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Surveying Basics A survey is a marking and or locating of a properties boundary as set forth in a deeded description of record. Each property in the US is described in such a manner as to make it individual and unique for the purpose of sale and ownership. A surveyed parcel has this deeded description of land transferred from a paper document to real markers placed upon the ground defining one or more of its boundaries. Government Sections
In Washington, an most of the land lying West of the Mississippi was measured and divided by the private surveyors working on contract for the US Government Land Office (GLO) in the mid to late 1800s. These divisions were theoretically one mile by one mile square sections of land and in whole the process is known as the rectangular survey system. In reality, a square section of land cannot exist on the elliptical surface known as the earth. What Is A Survey? Though the truth is, every survey is as unique as the description it entails, there are some basic truths that each may have in common. The process of performing a survey begins with a call to the office for an estimate of services. At this time we will do some basic research of our records and knowledge of the area, a variety of available maps recorded surveys and plats, section information and details, and usually an assessor's description for a rough idea of the size of the parcel its location and address, and to review the description itself for indicators of possible and probable complications. The gathering of this information requires about one to two hours of time and in some cases we may mull over the request for a few days to decide the value of the work required to go into the project. Once the contract and down payment are received the next order of business is the continued research that will include better analysis of the maps and available information, requesting a copy of the land description from a local title insurance company followed by some preliminary office calculations and CAD drafting to create unadjusted coordinate (northing and easting) points for the boundary. There is no way of knowing where these points may actually fall on the ground until they are tied into some other known points on the earth and hopefully within the vicinity of the property. This initial and somewhat nebulous information will be sent out with the field crew to assist them in finding monuments and control points needed for proper orientation and location within the government section or plat. The field work will consist of locating and 'tying down' (locating and connecting together) several monuments or control points as required for adequate determination of the bounds of the government section or plat in which the property is located. The field crew will bring back the field data for more analysis and calculations using trigonometric functions and more CAD work. The idea is to create real earth coordinate (northing and easting) points for all found control, controlling monuments, and any other items of interest such as markers set by other surveys in the area. These real earth controlling coordinate points will be used to adjust the calculated coordinate position of the boundary in question. Once the two coordinate systems (calculated and real to earth) are married together, the field crew will be able to use the controlling points that were set on or near the property to 'stake out' the boundary corners or 'run' the property lines as may be appropriate. At this time, once the bounds of the property are known, the corner markers and line points will be staked and all visible encroachments or uses upon the boundary line will similarly be located and eventually mapped on the survey document. One last review of the field data and previous office calculations will be performed and any pertinent follow-up communication with the owner will take place. Remember that state law allows us 90 days after the completion of work to draft and record the survey. It is typical to use much of this time, but in some cases the bulk of the drafting is completed not long or possibly before the field work. Finally, the survey document will be drafted and printed on an 18"x24" Mylar film and recorded with the County Auditor's office. The state also requires counties to submit copies to them for their records. A copy of the recorded document will be forwarded to the client. In the end, there are four places you will be able to get additional copies of the survey if more are needed: The surveyor who performed the work, the County in which the property is located, the state, and finally, a title insurance company. What a survey is not... A survey is not a guarantee of title or ownership. A survey is not always going to clear matters of title or ownership. A survey is not the final word in questionable or disputed boundaries. A survey is not a determination of ownership, it will at best, detail deed lines and occupation. Surveyor or attorney? As a surveyor, it is our duty to perform in the interest of the public and to act as agents of the court in a manner of speaking. If there are disputes of ownership an attorney will likely be your first stop. More likely than not, that attorney will tell you to get the property surveyed. Keep in mind, that an attorney knowledgeable and competent in real estate issues will be required to educate judges, juries and mediators when it comes to questionable boundary issues. ONLY THE COURTS can determine boundary lines but these determinations will be made with an adequate survey and a competent attorney. Why are there conflicting boundaries? It is generally true that boundary disputes and overlaps are a result of legal descriptions which were originally written and recorded without the benefit of the services of competent land surveyors; however, in some instances actual long established occupation on the ground will take precedence over recorded descriptions. In such cases of "acquiescence" or "adverse possession" the land surveyor, the attorney, and possibly the courts may be involved in finding a solution to the problem. What is a plat? A long plat, or what is commonly referred to as simply a 'plat', is nothing more than a formal subdivision of land into typically 5 or more tracts of smaller land for the purposes of resale. This means that at some point in the past a land owner petitioned the local jurisdiction to divide his large parcel of land into many smaller parcels with the intent of selling them off. A formal plat may contain dedicated or private roads and infrastructure. Performing a survey in a plat can be quite different than performing one of non-platted land. How do I know if my lot is in a plat? If your property is located within a housing development or named community such as 'Firwood Estates' you most likely own a platted lot. The best way to tell is by reading your deed. If your deed contains any of the following words; lot, tract, block, plat, subdivision, or volume and page you own a piece of platted land. You deed may likely read like this - "Lot 6 of Block 3 in the Plat of Hanley's addition to Citytown as recorded in Volume 3, at Page 71, Book of Plats, records of Mycounty,..." Or in the case of a short plat (A plat of 4 or less lots in most cases) some municipalities prefer that the lots are labeled using letters instead of numbers - I.E. Lot 'A' of Short Subdivision (or Short Plat) #332-1986. Methods of surveying a platted lot...
When surveying a plat, the first step a surveyor may take is to "lay out" the plat. In this, the surveyor will obtain a copy of the recorded plat from the county record (or possibly his own) and will begin to calculate the position of any monuments that were set and the relation of those to the lot. This is done by recreating (or drawing) the plat through the use of a CADD (Computer Aided Drafting and Design) software program. In a best case scenario, the surveyor will only need to calculate the position of the monuments that immediately surround the lot to be surveyed. This preliminary information will tell the surveyor if the distances and bearings between the monuments and those of the lot boundary have any errors, and also gives the surveyor a foundation from which to start his field measurements.
