General guidance only — all construction work must be overseen by a supervising engineer This handbook is compiled from standards and laws with every source cited, andis being reviewed for certification by engineers Use it to know what to look at, what to ask and what evidence to request on site It is not an engineering determination and can't replace an engineer · Terms of use · Limitations of the handbook

Before construction and preparing the land

Setting out the building and checking the property lines

Page code P01 · 91 inspection criteria · 12 illustrations

A layout staked out wrong today becomes piles in the wrong position next week, and a house in the wrong place that has to be demolished six months later. Setting-out day is the day when the cost of fixing mistakes is lowest in the whole project, because all you have to move is the string lines. Most impor…

This page contains
The setting-out day sequence — what happens in what order
Three kinds of pegs, and land boundary markers
Walk the site once before the piling rig arrives
Which side is parallel to the road, or to the boundary — the question to answer before stringing the first line
Setbacks and clearances — figures that mean demolition if they're wrong
The ±0.00 level and benchmarks — the figure everything after this refers to
Proving the layout is square, and how to preserve the lines so you can find them again
Measure cumulatively from one peg, not section by section
Documents and photos you must get from setting-out day

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