31st May 2006, 10:48 AM
I have done a fair few of these myself (although in this neck of the woods they are generally called Strip, Map and Assess). I agree that you can end up not digging as much as if you go in saying that you will definately dig X% of linears etc. But, in my experience you do get a chance to talior what you dig to get the maximum information in the time (and budget) available.
I think this type of job came about with the relisation that we do not need to carpet bomb excavate ie excavate everything just cos its there, but should be seriousley thinking about what to dig and what possible questions a particular site can address.
This said you do need to be pretty on the ball with regard to some developers (a decent DC helps to) as you can get into a situation where they decide to move a development to avoid complex(therefore costly) arch - after it has been stripped - and assume that that area can be ignored.
I much prefer doing a S.M.A to a large trenching job as you do get a better feel for what is actually going on.[8D]
I think this type of job came about with the relisation that we do not need to carpet bomb excavate ie excavate everything just cos its there, but should be seriousley thinking about what to dig and what possible questions a particular site can address.
This said you do need to be pretty on the ball with regard to some developers (a decent DC helps to) as you can get into a situation where they decide to move a development to avoid complex(therefore costly) arch - after it has been stripped - and assume that that area can be ignored.
I much prefer doing a S.M.A to a large trenching job as you do get a better feel for what is actually going on.[8D]