A New Vision in Surveying – Terravision
After 30 years of firmly establishing themselves in the Canterbury region and the South Island, one of Canterbury’s most well-known surveying companies is looking to the future.
David Smith, General Manager of Terra Vision (formerly David Smith Surveying) has seen plenty of change in the surveying industry in the last three decades. ‘Our business today is unrecognisable from what it was when we started,’ he says. ‘And what we’ve been acutely aware of in recent times is that the business is so much more than just about me. Rebranding made sense.
‘We’re really grateful for the fantastic staff we’ve got here in Ashburton and some of them have been with us a very long time. It’s a great chance to recognise the great people that we’ve had and have got now.’
From humble beginnings as a business of one, today the Terra Vision team is a group of highly experienced surveyors, technicians and administrators, and their expertise lies in taking on innovative projects that require out-of-the-box thinking.
Recently, this included developing and designing Mount Hutt Ski Area (including the Highway 72 track, halfpipes, a bungee jump platform and setting out new chairlift pylons) and aiding the irrigation of 4,000 hectares of land as part of the Benmore Irrigation Scheme. In the aftermath of the Christchurch earthquakes when many local surveying businesses, whose offices were in the red zone, were unable to access equipment to carry out vital surveying and infrastructure assessments, the team sprang into action.
‘We were approached to be part of a consortium of surveyors around the country, and together we remapped the entire infrastructure of Christchurch. It was a big job, but it was great to be involved.’
David describes the business development as organic; it has grown off a solid reputation for expert guidance, quality execution, and investment into the latest technology. ‘We have always had very good equipment; we pride ourselves on the best that we can buy, and it makes the job a whole lot easier, that’s for sure.
‘We’ve got photographs of early New Zealand bush surveyors, with their waxed moustaches, in bush camps with rolls of parchment and canvas tents. And without a word of a lie, back in the ’80s, surveying was exactly like that but without the moustaches.
‘What’s changed since then is huge. Now we’ve got GPS surveying, drones, LIDAR surveying that x-rays the ground. We’re very proud of the fact that we were the first surveyors in New Zealand to use GPS for surveying back in 1996 – the gear was very expensive but certainly paid off. The remote sensing technology that is available today is incredible. Aerial surveying is changing the game.’
For David, the most rewarding parts of the job come with problem solving. ‘Back in the ’80s when there was real trouble for the farming community, I had one client who wanted to do a small subdivision. I suggested we do a bigger subdivision that would generate a better result without costing a lot more, and that’s what he did,’ David recalls. ‘Twenty-five years later I ran into him out of the blue, and he told me that little bit of advice saved his farm. It made me so pleased to hear that.’
As far as dream projects go, ‘The next phone call we get, the next person who walks through our door, the next email we get – that’s our dream project,’ says David.
‘For all our clients, their job is their dream project, and we do the best job we can. Their problems become our problems. We always do our best to get everything right for our clients and make sure they get what they want.
‘Sometimes it is difficult when you are dealing with a lot of consent issues with local and regional authorities; land developments can be a challenge at the best of times. But with years of dealing with local authorities, solicitors and contractors, we’ve got a pretty good handle on what each of those sectors needs from us and what they need to do to have a successful outcome.
‘We’ve got a pretty good recipe for that now.’
