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New Project Awards

Our surveying department has recently been awarded 4 new construction projects. Two located in St. Petersburg and two located in Naples, Florida. The two projects in St. Petersburg are a commercial office and a adult living facility (ALF). The two Naples projects are a new 116 lot residential subdivision for a top 5 homebuilder in the nation and an expansion of a mental health facility.

NAVD88 or NGVD29? Confusion of Vertical Datums

VERTCON Height Differences between NAVD88 & NGVD29

As we perform our survey work and provide elevation certificates, we find that there is quite a confusion as to what the elevation datum the public is referencing. NGVD29 or NAVD88? The latest adopted vertical datum is NAVD88 for local and federal governments. As the switch from old plans to new, the conversion can be wrongly utilized for construction. This confusion can end up being very costly by incorrect construction or insurance premiums by the change or difference in the two datums elevation. As with South Florida, for example, Tampa Bay area the difference from NGVD29 to NAVD88 is lower by about 0.8 to 0.9 feet, while in Fort Myers/Naples the change is 1.4 to 1.6 feet lower. See the attached image for the height differences in centimeters.

FEMA Flood Insurance Rate Maps have been slowly updating from NGVD29 to NAVD88, so when the homes are constructed or are older, these homeowners typically do not know which datum they are referencing and thus the confusion. For a complete description via the web, click on the links below.

NAVD88 Wikipedia
NGVD29 Wikipedia
Conversion of datums VERTCON

Elevation Certificates for StorMax in St. Petersburg

Hendra & Associates was recently contracted to perform FEMA Elevation Certificates for StorMax in South St. Petersburg, FL. Work was performed utilizing state of the art GPS system and high end laser level to acquire the data. The picture is a collage of the numerous pictures taken with Geotagging capabilties. By Geotagging the photos, makes a quick organization of where the photos were taken. This service is continued typical for our clients.

Consumer Alert! - Compliance Services Annual Minutes Letter

CONSUMER ALERT! Please be aware that COMPLIANCE SERVICES (not to be confused with the Florida corporation, Compliance Services, Inc.) is mailing notices to business entities requesting that "Annual Minutes" and a fee of $125.00 be sent to them for filing. These notices are NOT from the Dept. of State, Division of Corporations. "Annual Minutes" are NOT required to be filed with any agency. They are to be kept by the business entity itself. Do NOT confuse these notices with the messages sent by the Division of Corporations reminding each business entity to file its 2011 Annual Report.

CONSUMER ALERT! Arvitas, LLC is a private company sending e-mails to businesses in Florida offering to file annual reports. ARVITAS IS NOT AN AGENT OR REPRESENTATIVE FOR THE FLORIDA DEPT. OF STATE, DIVISION OF CORPORATIONS. Arvitas is acting on its own to solicit business for its own company. It is offering to file annual reports for business entities in Florida at an inflated fee. They do not offer any additional service than what is available to the public on sunbiz.org. The Attorney General´s Office, on behalf of the Dept. of State, is currently pursuing legal action against Arvitas.


We have received the Compliance Services letter, twice now. This practice is very deceiving so I am posting this as an Alert as reported by Sunbiz.org.

source: www.sunbiz.org - Home

Survey Plat underway for a local top 10 US Homebuilder

Hendra & Associates, Inc. is pleased to announce a recent award of Survey Services to assist in the development of various Southwest Florida subdivisions. This contract was generated from one of the top 10 U.S. Homebuilders that has seen a recent increase in demand for new home sites. Work has begun by creating the subdivision plats to be approved by the local agencies for construction. From this work, we can proceed with the Field Stakeout of the lots for use in sale and construction. More details to follow as the project progresses.

Historical Ybor City Contract Award

Hendra & Associates, Inc. is pleased to announce a recent award of a Civil Engineering service contract to assist in the re-development of a Historic site located in Ybor City. Site was originally constructed in 1895 and the owners wish to showcase the structures as it is located on a major thoroughfare. More details to follow as the project progresses.   

HB 5005 - Deregulation of Professions and Occupations

State Representatives have put forth a bill that may cause havoc or fraud with Title Companies that utilize a Professional Surveyor & Mappers, if not regulated as they propose to do with HB5005. Please contact your local representative and let them know what will occur should this bill pass. 


I have highlighted the professions that we typically interact work together. 

HB 5005 - Deregulation of Professions and Occupations

GENERAL BILL   by Business & Consumer Affairs Subcommittee and Bovo

Deregulation of Professions and Occupations: Deletes provisions establishing DBPR's Division of Florida Condominiums, Timeshares, & Mobile Homes, Florida Board of Auctioneers, Board of Employee Leasing Companies, Board of Landscape Architecture, Board of Professional Geologists, & Board of Professional Surveyors & Mappers, Motor Vehicle Repair Advisory Council, & Regulatory Council of Community Association Managers; deletes provisions for regulation of yacht & ship brokers, auctioneers, talent agencies, community association managers, athlete agents, employee leasing companies, home inspectors, mold assessors & remediators, professional surveyors & mappers, persons practicing hair braiding, hair wrapping, or body wrapping, interior designers, landscape architects, professional geologists, professional fundraising consultants & solicitors, water vending machines & operators, health studios, ballroom dance studios, commercial telephone sellers & salespersons, movers & moving brokers, certain outdoor theaters, certain business opportunities, motor vehicle repair shops, sellers of travel, contracts with sales representatives involving commissions, & television picture tubes; revises name & membership of Board of Architecture; revises license classifications of public lodging establishments; deletes DBPR's authority to enforce & ensure compliance of certain provisions relating to condominiums, cooperatives, vacation plans & timeshares, & mobile homes.

Effective Date: July 1, 2011

Last Event: PCS added to Economic Affairs Committee agenda on Tuesday, March 22, 2011 4:03 PM

Renovation, Repair and Painting Rule | Lead in Paint, Dust, and Soil | US EPA

Renovation, Repair and Painting Rule | Lead in Paint, Dust, and Soil | US EPA

Jeffry Baughman wrote:

"It was brought to our attention last night an auditor from the EPA is roving through the Tampa Bay Area.  He did a spot audit on a contractor in St. Petersburg to ensure the company’s compliance with the EPA regulations concerning certification, record keeping, et al. for the recent enforcement of lead paint certification.  He required the contractor to pull all records for pertinent projects and examined them on the spot.

The auditor had a list of approximately 100+ other contractors to whom he was planning to make an unannounced visit.

Please act accordingly and ensure your records are kept properly in case he visits you.  He stated he was going to be here for approximately 2 weeks."

http://www.epa.gov/lead/pubs/renovation.htm
Jeffry E. Baughman, Esq.Baughman Law Group, P.A.Attorneys and Counselors at Lawjeff@baughmanlawgroup.com

Hendra & Associates 5 Year Anniversary

The engineering and surveying company recently celebrated 5 years of operations and looking forward to more successful years to come. Success was achieved by the ability to focus the services to simple, easy to understand and refer for most folks that are not familiar with what a consulting company can perform. These services allowed us to continue through a down economy. This ability to diversify was our key to success.