Day Inc. becomes Altair Surveying LLC

Day Inc., a land surveying company at 2835 E. Division, Ste. L, has become Altair Surveying LLC.

Debrah Wolfe, professional land surveyor, and Julie George are in the midst of purchasing Day Inc. from its founder, Jerry L. Day, PLS. In the meantime, Wolfe and George have changed the firm's name and taken over its day-to-day operations.

"They approached me and I had been trying to ... sell the business or let someone take it over, and so they just happened along at a very appropriate time," Day said. He operated Day Inc. for 28 years, he said, noting that he will continue to work at Altair Surveying for at least a year or two.

Altair took on Day's existing client base, and the company has also reestablished relationships with some of Day Inc.'s former clients, Wolfe said. Growing the company's client base is one of the things on Wolfe and George's list of things to do.

"We plan to grow. It'll take us a little while, but to keep up with technology and everything, we definitely plan on growing. We want to get more involved with (global positioning systems) type of work, and we want to get a GPS unit," Wolfe said.

Altair Surveying provides service for all types of projects, including infrastructure, commercial and residential projects, and subdivisions.

"You always have to first start with your boundaries, so we usually retrace the footsteps of previous surveyors.

To move into design, you've got to do the lay of the land, doing topographical surveys, then we can turn it over to a design person to do (the) streets, storm(water), sanitary, gas and electric," Wolfe said.

Specifically, Day said, "We go out and stake for construction so that the contractors can build (projects) the way they're designed."

Surveyors also work with city and county planning and zoning commissions to get approval for clients' plats, and to guide clients through the bureaucratic process involved with construction projects, Wolfe said.

Wolfe has been in the surveying field for 16 years and earned her professional land surveyor license in April 2000. She said surveying isn't too common a career field for women, and she knows of only four other women in Missouri who have the PLS license.

"It is a very physical type of job, especially when you're working out in the field. Plus with it being a man's type of field I know when I first started, there was some prejudice, but through the years that's gone away.

"I think the biggest challenge ... is we have to prove ourselves, because most people we do deal with are men," Wolfe said.

Wolfe said not all people who work in surveying have the PLS license, but it is required for a surveyor to sign boundary work or to own a surveying company.

Altair Surveying has seven employees four men and three women, including Wolfe and George.