to think that just five years ago virtually all surveyors took pencil and pad, tape measure or possibly a laser measuring device out into the field and spent several hours measuring up sites, buildings and all related detail before returning to the office to redraw the detail into their CAD package. Or is it? How much has really changed?

History

Productivity levels and therefore profit margins are a concern to all, but in an industry where so much process is manual there only needs to be one error in measurement, or error in reading a measurement and the entire dimensions of a building will be inaccurate. The result? A return to site to re-measure and then back to the office to amend the CAD drawings. This is a huge resource cost and ultimately vastly decreases profit margins, affects customer service and increases costs for both the supplier and the client.

Anybody connected with design, construction, engineering, facilities management, manufacturing, mapping, real estate and related industries will know what we’re talking about. Local authorities, hospitals, schools, surveyors, facilities management companies – any sector involved in the management of multiple and large buildings that require compliance with Health and Safety regulations, the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA), the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and those requiring Asset Registry services began looking at how to shorten the “field-to-finish” time and associated cost.

So, how far has the adoption of mobile CAD technology come, and how easy has it been to bring the construction industry into the 21st century? Has mobile CAD continued with what Blackberry started – and truly taken the technology out of the office and into the field?

“In order to tempt the surveyor away from the traditional pen/paper/laser approach, any solution offered has to be quick, efficient and truly mobile. To persuade the money men it also has to offer a swift ROI – laser scanning options were seeing an increase in adoption a few years back but were still costly, and did not create the “as-built” drawings and floor plans in the field that would significantly cut design and planning time and cost.

The answer lies in incorporating handheld devices, software, Bluetooth and wireless technology – to produce a CAD drawing in front of your eyes. The measurements taken by laser meter and sent via Bluetooth into the software installed on the handheld device, produce a pictorial representation almost instantly. Human error is completely eliminated – the surveyor can see immediately if he has taken the measurement incorrectly. The solution also needs to offer the basics for internal building design, down to such detail as furniture if required, thereby producing a finished drawing in the field that can be emailed back to the office.”

But doesn’t all this technology send the average surveyor running for the safety of his pencil and pad?

“Admittedly the biggest challenge faced will be persuading all involved to undergo a complete culture change! From our experience this has been less of an issue in the USA, Australia an the Far East but across Europe those we see as potential adopters just don’t believewhat can be achieved by implementing Mobile CAD Solutions until they actually see it in action, so uptake has been slower simply because it is harder to get through the door in the first place.

And surely the age old excuse of months of training staff on CAD related technology and the affect this has on productivity gives the procrastinating client an immediate get out clause?

“It certainly raises its head. They are most surprised when we can demonstrate that users can be up to speed with our system in 2 days, and producing plans of the same standard as using traditional methods within one week. This is a huge cost saving when we look at how quickly the drawing is produced – using
the “point-shoot-drawn” principle within a week the surveyor can be measuring 400-500 square metres per day, make that 750-1000 square metres in 3-4 weeks and as much as 1500 square metres per day for super users!”

“The UK gives us a good example of this. To comply with government directives, many local authorities are facing a race against time to ensure they have accurate up to date drawings for premises like schools and nursing homes as well as offices – a race they can never win using traditional surveying methods.”

“So much information needs to be collected by a variety of people – fire inspectors and asbestos surveyors for example need large amounts of data; asbestos and water hygiene issues in older public buildings cannot be determined unless accurate measured surveys exist and are kept up to date. The fact that many local authorities do not have accurate, (or in some cases ANY), plans for many of their public buildings, is under the spotlight.”

Fire regulations and new laws to improve access to buildings for people with disabilities have also raised the profile of property asset management in many parts of the world.

Samsung Q1 ULTRA

“If we say the output is 100% accurate in half the time and at half the cost we’re pretty close. Productivity in simple terms is increased by 100% – the work is delivered in one day – therefore the profit is increased by 100%. Mobile technology has actually been proven to increase productivity by up to 1000% when compared to traditional design methods. And that’s not mentioning the less tangible increase in service level to the customer. A return on investment can be seen in some cases on day 1, but we say on average within 14-15 working days, including the cost of the hardware, software and training.”

