What Is A Survey And Why Do I Need a Surveyor?

    One must look at the definition of Professional Land Surveying in order to understand what a survey encompasses and what the duties of the Surveyor entail.  For the purposes of this brochure, the definition of "Professional Surveying" is taken from the Texas Board of Professional Land Surveying - "Professional Land Surveying Practices Act & General Rules of Procedures and Practices", revised July, 2001. Section 2 of the act states:

 

    "Professional Surveying" means the practice of land, boundary, or property surveying or other similar professional practices.  The term includes any service or work the adequate performance of which involves the application of special knowledge of the principles of geodesy, mathematics, related applied and physical sciences, and relevant laws to the measurement or location of  sites, points, lines, angles, elevations, natural features, and existing man-made works in the air, on the surface  of the earth, within underground workings, and on the beds of bodies of water for the purpose of determining areas and volumes for:
 

(a)    the location of real property boundaries;

(b)   the platting and layout of lands and subdivisions of land; or

(c)    the preparation and perpetuation of maps, record plats, field note records, easements, and real property descriptions that represent those surveys.  To the extent these services or types of creative work meet this definition, the term includes consultation, investigation, evaluation, analysis, planning, providing an expert surveying opinion or testimony and mapping.
 

Based upon the above description a Surveyor is not only providing special knowledge and skills when performing a survey, but is also providing insurance to the client that there are no discrepancies, shortages or encumbrances upon the property in question.

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  Commonly Requested Surveys

     ALTA/ACSM Land Title Surveys

     The American Land Title Association (ALTA) and the American Congress on Surveying and Mapping (ASCM) derived a set of standards to follow when preparing surveys.  These standards were designed to give the title insurer, the buyer, and /or lender a survey plat depicting the location of buildings, improvements, easements, and boundaries of the subject property, and its relationship to adjoining properties.
 

     Apex Surveying & Mapping, Inc. uses those standards today along with several enhancements to produce the highest quality, most informative and user friendly survey plats.  We realize the users of surveys are not trained professionals themselves and therefore, such plats need to explicitly and simply depict physical and recorded features so that anyone can read them without ambiguity or assumptions.
 

     The ALTA/ACSM Land Title Survey is used predominately for commercial real estate properties like shopping centers, retail stores, office buildings and complexes, industrial buildings and apartment complexes.
 

     Depending upon the size of the project, quantity of improvements, table A requirements, and certification requirements, ALTA/ACSM Land Title Surveys can be extremely expensive, however, when comparing the large sums of money invested in commercial real estate, the overall cost of this type of survey insuring the clients right to free and unencumbered use of the property is well founded.
 

     Mortgage Survey

     The Residential Mortgage Survey is a scaled down version of the ALTA/ACSM Land Title Survey.  There is no national standard for this type of survey, however, they are regulated by individual state "Boards of Registration" and must meet the minimum standards as set forth by each "Board of Registration".

 

     The Residential Mortgage Survey generally is a smaller plat than an ALTA/ACSM survey, which depicts the house, garage, recorded setback lines, recorded easements, and property boundaries.  The certification is simplified and the survey is made for the purpose of the title insurer, the buyer, and/or lender to close upon a certain residential property with the confidence that there are no major conflicts, encroachments, or encumbrances.

 

     The costs of this type of survey are fairly uniform locally, however, certain factors such as Lot size, House size, number of improvements, Lot splits, and location must be considered when determining price.

 

     Standard Land Boundary Survey

     This type of survey is defined as a study, investigation, and evaluation of major factors affecting and influencing the location of the boundaries and ownership lines.  A Standard Land Survey will not normally locate improvements, right of way or easements within the surveyed area unless specified by the client.

 

     Its purpose is for the determination of division lines or property boundaries for the purpose of fence construction, additions, and/or the determination of area on a certain Lot, parcel or quantity of real estate.  A Standard Land Survey is not to be used for title insuring purposes, but is suitable for most any other purpose.
 

     Again there is no national standard for this type of survey, however, each Surveyor is regulated by individual "State Boards of Registration" and must comply with the "Registration Board's" minimum standards.

 

     As with Residential Mortgage Surveys there are several factors which mitigate the cost of this type of survey.  Some of these factors are size, location, availability of previous survey information, existing monumentation, and amount of research needed in order to insure the proper placement of the property boundary lines.

 

     Each type of boundary survey is unique, no two surveys are exactly alike, and the rules of boundary retracement may differ slightly from each circumstance.  Because of the various factors involved in a boundary survey it is impossible to provide an exact quote for the cost of a survey, however, it is well within the ability of the Land Surveyor to provide an initial estimate based upon his knowledge of the area in question and type of survey needed.  It should be noted that an initial estimate is just what it states, it is a preliminary cost estimate which is subject to change once the project has begun and the surveyor has performed a preliminary reconnaissance of the site.

 

     Topographic Survey

A Topographic Survey is the determination of the configuration, relief or elevations of a portion of the earth's surface, including the location of natural and/or man made features thereon.  A Topographic Survey is necessary in order to prepare an accurate topographic map and requires the expert skill of a Registered Professional Land Surveyor well versed in maintaining accuracy and precision in detail mapping.  A Topographic Survey is not intended as a boundary survey, although some boundaries may necessarily be defined, however, in some cases, at the request of the client, a Topographic Survey may be incorporated with one of the above mentioned boundary surveys.

