Underground Conduit Survey Services
Know what your proposed route can reuse before engineering depends on it. Draftech delivers field-verified underground plant records, coordinated proofing results and a QC'd dataset for your design team.
Put verified underground records behind your route
Draftech's underground conduit survey services deliver the field evidence needed to evaluate existing conduit, duct banks, vaults, manholes and handholes for reuse. You receive a verified inventory, discrepancies against inherited records, authorized proofing results where scoped, and a structured dataset ready for engineering intake. Draftech owns the survey scope, field collection, coordination and quality review through delivery.
A drawing can show an open duct connected to the next structure while the actual path is occupied, undersized, obstructed or connected somewhere else. If that assumption survives design, a bore or placement crew mobilizes against it and finds the path unusable. The route is redesigned mid-build while crews and equipment sit idle, and the schedule absorbs the rework.
This engagement verifies occupancy, condition and connectivity in the field, as part of our field survey work, before the route is finalized. Your project lead gets a single point of accountability for establishing what the existing underground plant supports and identifying what still needs resolution. If Draftech also carries the route into design, our in-house engineers can resolve a survey question directly with the team that collected the record.
Underground conduit survey services scoped to the reuse decision
For fiber ISPs, carriers and BEAD subgrantees, the immediate question is whether the underground portion of a proposed route can rely on existing pathways. We focus the field assignment on the structures and segments that carry that assumption. Findings let the design team reconsider a constrained section while route alternatives are still available.
Electric utilities and cooperatives need the same evidence when a distribution extension or substation tie-in reaches existing underground structures. For a substation tie-in, the record shows whether the existing getaway ducts leaving the station are occupied or obstructed and which manhole each one actually reaches. For an extension, it shows whether the existing conduit planned for reuse actually connects the structures the utility's records say it does. We return that record for the utility's distribution design.
Network owners and program managers can also engage Draftech when inherited records have uncertain reliability. An old drawing set may be enough to identify candidate structures, but its occupancy and connection claims need field verification before a new project depends on them. Typical cases are plant acquired with another network, records handed over by a previous contractor, and drawings never updated after later cable placements. We turn those specific uncertainties into a defined assignment with reviewable deliverables.
Receive an inventory that explains the constraints
The package describes the existing facilities within the agreed survey limits. It gives engineers evidence for evaluating reuse and gives program managers a clear account of unresolved constraints.
Existing conduit and duct bank records
The segment inventory records occupancy, condition and connectivity between structures. It shows where field findings support the inherited record and where they change the project's understanding of the candidate path.
Vault, manhole and handhole records
Our underground vault survey services record structure dimensions, access condition, racking and duct entries for each vault, manhole and handhole in scope. A pathway may have available space while the structure serving it has racking with no room for another splice case or slack loop, or no open duct entry on the wall facing the new route.
Proofing results and discrepancies
Where the scope requires it, Draftech coordinates owner-authorized rodding or mandrel proofing with qualified personnel. The resulting record receives quality review and accompanies the survey handoff to engineering. Confirmed findings are distinguished from open items, including incomplete field verification, outstanding proofing and owner or access dependencies, with each tied to the affected facility and the question to resolve.
The discrepancy list identifies disagreements between inherited records and field findings. An occupied duct shown as spare, an unexpected connection or a structure that could not be accessed becomes a specific issue for review. The project lead can use that list to pursue owner decisions or further verification before committing the affected route section.
How Draftech runs the engagement
We begin with your existing records and proposed route. The review establishes which reuse assumptions affect the design and which structures need field verification. We also confirm your design team's deliverable requirements so the survey returns in a form your engineers can use.
Before field deployment, we address access arrangements and identify facility-owner authorization needed for the planned work. Known restrictions become part of the scope and schedule discussion.
Our field team captures the scoped occupancy, condition, dimensions and connectivity information and folds any proofing results into the same record.
Quality review compares the returned package with the agreed scope. We check that every scoped structure and segment is accounted for, structure IDs reconcile to the inherited record or appear on the discrepancy list, and duct-entry records agree with the segment inventory. The final delivery gives your design team the QC'd dataset and supporting records before it commits to the existing path.
Draftech coordinates the survey around the authority granted for the work. Delivery of the survey does not constitute acceptance of the route.
The number and accessibility of structures, reliability of existing records and required proofing shape the scope. We establish those conditions with you before committing the field assignment and delivery schedule.
Carry the findings into engineering
Your team receives a structured, GIS/CAD-ready survey dataset covering the agreed existing facilities, along with the discrepancy list and applicable proofing records.
When selecting a conduit and duct bank survey company, ask who will resolve a question after the files arrive. Draftech remains accountable for the survey package and its clarification. Draftech's engineering is 100% in-house, so when we carry the route into design, a discrepancy found during design goes straight back to the team that surveyed it, with no handoff between a survey vendor and a separate engineer.
Findings that call for a new pathway feed conduit and duct bank design. For electric utility projects, the verified record feeds underground distribution design.
For hybrid routes, adjacent field assignments can be scoped through pole data collection and strand mapping. Once the project reaches the record-drawing stage, its survey output passes forward into construction closeout documentation.
Underground Conduit Survey Services FAQ
Can we commission verification for only part of a route?
Yes. Draftech scopes the assignment around the existing structures and segments your proposed route depends on. Provide the route limits and reuse questions so we can define which facilities require verification and what the handoff must establish.
What do we receive when the existing path cannot support reuse?
You receive the same package with the failed sections marked: each segment or structure that cannot carry the planned reuse is on the discrepancy list with the field condition that blocks it. Your designer can then plan a new pathway for those sections only and keep the existing segments the survey verified.
Does the survey include rodding or mandrel proofing?
It can. Draftech coordinates proofing segment by segment, only where the reuse decision depends on it, so a route that relies on a few existing runs does not carry proofing for every duct in the corridor.
What happens if a structure cannot be accessed?
The package identifies the access limitation and the information left unverified. We bring that gap back for an access decision or further authorized work. Your engineers can see which route assumption still lacks field support.
Can our own engineers use the survey package?
Yes. The survey is a standalone engagement. Your own engineers, or another design firm you choose, can work from the package without bringing Draftech into the design.
Verify the existing path before committing the route
Send the proposed route, available underground plant records, known access restrictions and the questions your engineers need answered. Draftech will define the field verification scope, owner coordination and deliverables around the reuse decision your route depends on. Identify any schedule milestone that depends on confirming reuse so it can be considered during scoping.
Contact our survey team to put a verified underground plant record behind your next design.