Educational Information
"Helping your civil engineering and site development projects take flight"
The firm undertakes civil engineering and surveying services for both public and private sector clients. See our Services and Customers pages for further detail.
The
firm is also committed to educating high school and college students about
the professions of civil engineering and surveying. President Deborah
L Gosselin, PE is a frequent speaker at Career Days and similar programs
put on by educational institutions.
Types of Surveys
Many times people need to order a survey for one reason or another but are not sure what each kind of survey is called. The information below is designed to be a very quick explanation of each main type and typical range of costs.
Mortgage Survey: As the name implies, these are usually ordered by a bank or mortgage company in conjunction with the purchase of a home. These are the least expensive type of survey because property corners are not marked. The main goal of this type of survey is simply to assure the lender that the home or other building they are providing a mortgage for sits on the property being mortgaged and that there are no apparent encroachments onto (or from) neighboring properties. The survey drawing created shows the houses, garages, etc on the parcel and generally indicates the approximate distance of the house from the property line. Depending on where you live, a residential mortgage survey will likely cost between $150 and $300 dollars. Commercial mortgage surveys costs generally run higher.
Boundary Survey: This kind of survey is ordered when the owner wants to have all of their property corners marked. Reasons that boundary surveys might be ordered are that the land is for sale and a buyer requested such a survey, or there is a dispute with a neighbor over common property corners, or the owner plans to split a piece of land into smaller parcels or that the owner plans to build a building or addition on the land and wants to be sure that the building stays on the property. Boundary survey drawings typically do not show houses or other buildings on the parcel.
Fees for boundary surveys vary widely with costs depending heavily on how the parcel is legally described (watch for a future topic on this page about Understanding Legal Descriptions!). While size is a factor, with smaller parcels generally being less expensive to survey, the complexity of the legal description carries far more weight in price. Therefore, typical prices range from about $300 for a simple subdivision lot to $3000 or more for large parcels in less developed area.
ALTA Surveys: ALTA surveys are essentially a combination
of a mortgage and boundary survey and also require showing easements
that affect the parcel. In general, the level of detail required to be
shown on such a survey is higher and ALTA surveys are almost always
ordered for commercial properties. Fees range widely depending on
the size of the parcel and number of buildings and other improvements
on site.
Ms. Gosselin is also a member and past Chairperson of the Tri-State University Civil Engineering Advisory Board.