Most wireless problems are design problems that nobody measured. Access points get placed on a drawing at a comfortable spacing, the building goes up with steel studs, foil-backed insulation, low-E glazing and a few concrete cores, and the coverage that looked clean in the plan has holes in it on day one.
A site survey replaces the assumption with data. We measure what the building actually does to radio, what the neighbours are transmitting, and what the design has to be to hold a usable signal where people work. The output is not an opinion. It is heatmaps, per-band measurements, an access point schedule and a list of what to change.
The four surveys
Which one you need depends on where the project is. On a new build you usually want the first and the third. On a building that already has Wi-Fi and complaints, you want the fourth.
01 · Before the build
Predictive survey and design
Modelled from your floor plans before anything is installed. We build the building in Ekahau, apply wall and material attenuation, and iterate access point placement until the design meets the coverage and capacity target.
Use it for
- New fit-outs and greenfield builds
- Budgeting access point counts before tender
- Testing a consultant's design before you buy it
02 · Before you commit
Design validation (AP on a stick)
We take a live access point on a pole into the building and measure what it really achieves from the proposed positions. This is what catches the wall the model treated as plasterboard and the plant room that turned out to be concrete.
What we measure
- RSSI and signal-to-noise ratio per band
- Co-channel and adjacent-channel interference
- Real attenuation through the actual construction
- Non-Wi-Fi interference on the spectrum
03 · After installation
Post-installation validation
Walked once the access points are in and configured, to prove the installed network does what the design promised. This is the survey that belongs in your handover pack, and the one that settles arguments later.
You get
- Coverage heatmaps for 2.4, 5 and 6 GHz
- Channel plan and transmit power as built
- Roaming and data-rate verification
- Exceptions list with what to change
04 · When it is already broken
Health check and troubleshooting
For a network that is in and not behaving. We survey what is there, find the cause rather than the symptom, and give you a prioritised fix list separating what is a configuration change from what needs hardware.
Typically finds
- Dead zones and coverage holes
- Co-channel contention from too many access points
- Non-Wi-Fi interference sources
- Capacity limits mistaken for coverage problems
What we survey with
We use the Ekahau platform because it is the toolset most enterprise specifications name, and because it produces evidence a third party can check rather than a screenshot.
Ekahau AI Pro
The design and analysis software. Floor plans are modelled with real wall and material attenuation, access point placement is iterated against a coverage and capacity target, and survey data is analysed against the design rather than in isolation.
- Predictive modelling with material-accurate attenuation
- Multi-floor designs with vertical propagation
- Wi-Fi 6, 6E and 7 designs including 6 GHz
- Reports built from measured data
Ekahau Sidekick 2
The measurement hardware. It carries its own radios and spectrum analyser, so survey data does not depend on whatever adapter happens to be in a laptop, and results are repeatable between surveys and between engineers.
- Simultaneous 2.4, 5 and 6 GHz scanning
- Integrated spectrum analysis for non-Wi-Fi interference
- Consistent, calibrated measurements
- Battery powered for a full walk
What you get at handover
- Coverage heatmaps per band, per floor
- Signal-to-noise, data rate, channel overlap and interference plots
- Access point schedule with position, mount type, channel and transmit power
- Spectrum analysis showing non-Wi-Fi interference sources
- Cabling and containment implications for each access point position
- Exceptions list and a prioritised remediation plan
- Source Ekahau project file, so the design stays usable after we leave
How a survey runs
Brief
What the network has to carry, where, for how many devices, and what counts as acceptable. A warehouse running scanners and an office running Teams are not the same design.
Plan
Floor plans scaled and modelled, wall types confirmed against the architectural set, and the survey route planned around site access and trading hours.
On site
The walk itself, in hi-vis and inducted, with spectrum captured alongside the Wi-Fi data. We work around live operations rather than asking for the floor.
Analyse
Measurements compared against the design target band by band, with the gap between predicted and actual explained rather than averaged away.
Report
Heatmaps, schedules and the exceptions list, written so a project manager can act on it and an engineer can verify it.
Support
We can install and cable the access points the survey calls for, or hand the pack to whoever is doing the work and stay available for the questions.
Where we survey
Anywhere the radio environment is hostile or the consequences of getting it wrong are expensive.
Common questions
Do I need a survey if the vendor has already given me an access point count?
A vendor count is usually a coverage estimate from a floor area, not a design. It does not know what your walls are made of or what is transmitting next door. A predictive survey either confirms the number or shows you where it is wrong, which is cheaper to find before you buy the hardware than after.
What is the difference between a predictive survey and an AP-on-a-stick survey?
A predictive survey is modelled from drawings, so it depends on the wall and material data being right. An AP-on-a-stick survey measures a real access point in the real building, which validates or corrects the model. On anything complex we recommend both, in that order.
Can you survey while the building is occupied?
Yes. Most of the surveys we do are in live buildings during trading or operating hours. A survey is a person walking with a measurement kit, so it is one of the less intrusive things that will happen on your site.
Do you install the access points as well?
We do. Cabling, containment, mounting, patching and commissioning are core services, so the survey can either be a standalone piece of work or the front end of the installation. We are equally happy handing the pack to another contractor.
Stop guessing where the coverage goes.
Send the floor plans and the brief. We will come back with which survey fits, what it costs and what you will have at the end of it.
Request a survey