Meet the Team: Sam D, Utility Surveyor

Sam started his career with South West Water detecting leaks across the network, as part of the company restructuring was offered the chance to retrain as a utility surveyor. Keen to develop his technical skills and take on a new challenge, he jumped at the opportunity, and hasn’t looked back since.

Sam joined Kemp in February 2023, looking for a role closer to home after working further afield. “I liked that Kemp were a company focused on the South West,” he explains. Nearly three years on, he’s now a key part of the Exeter-based utilities team.

No two days are the same for Sam. A typical morning starts at the Exeter office, where the team loads up their equipment before heading out to site. Once there, they’ll often meet with clients or site contacts to confirm requirements before getting to work. Tasks can vary from tracing cables with an Electromagnetic Locator and drainage surveys to scanning with Ground Penetrating Radar. Later, the data is processed back in the office using specialist software, ready to be delivered as a detailed CAD drawing to the client.

It’s a role that combines problem-solving with technical precision, which is what Sam enjoys most: “Working out something that initially proved difficult to find or understand can be really rewarding once solved.” He also values the collaborative nature of the work: “There really isn’t a bad bone among any of us here.”

One of the most memorable projects Sam has been involved with so far was a series of Combined Sewer Overflow surveys in Lyme Regis and Dawlish. These large-scale surveys, carried out for South West Water, stretched over several months and required a big team effort. The steep hills of Lyme Regis added to the challenge, but also made it an experience that stands out.

Outside of work, Sam has a wide range of hobbies. He enjoys cycling, birdwatching, playing guitar, and PC gaming, but his real passion is cooking. His love of food also influences his travel dreams, with Mexico topping the list of destinations. He’s especially looking forward to an upcoming two-week trip there next year, where he plans to explore the culture, the sights, and, of course, the cuisine.

If Sam wasn’t a surveyor, he imagines he’d have pursued something in IT or computing, another area that sparks his interest. Luckily for us, surveying offered the perfect balance between technology, fieldwork, and teamwork, making him an invaluable part of Kemp’s utilities team.