Setting out building axes
Setting out main and intermediate building axes by total station before construction starts, fixing them on batter boards or offset pegs and setting the datum level.
Licensed service · EL-845/2026
Setting out building axes is the first and most critical survey step on any construction project. The design defines the position of a building by a grid of axes, lines labelled with letters and numbers. The surveyor locates the axis intersections on the ground from the site plan coordinates and fixes them so that the marks survive excavation and builders can re-establish any axis whenever needed.
Anyone preparing to build a private house, villa, apartment block, warehouse or industrial building needs this service. If the axes are set out wrongly, the building may encroach on the neighbouring plot or the building line, and utility connections may not match. Fixing such a mistake after the foundation is cast is very expensive and sometimes impossible.
Main axes are set out with a SOUTH total station (1"–2" angular accuracy) from at least two control points and then verified by measuring diagonals and distances between axes. The axes are transferred to steel offset markers or timber batter boards placed outside the building footprint. At the same time the design datum (±0.000) is transferred by levelling to a nearby stable feature.
The work is usually completed in one day and recorded in a setting-out certificate with an axis diagram.
When you need it
- Before starting construction of a house or villa
- Before excavating the foundation pit of a multi-storey building
- For foundations of warehouses and industrial buildings
- When building an extension to an existing building
- When axes must be re-established after excavation
What's included
- Checking the site plan and grid layout, computing coordinates
- Verifying or establishing control points
- Setting out main axis intersections
- Check measurement of diagonals and axis spacing
- Transferring axes to batter boards or steel offset markers
- Transferring the datum level (±0.000)
How we work
- Receiving design documents and preparing coordinates
- Site visit and connection to control points
- Setting out and fixing axes
- Check measurements
- Handover of certificate and diagram, showing marks to the builder
Deliverables
- Axis marks fixed on site
- Axis setting-out certificate
- Marker layout diagram with coordinates
- Datum level benchmark
