Professional Land Surveyors & Civil Engineers

Land Surveying

Herodotus(c. 484-425 BC) on the Invention of Surveying.

"The King would send men to inspect and measure the loss of cultivated land in order that from then on some of the tax, proportionate to the report of the loss, might be remitted. I attribute the invention of geometry to this cause and from Egypt, it spread to Greece."

Civil Engineering

Complete your civil engineering project on time and budget. Our experienced team specializes in street, drainage, and sewer design.

In Business Since 1987

Texas Land Surveying Firm #101153-00
Texas Engineering Firm #4368

Our Story

Abacus Engineering was founded in 1987 by Jonathan Cieszinski, P.E., R.P.L.S. Jon first was introduced to Land Surveying when he was hired as a Chainman for the City of Dallas Water Department in 1972. Jon worked for the City for about a year and a half. Most of this time was spent doing "creek jobs". A "creek job" was the process of meandering, the creeks and performing topographic surveying to provide the Engineers with the necessary information to plan the infrastructure for future development.

The Creeks are important because they dictate the drainage patterns for an area. How an area drains is a defining factor in how that area develops. Working outdoors and learning technical skills in these undeveloped natural areas was interesting and fun.

Seeing some of these projects taking shape, meeting the Engineers (mostly Aggies) that took the Surveyor's data, put it on paper and prepared the plans for construction lit a spark.

Jon enrolled in North Texas State University and began going to school part-time while at the same time working for various surveying firms in the Metroplex area. In 1976 Jon ended up in Lubbock and, for the next several years, attended Texas Tech, while working as a Crew Cheif for one of the local Surveying Firms. After graduating from Tech, Jon obtained registration as a Registered Professional Land Surveyor and a Professional Engineer. In 1987 he founded Abacus Engineering Surveying. Since that time we have provided our clients with Civil Engineering, Planning and Surveying services for a turnkey approach to Land Development

(806) 745-7670

Although this picture appears to be a group of old-time surveyors, on further inspection, this does not appear to be the case. These surveyors all appear to be young and well dressed, albeit several in military garb, although not the same branch of the military. This is a tintype, but this does not appear to be an actual group of working surveyors. How do we reconcile this? Well, if we look at the terrain, it appears to be filled post oaks and other South Central Texas vegetation. The conclusion is obvious. This is a picture of some turn of the century engineering students. And if there is any further doubt one glance at the completely blank clueless stare of the student seated at the lower right of the photo, the conclusion is inevitable. This is a picture of a group of Aggies. I don’t care. I still really like this picture. If any Aggies out there see anyone here they recognize, please contact me. I would love to put a name on a few of these faces.

Sorry, this is not the Oldest Building in Lubbock County. When I first saw the picture, I looked at the windows, and they are almost identical to the windows in the Original Estacado Church/School. However, on further inspection, the roofline looks nothing like this roofline, so I am afraid this is just an old building for Lubbock but the oldest, not likely. What happened to the Old Estacado School/Church. I think they may have moved it to Emma the County Seat after Estacado. They did that a lot in those days. Just look at the story of Slide Texas, apparently gaining its name from the fact that it was apparently located about 2 miles from the correct location, and when Surveyor W.R. Standefer discovered the error, the whole town slid about two miles to where it should have been all along.

When Jon started surveying many of today's ubiquitous items either did not exist or were in their infancy. Hand-held calculators, electronic distance meters (EDMs), magnetic locators were just beginning to make inroads in the surveying field. All of these items were curiously spawned by the Space Race (the Critical element in all these being the Microchip). The use of trig tables, longhand square root determinations, dip needles, and the ability to chain accurately were still valuable tools in the early '70s. Soon Surveyors and the World moved inexorably towards the Technological Revolution that now includes GPS, Smart Phones, and the internet.

The surveyor's toolbox has grown and includes all sorts of technological tools and marvels. One thing hasn't changed and probably never will. The most valuable tool in that toolbox may still be the simplest of them all.

WE KNOW HOW TO DIG.

Memberships: American Society of Civil Engineers™ | Texas Society of Professional Surveyors | Lubbock Chamber of Commerce

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