 

     The purpose of the Topographic Survey is to gather relevant information that will be represented on a topographic map.  The topographic map is used by a variety of interested parties, such as land owners, engineers, architects, planners, developers, landscape architects and governmental agencies for numerous uses, ranging from land use or development, to flood control.

 

     The cost of the Topographic Survey will vary greatly depending on size of project, accuracy requirements, and intended use.  It is imperative that the Surveyor is made aware of the intended use of the topographic information which he will submit, this prior knowledge will enable the Surveyor to complete the project in the most timely and cost effective manner possible.

 

     Route Surveys

     A Route Survey adequately locates the planned path of either overhead, underground, or other types of rights of ways which cross a prescribed area of real estate.

 

     It is usually required for the planning of a right of way, the acquisition of fee or easement property and for eventual construction lay out work.  A Route Survey is made on the ground to provide for the location of right of way lines, centerline, or reference lines in relation to property lines and terrain features.  It may, in cases where grade and drainage must be considered, incorporate a Topographic Survey to encompass a defined corridor along the proposed route for design purposes.

    Locative Survey

     Control Survey

     A Control Survey is defined as coordinated and correlated horizontal and/or vertical position data forming a framework to which other surveys are adjusted.

 

     The purpose of this type of survey is to establish a network of points on the ground that are sufficiently accurate to provide control for any surveying project, including, but not limited to, boundary, route, locative or construction, planimetric or photogrammic  surveys.

 

     This type of survey is most commonly used for large industrial sites such as plants, which work to maintain a permanent control network for future projects, or environmental remediation sites which must constantly reference to an established control network throughout the project.

 

     Construction Surveys

     A Construction Survey is the process of performing measurements made prior to or while construction is in progress to control horizontal and/or vertical position, dimensions and configuration and, following construction, to obtain essential dimensions for computing construction pay quantities and establishing "as built" conditions.  Construction Surveying requires the expert skill of a licensed practitioner well versed in maintaining accuracy, precision, efficiency, measuring and computing values pertaining to such surveys.

 

     The purpose of the Construction Survey is to maintain horizontal and vertical control throughout the construction period and to perform the staking and setting of grade stakes for building and structure locations, curb and gutter, sidewalks, paving and other features which conform to plans furnished by the client.  The Construction Survey may also provide Quality Assurance to the client that certain aspects of the project have been met by the contractor.

 

     Investigative Survey

 

     An Investigative Survey requires the Surveyor to investigate and study the effect of certain circumstances on the health, welfare, environment or properties of an individual or of the public.  Such circumstances may include serious accidents, natural disasters, or substantiation of certain facts or theories in respect to litigation, planning or studies.

 

     It is performed at a prescribed site to determine the positions of natural terrain features and/or man-made objects that are or may be relevant to an accident, or apparent protrusion of a facility, subsidence, time and motion studies, or other occurrences where the location and relationship of existing objects are required to determine the results or effects of an actual, impending, or planned occurrence.

 

     An Investigative Survey entails much of the criteria of a Topographic Survey and Control Survey, with the final analysis being depicted in 3-D models, pictures, charts and graphs, for presentation to interested parties or for a Court of Law.

 

     Elevation Certificates

     The Elevation Certificate is performed for the purpose of rating the cost of flood insurance.  It reports the elevation above or below a base flood elevation from a Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM).  The FIRM's were generated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency for use in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).  The FIRM's provide a quick reference on whether a property and building lies within a special flood hazard area.  Typically, it can be ascertained whether a particular piece of property lies within a special flood hazard area by scaling form the FIRM, however, when a particular tract or piece of property scales close to or within a flood hazard area, an Elevation Certificate is needed to determine if the residence, building, or other improvements are above the base flood elevation.

 

     Surveying for an Elevation Certificate can be a lengthy process.  Reference marks or Benchmarks used during an Elevation Certificate Survey should be original and noted on the FIRM, this leads to problems, in that reference marks set during the original surveys are sparse, and have been destroyed with the passage of time.  Therefore, it is not uncommon to traverse to a reference mark miles from the location of the property.

 

     The lengthy process and amount of research involved in this type of Survey, not to mention the increased liability, which the Surveyor is assuming, can cause the Elevation Survey to by a costly project.

 

The above mentioned types of Surveys are the most commonly requested, however, in no way do they entail the complete list of various Surveys or variations thereof.

 

Just as with most professions in which one specializes in certain areas of their profession, such it is with Professional Land Surveying.  All Registered Professional Land Surveyors obtain a competent understanding and general knowledge of the various types of surveys, however, there are those who specialize and/or are expertly qualified to perform certain surveys.

 

It would greatly benefit the client to have a basic understanding of the type of survey which is required prior to contacting the Surveyor, in this manner, both parties can proceed with determining the exact steps which should be taken to ensure a timely, accurate, and cost effective survey, which meets the clients present and future needs.