When developing real estate, a good land survey is important. Many times clients come to us with old surveys or surveys that simply do not have enough information to adequately analyze the property for problems or develop detailed civil/site plans. In many cases, we recommend that the client have their survey revised to include the additional needed information or that they start over altogether.
Below are some things to think about before you get ready to engage a land surveyor:
To ALTA or Not to ALTA
In many situations we recommend that our clients obtain an American Land Title Association, or ALTA, survey. Obtaining an ALTA survey not only engages the effort of a registered land surveyor but also a title attorney. The title attorney will perform a detailed search for any encumbrances on the property and generate a report of their findings. This is known as a title report. The title report is then given to the surveyor who can put any found encumbrances on the survey such as easements, deeding of property to neighbors or local departments of transportation. When property changes hands or easements are granted, the transaction doesn’t always get disclosed. An ALTA survey should bring such things to light.
Location of Underground Utilities
Many-a-dollar has been lost by not requiring the land surveyor to have a private utility locator to locate underground utilities that are difficult if not impossible to locate otherwise. It is very important to have such underground utilities such as natural gas, power, water lines, and communication lines just to name a few. In our experience working around hospitals, you can find there are additional utilities that need to be located such as medical gas lines, steam lines, or chiller lines. All of these are important to locate up front as locating them while under construction usually results in surprise costs and delays.
Every Which Way but Up
Topography is also essential as it can help to obtain ideas about how the site and proposed building may function. It can help to answer questions such as: Will retaining walls be necessary? Will dirt have to be hauled from or in to the site to develop it? It can also be helpful to see how feasible it may be to connect to a gravity utility such as sanitary sewer. For example, I have seen sites that were situated in a “hole” from the road and the sanitary sewer was at the street. Situations such as this can affect project cost and feasibility.
Summary
It is a good idea for more reasons than mentioned above to get a quality land survey. One key to ending up with a good land survey is knowing what you need and how to communicate those needs to the surveyor. At Partain Engineering, we have assisted numerous clients ordering surveys. If you would like assistance in obtaining a survey, then simply go to our contact page and email us.
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