Evening star., 1903-07-15
WORK OF SURVEYOR
Special Report Submitted to
Commissioners.
EXTRA LABOR IMPOSED
EFFECT OF REQUIREMENTS OF
BUILDING REGULATIONS.
Request for Additional Equipment APP
proved-Matter of Transportation
and Other Expenses.
EXTRA LABOR IMPOSED

| The District surveyor. Mr.. II. B. LOCKER.
| has submitted to the Commissioners a very
| interesting special report on the practical
| working of section - of the building regu-
1 lations. requiring certiicatisn of the Local
! ton OF walls of new buildings by the sur
| veyors Office. Mr.. LOCKER says that be-
| tween May l and June ~ the office verified
| the positions of the walls of about 3oo
| houses, or about 80 to the month. AS the
| Office located G61 houses between May I.
leb2. and May /. 1903. II Will he seen that
| half the work OF the year is concentrated
| In TWO months. making the work in the
surveyors office very heavy. The effect OF
| this extra labor the regular field work
| of the office can readily be lima agined it is
suggested. when IL had TO be done without
| any increase in the force whatever. Mr..
| LOCKER makes recommendations for ad-
ditional equipment for his office. and the
commissioners have approved the same.
IN discussing the new section OF the
building regulations and its practical work
ing, Surveyor LOCKER says:
Through the office of the inspector OF
buildings and from owners and builders
have not heard single complaint against
the regulation on its merits. on the con-
uary. have heard most hearty comInen-
dation OF it as a very salutary provision
beneficial to owners, builders and TO this
office. From all that | can learn of its
n
! the past year, though, L have been too
| busy TO compile list OF the cases, l am
sure that no less than thirty or forty cases
have been met with where error in loca-
ton OF wallis has been detected asld
reoted before it was too late. preventing
litigation, and in many very serious
losses of money and injury to the salable
character of new houses. The regulation
mas fully met my own expectations as to
benefits. and has produced much greater
care in the looltion of walls This office
Is working in perfect harmony with the
building office in this matter, and We have
a system of reports as to walls made
poStalS and at once mailed to the building
office after survey of walls; also a COM
piete record. In book form, of every case
examined, with number of permit and all
| Information necessary TO time of action.
&c. The building plat is sent us in each
case, and returned after survey with status
Of walls shown thereon.
Complain of Delays.
However. very frequent complaint has
been made to me as TO the delays caused
by being compelled to wait for examina-
ton by this office, when delay meant loss
of valuable time and possible loss of me-
chanics who could not afford to lose time.
I'm spite of the fact that these surveys OF
walls have the right of way over all others
and everything possible has been done with
our present equipment to prevent delays
these complaints are in many cases just
| against the success of an otherwise entirely
good regulation.
The reason of the trouble is that all OF
| this work. which is and above the
regular current work of the office. must be
covered by the>fied parties well they
| can on the way out from the office to sur
| veys of the ordinary class 1t happens fire.
| quently that builders are urgently asking
for wall revision in five or six totally diff
ferent parts of the District the same morn
ing. These cases are distributed rs w II
1 .,.,tI
ing to tiIer general destination. but very
often the assistants are unable To leave
their preparatory work at the office till late
in the morning. and in other cases cannot
work in the wall cases with anything else.
4 ne difficulty az to reaching the wall r1seS
is only part of the trouble the disastrous
effect of these diversions during best
part of the working day, upon the ef-
ticiency of the field parties in their regular
work is obvious.
I'm my opinion the regular field pacties
should have none of this work 70 do except
in cases where little or no interference viii
result
Number of Orders Received.
During the year. from May l. 1898. about
$50 orders were received for surveys Of new
walls affecting about 100 separate buIld-
ings, for which the fees paid at the norni-
nal rate of a dollar house, have amounted
to about $500. These orders nave come IN
at the rate of five per day since May Inst.
making about 300 wall surveys in less than
two months In the case of large AMI in
portdnt buildings, several NiSltS arc heCeS-
Sary.
.sTo meet this need l recommend that at
the earliest possible date the office he sup
piled with a special rapidly moving field
party to take the bulk of the wall surveys,
consisting of two men, a transitman and
a driver (who shall also he "a competent
back-chainman), a light but strong buggy
with space for small surveying outfit,
I1,n 1icpI,t fas
work Tight mountain transit, easily
portable, should be provided.
with this assistance | can meet all
the demand at present made for wall
veys this party being suited to the work.
and moving about rapidly and easily. The
spectacle of one of our numbering wagons.
with four men, the whole load being very
heavy one making a separate trip of sew
eral miles to reach a case of half an hour
of wall revision, which can be done by two
men, is not good business economy of time,
horse flesh or anything else.
Speed Not Possible.
'These 200 cases of wall surveys. during
the past two months added to the, unpre-
cedented demand for private surveys Of
every sort during the same period, well
as the special work for the railroad.
changes and work caused by erection OF
new public buildings for the United States
and for the District of Columbia, and i'm
provements of alleys. etc. and the effort to
complete the final touches on the Beatty d
Hawkins additional survey, have been i'm
possible to manage with that speed which
their character imperatively demands.
When every division of the work of this
Office is choked up with the multiplicity OF
orders / can only do the best possible. and
point out the deficiencies in our equipment,
and recommend that the means necessary
to meet them be given possible.
"As all of the money available for this
office will be insufficient to carry the pres
ent force entirely through the fiscal year,
and as the engineer departme Mt stable is
doubtless unable to afford any help. see
means of relieving the strain for the
naming month. at any rate, but earnestly
ask for whatever help may be given in
July. 1 think the entire expense of trans
port a ton for this office should be borne by
a special item in the appropriation for
int, e. 60 in,