Finding the right Land Surveyor for your project
Before you look for a Land Surveyor you will want to figure out what you need them to do for you. The more specific you can be on your request, the better you will be able to compare costs between Surveyors. Most Surveyors will be glad to help guide you on what they recommend, based upon your needs, but here are some things to think about ahead of time that will help that conversation:
Property Address. This will help find the property, but it’s very common for undeveloped land to not have an address assigned.
Assessors Parcel Numbers (APN). This will be necessary if your property doesn’t have an assigned address. It is also a good idea to have a list of all Assessor Parcel Numbers if there are multiple parcels to make sure that all are being included in the survey.
Boundary Survey. Do you need to have your corners set/verified or any line stakes if you are building a fence? This may trigger the need to file a Record of Survey with the County recorder to meet state law, which adds the additional expense of drafting a map, time necessary to file the map and the actual county recording fees. Keep in mind that for Boundary Surveys, there is a lot of work behind the scenes, like research and calculations, so typically it doesn’t cost much more to set all corners, versus just asking for a single corner. Depending on what the Surveyor finds, it may save on cost to go with a Surveyor that previously set corners for the property because they may be able to reset a corner without filing a record of survey.
Topographic Survey. If you need a survey for design, you will more than likely need a Topographic Survey which maps the surface of the property and shows contour lines and sometimes spot elevations to represent the terrain. This takes time, which will add cost, so make sure to know if this is needed, and if it is, it will be most cost effecting to do at the same time of the Boundary Survey.
Utilities. If you need to know where the utilities are on site, make sure to tell your Surveyor up front. If the utility locates are painted before the Survey starts, often they can be mapped at the time of survey which will save on trips and cost. If you aren’t sure on how to order private utility locates, most Surveyors will order them for you and bill you as a reimbursable expense. This can be convenient, as the Surveyor and Utility Locator can directly coordinate scheduling.
Vegetation. If your site is heavily vegetated, that will add cost because we need to have line of site from our instruments in order to accurately map on the ground. If you recently cleared a lot of brush, be sure to let the Surveyor know, because that may reduce on the estimated costs. You may want to consider clearing the onsite brush ahead of time, to reduce the time necessary to map the property.
There are many factors which affect cost. Often, most of the work on a Survey may not even be what you see when the field crew comes to your property. Before they get to your property, there can be significant time needed for research, planning, and calculations. On the day of the field survey, the crew will often spend hours mapping monumentation or property corners necessary to calculate your property before you even see them onsite. The mapping of your property will take while, and depending on your property, it may take multiple days.
Most Surveyors will come up will a similar location when calculating the location of the boundary lines, but often the final boundary resolution accounts for many factors and weighing different kinds of evidence, so there may be some differences. Surveyors are bound by many laws, so their obligation is to protect the public over the personal interest of any one client.
As far as cost is concerned, don’t be pressured into a Survey, and always feel free to get multiple proposals. Keep in mind that not all Survey firms are best suited for all kinds of surveys. Some may be larger firms, which may be able to pull more resources to map larger sites more quickly but tend to have more overhead costs, which will be reflected in the proposal. Smaller firms may be able to provide great surveys at a much better cost because of less overhead expenses, but may not be best suited to handle the load necessary for some larger Property surveys, or specialty needs. Some out of state firms do offer services which may be cheaper, but often they are only good for financial purposes, and not generally good for design.
No matter who you choose to use, keep in mind it is most cost effective to use the same Surveyor for the whole projects needs, because if you introduce a new Surveyor to your project, they will need to verify the Boundary in order to be able to certify and stamp work for your project, which may result in them needing to start from scratch.
If you need to find a Surveyor in Washington State, here is a link to the Land Surveyor’s Association of Washington (LSAW): LSAW - Land Surveyors' Association of Washington
If you are in another state we recommend to search for your local Surveyors Association, which typically will be the best resource.