A property survey is a legal document from a professional land surveyor that presents a map of the property, including the property boundaries and structures attached to the boundaries. All the corners have GPS coordinates in the survey, and it will also contain any roads adjacent to the property.
Property surveys stay relevant for only a specific amount of time until a new structure is built or any other changes are made to the property. Doing so requires an updated property report, essential during the sale of a property.
Steps In A Property Survey
A surveyor will perform the following steps to prepare a property survey.
Review Ownership History
Before the start of a land survey, a surveyor reviews local databases to review the history of the property as well as conduct examination of other legal descriptions of the land, to ensure that there are no discrepancies regarding the ownership of the land.
Conduct Fieldwork
Once the ownership is established, a surveyor will measure the boundary lines as well as the dimensions of any properties, inside and adjacent to the boundaries. These could include fences, roads, lakes as well as garages, and trees inside the property.
Create Ownership Map
After the mapping of the property, a surveyor will provide a document that’ll display all the essential outlines of the property and its constituents, listing all the measurements made during fieldwork. The document will also include a description of the land, the address of the location, and the location of neighboring properties.
When To Get a Property Survey?
Building a Home
Residential land surveyors map out the entire property before the property owners decide to build a home, ensuring that there are no inconsistencies before the construction. And if there are, they can be fixed.
Financing a Property
Mortgage lenders demand a property survey to protect their investment. This ensures that they stay safe and aren’t involved in title boundary issues when re-selling the property.
Construction Project
Making changes to your property requires you to have a real property report, firstly to determine whether the current state of your property respects all the local requirements and an updated real property report once you’ve done your construction. Property owners will be required to understand all zoning restrictions & must design their property to fit these requirements.
How Much Does a Land Survey Cost?
Land Surveyors are of different types. A Real Property Report shows the position of the buildings and the property’s boundaries, in addition to any encumbrances present on the property. Site plans are a drawing of the property that displays improvements such as buildings, parking lots, fences or town services. This plan is usually required during commercial or institutional development.
Topographic surveys, on the other hand, show elevations on or under the property. They also include counter lines depicting the slope of the property. Topographic surveys are required before the development of a property, especially large buildings.
The cost of a land survey tends to vary with the type of survey, the location of the property, as well as the company hired. These surveys can range from $500 to $6,000, while the average cost goes around $1,500.
Property owners must contact surveying companies to get an exact quote. Core Geomatics, for one, is a leading residential land surveying company in Calgary, offering a ton of services at effective prices. Their decade-long experience has made them one of the most renowned players in the industry, across Alberta.
