It’s DARK down here … so we bring along our own lighting for VIDEOS – UNDERGROUND!
This photo was taken of our General Manager on an assignment to provide our PRE-Construction video documentation coverage of a major storm sewer system below a future shopping center development site. No drones or pull-thru video is practical in this situation, so we use our feet (and a good set of boots or waders) to work our way thru the pipes, examining and documenting conditions as we go. We bring along lighting as needed to insure good exposure for photos and videos. After that – we walk!
Imagine our surprise when we found a P-Tn yard sign floating along the storm sewer piping below a new development project, when we were tasked with delivering video documentation of the existing pipe conditions before construction was to get underway – ABOVE. It was unbelievable … because it was PhotoShopped (no P-Tn signage is in the sewers, thank you).
The rest of the story is true, however.
Now, above ground – which is where we complete most of this type work — we cover miles and miles of surface alignment routes on storm & sanitary sewer projects, waterlines, curb repair, street resurfacing, highway replacement, electrical lines & new street lighting, drainage channels, and more. Most of this work is performed above ground (but NOT from our Drones, either), walking along the alignment, searching for, finding, and describing existing conditions and damage … all while we’re taking (hundreds of) photographs or hours of video recordings (which we fully narrate). Our clients hire us to create a detailed documentation record of PRE-Construction conditions in case of disputes, and we often produce a POST-Construction record of the same areas, when restoration is complete. We deliver protection to our clients that saves both time and expense when questions arise during or after a project.
P-Tn did not invent this process. About 50 years ago, however, Founder Eric Berndt completed one of our first “Route Photo” documentation records of existing surface conditions along a sewer transmission main line replacement in the northern part of Kansas City, Missouri. So, I’m going to credit KCMO Water Services with initiating this approach – at least for this area – back in the 1970’s.
We’ve been providing this service throughout the decades since, improving our techniques and the way we deliver this valuable information. Originally, photograph identification information was written on a chalk board (yes, you read that right) so it would appear in the 4×5 color prints after they were bound into notebooks for delivery. Today, we shoot digitally, of course, and our ‘deliverable’ links all of our photos – as well as our audio-video segments – right to the design plan sheets. This insures that the project team has a complete record of all conditions before AND after construction, and it is available directly from a set of official plans in an easy to find and review all-digital delivery system.
As we introduce our LINKINGapp approach to more and more contractors, engineers, and municipalities throughout our metropolitan area, its popularity has made this system the “go-to” method of creating and utilizing PRE-Con and Post-Construction photo & video documentation. And we are now providing our LINKINGapp Services to clients on projects elsewhere in the central Midwest, from Nebraska to Oklahoma, in additional to Kansas & Missouri, and sometimes beyond.
If you are one of the many people who keep the world’s infrastructure operating, and you value the protection provided through professional quality photos and narrated audio-video, give P-Tn an opportunity to handle your next local or out-of-town project. We’ll be happy to give you an estimate or firm quotation in advance – all you have to do is call or send us your electronic plan sheets. Engineers and designers; please let us know if you have questions about our LINKINGapp or would like to receive suggestions on specification wording requirements that will help you get what you ask for.
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