Forest
Surveying
Professional
Land
Surveyors
In Business in Georgetown since 1955
Texas Registered Surveyor Number
1847
Frequently Asked Questions
HOW Much Will The Survey Cost ?
The cost for most land surveying work is based on the following variables:
|
Accessibility:
|
|---|
| Time to perform the fieldwork varies with the distance to, and the difficulty in reaching, the property corners necessary to complete the fieldwork. |
|
Availability
of
Information
and
Records:
|
| Record research can be affected by the number of parcels involved, including the number of past transactions. (Often times land transactions have been handled poorly in the past, resulting in vague, incomplete, and often contradictory legal descriptions and deeds) and the number of adjoiners to be researched. The Land Surveyor's familiarity with the area may include the availability of records that the Land Surveyor has in his possession. |
|
Availability
of
Survey
Monumentation
and
Evidence
of
Monumentation
:
|
| Iron, wood, or stone monuments, old fences or occupation lines, witness trees, and parole evidence (oral evidence - word of mouth) aid the Land Surveyor. Someone pointing out accepted occupation lines and monumentation can be an effective aid to the Land Surveyor, especially prior to the fieldwork. Absence of them may increase the difficulty in retracing the original survey. |
| Boundary and Occupation Problems or Disputed Property Lines: |
| They are often caused when improvements such as buildings, driveways or fences are built across a property line. Sometimes boundary conflicts are the result of overlaping deed descriptions. Any conflict will likely affect the cost of the survey. |
| Complexity, Sectionalized L and, (PLS-Rectangular Survey System): |
| Property described in this manner may require a survey of the entire Section (approx. one square mile) in which the land being surveyed lies, regardless of the area of the parcel. In some cases, a survey of more than one section is required, depending on the location of the parcel, and available government (PLS) monumentation. |
|
Improvements
- Houses, Garages,
Fences, Pavement,
Etc.:
|
| If improvement locations are required to be located, additional measurements are taken in the fieldwork. It is usually advisable that improvements are located and put on the Certificate of Survey for future reference. A recommendation might be to have your house or garage 'tied into' your property line, which will show the distances from the building corners to your property line. This will allow you to always find your property line near your buildings, or other improvements. Privacy fencing often restricts visibility, requiring the Land Surveyor to work around them by 'traversing' the measurements. |
|
Equipment
Required
to
Perform
the
Job:
|
| If any specialized equipment is needed, this could increase the cost of the project. |
|
Size
of the
Parcel:
|
| An irregularly shaped parcel has more corners to monument than a rectangular parcel containing the same area. Be careful to not determine or place any special relationship factor between the size of the parcel and the cost of the Land Survey. This is not true in many cases, but many people often incorrectly equate a 'small lot' with a 'small price' of the Land Survey, and a 'large parcel' with a 'larger, or more expensive' price. |
|
Time
of
Year
and
Weather
Conditions:
|
| Foliage can make fieldwork difficult in the summer. At times in the winter months, weather hinders accessibility to the site, as well as making it more difficult to work on the site. Winter snows also can hide field evidence under the snow. |
|
Topography,
Terrain
and
Vegetation:
|
| A level parcel of land is easier to survey than a mountain parcel. The Land Surveyor will usually ask if you would allow them to 'clear a line' in wooded areas, or 'brush' branches and small trees. This makes possible a line of sight for the fieldwork. Shrubs, flowers and trees on home sites are normally not disturbed, but might need additional fieldwork to work around them. |
|
Type
of
Land
Survey
Required:
|
| Costs may increase should the required precision and extent of the Land Survey increases. ALTA Land Surveys, and Title Company requirements may require considerably more documentation and fieldwork than is normally required by the average property owner. |
WHAT WILL A SURVEYOR DO FOR ME ?
|
|
Answer:
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|---|
Per the Texas Comptroller's Office, Surveying is a real property service. It includes activities performed to determine or confirm the boundaries of real property, or to determine or confirm the location of structures or other improvements in relation to the boundaries of the property by the use of relevant elements of law, research, measurement, analysis, computation, mapping, and land description. Examples include boundary recovery, residential surveying, lot surveying, title surveying, as-built title surveying, and right-of-way surveying. For additional information, go to: http://www.window.state.tx.us/taxinfo/taxpubs/tx94_157.html