Land Surveying: Estimating the Cost
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Land surveying, simply speaking, is the art and science of establishing or re-establishing property corners, property lines and/or boundaries.
There may be different reasons why someone needs a chunk of property surveyed. Essentially the most common is to check if a piece of land is prone to flooding, to subdivide a property to sell or deed to relatives or to know if there are any encroachments.
This may happen if a neighbour disputes you are using a part of his lot or vice versa (for more on this, check this page).
How much does land surveying cost?
If you need to have a piece of land surveyed, the first thing that will come to mind is “how much would it cost?”There are various factors determining the amount of land surveying for your land would cost.
The fact that this sort of service should be accomplished by a professional contributes a great deal to the overall cost of the service, but choosing a non-professional to survey your land is dangerous and possibly illegal for the non-professional.
For this reason you ought to take a good look around before settling with a surveying company. If you must work inside a particular budget, discuss this with the surveyor up-front. Many times he might be able to offer cost saving steps to get the work you need done within these cost limits.
The shape of the land also needs to be looked into. A square or a rectangle piece of land is somewhat quicker to survey than an odd shaped parcel, or one with many different sides. With the latter, the surveyor would need to take more time in surveying the curves and the bends meaning the cost of the service would increase. The overall measurements the land is also an important factor here.
Remember that the cost of land surveying is usually proportionate to the time and effort that a land surveyor would spend on the project. If the land that you’re having surveyed isn’t accessible, or has thick vegetation, then the total price of the survey might go higher. This is true of the weather conditions that might affect the work.
Surveying in warm weather is sort of slower to keep from putting the crew members in danger. Also, most surveying cannot be done during the rain.
When requesting an estimate, bear in mind surveyors base the estimate on expected conditions at the site. These conditions could change, bringing about additional costs. Always ask about these potential additional cost scenarios.
All that being said, competitive prices are also to be expected, which is why we recommend deciding on a surveyor based on his experience and reputation instead of on the price he writes on a piece of paper.
Mostly it is far better to shell out a good amount of money on a survey that’s well-done rather than select a company with a very “affordable” price but have the survey repeated because the results were wrong.
In summary, you should always discuss the expenses of the survey before you ask the surveyor to start his work. It’s also advisable to receive a contract that lets you understand what is expected of the land surveyor. This is one of the most important steps in getting your land surveyed.