Surveying the northwest.

• Position: ROP - Thunder Bay Testing and Engineering Ltd. opens legal survey division TBT Surveyors Inc.

Thunder Bay Testing and Engineering Ltd. (TBT Engineering) is widening its scope of services as a multi-disciplinary civil engineering firm.

To TBT Engineering president Rob Frenette, if their established engineering survey department represents the company's cornerstone, the new legal survey division is the next logical stepping stone.

Launched and certified in 2008, TBT Surveyors Inc. is a subsidiary of TBT Engineering,(Thunder Bay Test and Engineering Ltd.) provides a new service of land surveying services for both the public and private sectors in northwestern Ontario. Initiated in April 2008, the new spinoff firm received its Certificate of Authorization from the Association of Ontario Land Surveyors in June.

Frenette said the firm has always sought ways to diversify its core business. Their staff of 40 professional and technical staff have conducted geotechnical engineering, material testing and inspection consulting work across northwestern Ontario for 41 years.

The new department handles severances, boundary retracements, surveyors' real property reports, easements, highway right-of-ways, mining claims, and just about any kind of private or Crown land registry reporting work. With a history of working with clients, mostly in the institutional (government), commercial and industrial sectors, the new department enhances their reach into residential development. Not only was it an opportunity to deliver a greater package of services, but also to generate some much-needed competition in northwestern Ontario.

Once there were four private practices in Thunder Bay offering legal survey services. But mergers and acquisitions have...