What do you pay for a land survey?

[timster2]

I need to get a land survey to get a zoning permit to build a shed, however, I have no idea what to expect to pay. When I bought the property the only description of the property was on the deed and I found all the pins etc. but there is no indication of current building locations. Seems current building locations are needed to get a zoning permit. The property is not too big about seven acres and there are only two buildings on the property currently house and garage. Does anyone have an idea what is the going rate for a set of drawings indicating current buildings and a proposed shed location?

 

[newbury]

Depends on your location. We've paid about $1,000 to $1500 for rural parcels in Mississippi on the order of 80 to 100 acres. Last year I think I paid about $1500 for an intown lot in Northern Virginia.
/edit - Mississippi had minimal marking, Virginia had 4 corner posts on a half acre lot. On the Virginia half acre they deployed 2 trucks and four people for about an hour.

 

[dodge man]

I'm a land surveyor and asking that is a loaded question. It's like asking "how much does a tractor cost." It varies so much.

IF your corners are really in, that will save a lot of money. I say IF because I've done a lot of surveys where they said there corners were in but they weren't.

Based on the limited data I have, I'd say between $1000 and $2000. Depending on the zoning office needs it could be more.

 

[timster2]

The wife and I walked the property from pin to pin with a tape measure and found all the pins exactly where the deed said they would be. Even had a copy of the neighbors deed to verify the pin location there all there. I marked them by sliding a three foot pvc pipe painted blaze orange over the rebar to make them visible from a distance as well.

 

[bcp]

About 3 years ago I asked a surveyor. Cost was about $900 per corner.

Bruce

 

[newbury]

Well I thought I pretty well knew where the corners were in my Virginia lot. Until they marked it :


On the left is my neighbors, on the right is my property

My survey and a subsequent survey showed that when the county put in the driveway apron they shifted the line well onto my land. My neighbor on the left was about to put in a concrete driveway going straight back from the pink flag and bordering the wooden well cover you see in the back. He was going to effectively go straight back from the concrete apron and a little wider.

After he got his survey he changed his mind.

My parents bought 20 acres (so they thought) in Vermont in 1963, fully fenced but not surveyed. When they went to sell it in 1980 and had it surveyed it had grown to a little over 30 acres.

 

[dave1949]

You can't just measure yourself? It sounds like your boundary corners are well known and you could measure using a 100' tape where your buildings and planned buildings are. That would more than suffice around here.

Actually, as long as you are meeting the setback and septic field minimums, nobody here cares where your buildings are on a non-shoreland zone lot. Shoreland zoning if a lot different in terms of distances, percentage of the lot covered, etc.

 

[timster2]

If the cost is excessive then out comes the tape measures and drawing tools. I would rather have a surveyor do the drawings and provide a computer generated map for future use if I plan to subdivide. For the shed project I will attempt to do the drawings if the town will accept them. I looked up local surveyors and will get an idea of what they think it is worth. I was looking for some estimates just so I am not shocked too bad.

 

[kneedeep]

I have to provide plats of property regularly for building permits at work. Most of the time, I use graph paper and draw the property to scale showing the structures, planned construction and the distance in feet from each side to the property line.
Most Building departments will accept that if it is not close to the setbacks. Some, however require a stamped survey for any construction addition.
In Central Alabama, in town average lot surveys start at $350 and acreage starts at about 1K depending on how far it is to a known point.
If the original surveyor is still around, finding his corners usually runs about $150.

 

[AGRIMAN]

I had a 130 acres surveyed last Dec and it cost me $3,400. The last time it was surveyed was in the 30's and my guy spent more time researching old plats and scratching is head then shooting lines.