“To illustrate; a subsidiary of T-COM measured and drew more than 1 million square metres - 13,778 rooms in 1,230 buildings across Germany. The target objective of the contract was not just measuring the exact area of the rooms with a tolerance of just 3% but also measuring mixed areas in just one “go”. The project was completed using a team of 25 in just 15 weeks.”

And the future?

“It is now possible to upload the finished drawing to a portal, and make it accessible from anywhere in the world, again increasing productivity by giving the client 24×7 global design capability at minimal cost.”

“Sector wise initial uptake by internal surveyors such as fire prevention, asbestos, asset management functions and disability access surveyors has been followed by planners and quantity surveyors needing accurate “lay of the land” drawings and external building representations in CAD. We see the internal surveying market continuing to increase, this is already evident in the USA, and the construction industry as being key in the future. Public services, as mentioned, and also utility companies and hospitals are all growth areas, plus banks in the USA as a result of ADA compliance. Geographically that change in culture is starting to happen across North America and Europe, and from Germany is spreading via the existing client base into Eastern Europe.”

Mobile CAD Surveying Ltd are the UK’s main and Graeberts preferred dealers of the Graebert suite of software in the UK. For more information on the Sitemaster Building software or Software and Hardware Bundles, please call us on 0844 567 2609 or email us at sales@mobilecadsurveying.co.uk

You can also download a FREE trial of the software here and also Book a FREE Demonstration

For professional building surveys

The extensive features of SiteMaster Building are especially interesting for users that need to create and deliver professional CAD drawings.

The layer management supports the combination of several floor plans in one single file. Heights of rooms, openings and symbols can be recorded and exported. Lasered distances are recorded in the background and saved on an extra layer for proofing purposes.

Draw fast and accurate walls (as single or double line), windows, doors and symbols. You can draw rectangular and circular columns, Recesses, chimneys and niches/ducts. SiteMaster Building offers you more than 250 CAD and numerous editing commands. The program features associative dimensioning and room area calculation.

The Camera function allows you to insert icon-referenced inspection photos and images. SiteMaster Building contains an Image function for direct insertion and scaling of photos and image underlays with support for file formats as BMP, JPG, PNG, TIFF and RLC digital photos and images.

VoiceNotes that can easily been inserted eliminate time consuming text markup by providing record and playback of high-compressed audio notes and instructions directly inside your drawings.

AutoCAD-compatible drawing symbols / blocks can be used. The Visual Symbol Manager lets you insert symbols ? as-measured, referenced or free in the drawing. You can export Excel-compatible .csv files with room/area lists and room schedule reports/symbol lists. The Check Distance function lets you compare ‘as-built’ distances to plan distances and record this comparison.

Experienced power users can use the visual Desktop, Menu and Toolbar Editor (DME2) and Lisp and/or C++ programming APIs to customize and extend the program furthermore.

Take out the guesswork
With Mobile CAD Surveying laser-precise, field created as-builts and existing condition floor plans, what you see in a building is exactly what you get. Using state of the art technologies, GiveMePower delivers detailed accurate building information including walls, openings, windows, areas, perimeters, widths, heights while automatically storing room and building information.

Know that it’s done on time and accurately.
Survey, measure and draw in real time in ONE Operation. You get exact square footage, detailed room and building data, and accurate mechanical systems information. Every time!

Reduce costs
Guarantee precise, intelligent data. Rework, delays, poor quality, incomplete, or inaccurate plans and building information costs everyone in the entire design/build chain valuable time and money. Mobile CAD Surveying and Sitemaster Building delivers much more than sketches, redrawn plans or simple line drawings.

Instant Productivity
Ready, reliable building data in easy to use layers that you can use instantly. Empower workers with real data and get everyone working collaboratively on the same page. Proven to increase productivity by up to 1000% compared to time consuming and labour intensive manual methods,  Mobile CAD Surveying delivers results with immediate payback.