Next, the surveyor will send his crew out to find the monuments that control the property and take measurements between them as they exist on the ground. Once he has both the theoretical (Per recorded Plat) and the actual (as measured on the ground) position of all monuments he can determine where the lot boundary is and begin to set corners or check the position of existing corners as they relate to the controlling monuments. Controlling monuments... A controlling monument is one of several monuments that surround and encompass the perimeter of the lot to be surveyed. So if you were to create a closed figure (such as a square, rectangle, etc.) by drawing lines from one monument to, none of the lines would bisect the lot boundary, and all used monuments would be the nearest possible monuments to the lot boundary. Missing monuments / Monuments disturbed or out of tolerance... If a controlling monument is missing or "out of place" then by Washington state law, the surveyor must record a map called a Record of Survey or ROS with the auditor of the county within which the property lines. Monuments that match the recorded plat... If they match, or are within specified error tolerance, then the surveyor may proceed with "replacing corners" on a lot. Because the surveyor is considered to be replacing corners and not staking a new position from what is already a matter of public record (shown on the face of the recorded plat), he does not need to produce an ROS. This would be redundant information. Advantages of surveying in a plat... Local control is the key to surveys within a plat. This means a surveyor has monuments closer to your parcel and more specific information readily available to him to perform his duties. This is not always the case though and the cost of surveying in some plats, especially older plats (prior to the 1970's) can begin at several thousand dollars. Existing corners: Many newer plats (Plats created since the 1970s) have a greater chance that the corners were staked when the plat was created. These may still exist if care was taken during the construction of your home and the surrounding improvements, (Roads, gas, water, sewer, power, cable, etc.). Other more recent circumstances may have caused the removal or upset of your corner position, such as the installation of a fence, yard and landscaping improvements, accessory building construction, etc. The steps to locating a corner marker: The first step we recommend to many (platted) lot owners is to obtain a metal detector and try to find these corner markers yourself. Be aware that there is no guarantee of the accuracy or legitimacy of this piece of iron, if one is found. The law and the courts, as well as your neighbor may want more substantial proof that the iron pipe you found was correctly set and has not been tampered with. Only a surveyor can provide this information. If the corner marker has a surveyor's cap upon it, you have certainly found a corner set by a licensed surveyor. Cost savings: In Washington, the law allows a survey to be performed and corners to be staked (by a licensed surveyor), without necessarily recording a survey document. If such is the case, this can save the property owner several hundred dollars. In order to qualify, a surveyor must:
Is one surveyor better qualified to survey in a plat than another? All licensed surveyors have competence in many forms of surveying of all types. Most rules and principles of surveying that apply to non-platted surveys also apply to surveys in Plats. In some cases it can be to the land owners advantage to find the surveyor who originally laid out the plat if the plat is not too old. The next best thing is to find a surveyor who has performed work within your plat, and the closer to your parcel that his work was performed, the better. This may not necessarily mean a better price, but quite possibly it could mean a quicker turn around on the completed project and a better estimate, as this surveyor already knows what control is and is not available. If time is not critical, then do not let this be the only factor in your choice of a surveyor as each company has different pricing methods and many surveyors may have worked for other firms and may still be familiar with your area. What does a corner marker look like? A typical corner marker is a 1/2" to 3/4" iron pipe or metal rebar. A white wooden "guards stake": is usually set within 1/2 foot of the corner to mark its location and protect it from disturbance. This white, typically 1"x1"(or 1/2"x3") lot board is all too commonly mistaken as the corner marker itself. Do not make this mistake. If you have one of these white boards on your property or perhaps on your neighbor's property a corner is very likely nearby and will be 1"-6" below the surface of the soil.
NOTE: In 1972 Washington State legislature created RCW 58.01, commonly known as the Survey Recording Act. This law requires that all corners set in the performance of a survey, be recorded with the county in which it was performed. This recorded survey document must contain some basic information and all points set upon the ground must be adequately marked with the surveyor's registration number. A four or five digit number that belongs exclusively to one licensed surveyor that is issued upon passing the state board examination for land surveyors.
This means that atop all legitimate survey corners set since 1972 will be found, a 1/2"-3/4" plastic "cap" (typically yellow or white) with this number and possibly the surveyor's name, initials, or company name.
Thus, in a Plat created after this law went into effect all corners should have been marked with Iron/rebar and plastic LS cap. Subdivision of land... An example would be that if Mr. Jones has decided that he would like to divide his ten acre parcel into several more lots for resale and income. He approached the government agency (County or City) in which the property is located with a formal application to subdivide. He discovers that the maximum zoning density of his ten acres is one dwelling per acre, giving him a maximum potential of 10 lots. He contacts a surveyor to help him with the process of dividing his land. (In the old days, a subdivision of this sort was quite a bit less complicated, nor as costly as it is today in many highly populated counties). The Government agency will have many specific requirements that Mr. Jones must complete before granting him approval of the final plat. At the very least, this will include a survey of the total ten acres as well as the ten newly formed lots as well as dedication of roads and easements. The survey document... The drafting of a survey document can be a time intensive endeavor. It is upon this document that a surveyor must explain their work. This may include some or all of the following items as well as other items of interest. Primarily it will detail the relation of the property to pertinent monuments found, or who's position was calculated from other sources; distances and bearings of boundary lines; corner markers and line point markers set; structures or improvements that are in close proximity to or crossing the calculated boundary such as fences, garages, houses, and landscaping; important features of topography; the legal description of the parcel or its source (recorded deed); several notes that help to explain anomalies in the description or events and items of interest that pertain to the determination of the boundary. back to top |
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