Frequently Asked Questions
How Much Does a Survey Cost?
Often, one of the very first questions we receive during an initial phone call is how much a survey costs. The answer, of course, would depend on so many features. It’s a bit like asking how much a plane ticket costs, which totally depends on where you are going, your personal preferences, and your technical requirements. The first thing we do is determine the needs and parameters of your request. The following are some of the features that have to be determined:
What Type of Survey Do You Need?
Your requirement may be one of the following:
- Property Boundary Survey
- Property Corner Markers with a Corner Record
- Record of Survey Map
- Topographic Survey and Map for Engineering or Architectural Design
- Construction Staking
- Certificate Letter for a Building Inspector
During an initial phone conversation, we will try to gather information and understand the following:
- Parameters of Your Project
- Scope of Work
- Limits of a Survey
We’ll also look into what you are trying to solve or resolve with a survey and what, if any, jurisdictional requirements may affect your project fees and timing.
Evaluation of Details About the Subject Property
A set of critical features and attributes of your property will be evaluated and determined before a relevant fee proposal can be prepared. We need to know how your property, parcel, or lot is described and defined. Additionally, we will ask in which city or jurisdiction the land is. Finally, we will find out how big or complex your project is and the terrain and site conditions.
Other Features and Project Requirements:
- Availability of Relevant Recorded Maps and Survey Monuments
- Property Access Issues
- Compressed Turnaround Schedule for the Survey
- Need for Underground Utility Locations
- Receipt of Critical Documents
- Requirement to Make Document Submittals to a Jurisdiction
What Are the Factors That Go into the Cost of a Survey, and Are There Ways To Reduce Fees?
Typical land surveying projects involve two main features: a two-person field surveying crew in a pickup truck with all the necessary survey equipment, instruments, and gear to do their work; and a set of office activities and tasks that are important to a project’s success but which are mostly not seen nor understood by the client, at least until they receive their final drafted map.
The office work can include the following:
- Parcel/Property Research
- Computations/Calculations
- Post-Survey Field Data Processing and Reduction
- Computer-Aided Drafting/AutoCAD Map Drafting
- Review of the Project by a Professional Land Surveyor
- Delivery/Distribution of the Map Product to the Client
Of these two features of a land surveying project, the two-person field survey crew is more expensive. We prepare and equip the survey crew with as much good, relevant, and accurate data, top-quality equipment, and office support. Our goal is to help their day move along successfully, gather the most data, and reduce their time in the field.
When you call our office to discuss your project, we can review some of the associated fees. A written proposal will be prepared and supplied so you know all the features of the following:
- Scope of Work
- Limits of the Survey
- Project Costs
- Delivery Schedule
- Any Other Details Before Work Starts
What Is a Survey Monument?
Surveyors rely on monuments and set them up. You might say surveyors even love monuments; we sure love finding and measuring them. Monuments are markers. They are often set in the ground and can hold or mark horizontal positions. Depending on what kind of marker is set, it can be called:
- Property Corners
- Brass Disk
- Nail and Brass Tag
- Pin and Cap
- Rebar and Cap
- Iron Pipe
- Cut Cross in Concrete
Very often, you will notice the markers have a cap or tag with a number on the top. That four- or five-digit number is the specific state-issued number for each individual registered as a land surveyor/engineer and allows us to know who set the marker.
Monuments are established with the intent to hold and perpetuate mathematical positions as they mark the following:
- Lines
- Limits and Boundaries of Parcels
- Properties
- Street Rights-of-Way
- Easements
- Vertical Elevations (Benchmarks)
These monuments are called-for, shown, and described on the recorded maps, and without them, your survey project usually gets more expensive.
Monuments can be 3” or 4” diameter brass disks on large iron pipes or small nail and brass tags that may be difficult to see. Note that monuments can also be physical objects like building corners, a specific tree, a specific place, or a mark on a rock wall. One deed from a Colorado property called for a “four-foot-tall stack of deer antlers,” which we did find.
For your reference, we have a photo gallery with photos of various monuments that surveyors use and set.
What Is a Benchmark?
A benchmark is a specific survey monument that marks and holds a specified elevation (a vertical measurement). Often, you will see an elevation with reference to AMSL. For instance: 427.15 AMSL, which stands for 427.15 feet above mean sea level.
A benchmark can be referenced to an official datum for a specific city, agency, or government project, or the benchmark elevation can be assumed (made up) for simple residential projects. There are many types of datums. For instance, the City of San Francisco has its own scale, as does the City of Oakland.
There are various tidal datums, and over time, and after new surveys, datums get adjusted or replaced by new ones. The advent of the Global Positioning System (GPS), new equipment, more satellites, additional measurements, and updated computer models have resulted in new datums and more accurate elevations for many places.
Fence Lines Versus Property Lines
We often receive calls from landowners who have questions about the location of fence lines. Sometimes, they dispute with their neighbor over the placement of a new fence. We have had hundreds of conversations with clients and callers about fences, which is completely understandable.
Most people will say the fence line is the property line, or at least they function and behave that way. In most cases, a fence line does not establish a property line. However, over time, it may establish rights-of-use.
Fences take on different importance when they mark landowner occupation, maintenance, and use lines by various owners over longer periods on larger tracts of land, in which the only marker has been a barbed wire fence. However, for most wood fence lines in typical residential subdivisions, the fences are simply where they are and generally closer to the line. But many heated issues start over the fence location. If you have that issue, please give us a call.