Whether it's former farmland, forested land, or terrain with significant topographic variations, we integrate the natural topography into an organic design that enhances aesthetics and minimizes earthwork. Generally, the methods we use during site planning are adaptable to any site — the more challenging the site for traditional subdividing, the more effective these innovative methods become.

Historically, our Prefurbia site planning methods have achieved a demonstrated average of 25% infrastructure savings in street and utility main lengths compared to conventional suburban subdividing. From our research, when compared to New Urbanism or Traditional Neighborhood Design (TND), savings can reach 40% to 50%. When an initial layout has been provided to us, these reductions are based on using the same unit mix and existing regulation minimums.

Yes – and no. Our LandMentor technology incorporates more advanced technology than CAD, offering precise design and materials analysis. However, no software can design a subdivision, it can only automate. The foundation of all our work is land surveying, and the technology reports and identifies errors that a CAD-based software will miss. It’s the only precision spatial technology specific to land development. LandMentor facilitates quicker transitions from concept design to interactive 3D and Virtual Reality. 3D and VR are provided at no extra charge. If you're looking for professional civil engineer site planning in your area that uses top-notch technology, reach out to our team at Rick Harrison Site Design.

A topographic survey and the boundary from a licensed land surveyor is essential for accurate site planning. We typically avoid using free online data or GIS data because, in our experience, we have found the data to be unreliable. If GIS or ‘free’ data is unavoidable to meet an initial deadline, we tell our clients to budget the plan twice — once using unreliable data and then again when the actual boundary and topography are known. This approach is particularly important given that, according to the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry, new building codes are adopted every six years, which can impact planning requirements. Please note that we can import .dwg (CAD) or .shp (GIS) data.

When it comes to site planning, the typical development that our team designs is approximately 250 lots/units (excluding Master Planned Communities and Mega-sites). Depending upon the current workload, on a typical 250-unit site, we would estimate that there would be a one-week turnaround. Deliverables include a highly detailed site plan set to land surveying precision, PDF color rendering, spatial data analysis of every manmade improvement, 3D video flyover, and interactive 3D and VR files. To take advantage of the interactive 3D, the client should have a gaming-capable laptop with an XBOX 360 gaming controller; and for VR, a VR-ready laptop with headsets.

No. We would work with the client’s choice of civil engineer for site planning, assuming the firm is open to new design models. On most sites, we design a draft of the proposed grading, as it is essential for the creation of the 3D iteration. Many times, we would also balance the earthwork on topographically difficult sites to ensure our design is also efficient from an earth volume perspective.