With Mobile CAD Surveying building surveys, Architects, Engineers and Construction Managers can be more productive, deliver on budget and work to meet deadlines. With Mobile CAD Surveying and Sitemaster Building laser-precise, field-created as-builts and existing condition floor plans, what you see in a building is exactly what you get. Instantly useable, files are delivered in AutoCAD® DWG® and/or DXF® format, along with optional BMP, PDF, and Excel compatible stored room and building information. No surprises, means no delays and no hidden costs. You get exact square footage, detailed room and building data, and accurate mechanical information. Every time. Before you start a new renovation, upgrade or reconstruction project, get Mobile CAD Surveying as-built floor plans and gain the competitive advantage in knowing exactly what you are dealing with before you design, estimate or bid.

The Mobile CAD Surveying Advantage

·         Lower Your Bids with Accurate Cost Estimates

·         Save on Materials and Time

·         Design Immediately

·         Schedule Workers More Productively

·         Reduce Cost Over-runs and Overages

·         Mitigate rebuilds and rework

·         Reduce Man-hours on Backend Design

·         Get better bids on outsourced work

Facility Managers can manage complex infrastructure visually through detailed floor plans of a building with a click of a mouse. What you see in a building is exactly what you get. Ready, reliable building data in easy to use layers that you can use instantly. Exact measurements, detailed room and building data, and accurate systems information give you the answers to the tough questions. All the time! Digital files are delivered in AutoCAD® DWG® and/or DXF® format, along with optional BMP, PDF, and Excel compatible stored room and building information. Upload building data directly to existing FM, CMMS or CAFM software systems for capital planning, budgeting and asset inventory management. Before you start a new expansion, capital planning or renovation project, get Mobile CAD Surveying  as-built floor plans and gain the competitive advantage in knowing exactly what you are dealing with before you buy, contract or send to tender.

The Mobile CAD Surveying Advantage

·         Schedule planned and deferred maintenance reliably.

·         Manage your facilities visually through a floor plan.

·         Save on materials and labour costs.

·         Forecast budgeting needs efficiently and dependably.

·         Accurately report on assets.

·         Make informed decisions with relevant building data.

·         Reduce worker downtime.

·         Avoid cost over-runs and time delays.

·         Mitigate rebuilds and rework.

·         Generate tender packages with ease.

·         Get better bids on outsourced work.

With Commercial office space commanding a premium, building owners and managers can increase revenues by finding more gross rentable square footage space with Mobile CAD Surveying. Per current Standards, a resurvey typically yields a 2-8% increase in usable and rentable areas, which more than offsets the direct costs of a re-survey. Tenant discrepancies with occupancy costs based on square footage are mitigated, and building information for lease plans and leasehold improvements are current and easily accessible.

The Mobile CAD Surveying plans are client-friendly and serve as an excellent addition to the sales and marketing toolkit, or space verifications of leased property. Special considerations in the wording of measurements relative to existing tenant contracts are easily accommodated. Items clearly marked on the floor plan include:

·         Walls, windows and doors.

·         All rooms are clearly labelled and dimensioned.

·         Floor and building common areas, and vertical penetrations.

·         Usable and rentable areas.

·         Symbols showing key building component such as plumbing fixtures, kitchen appliances, office equipment etc.

If you are looking for a ladder that fits in the boot of your car, but also allows you to gain access to a loft hatch or a 12ft high flat
roof then this is the one for you.

The Xtend & Climb Pro Telescopic Ladder extends from its closed height of 0.81m to an amazing 3.8m. This ladder has proved
really popular with surveyors and home owners who have limited storage space at home. The Xtend & Climb Pro Telescopic Ladder
extends from its closed height of 0.81m to an amazing 3.8m. This ladder has proved really popular with surveyors and home
owners who have limited storage space at home.

Xtend & Climb Pro Telescopic Ladder