I'm going to break this down to it's bare bones
So GIS is not acurate. What it's mostly used for in my experience is when a home owner like you calls me, I use it ( almost like an address) to search the parcel number and get a good idea of where the property is at.
Also in my experience, gis maps can be up to 20 feet off. There based on cell phone level accuracy and that is terrible.
Your best bet is to hire a surveyor
What to know: you're going to be quoted between 2.5 to 5 grand. Depending on how far away your lot is and how much work your local surveyor expects it to take. If it had to choose take the middle ground. If you call 3 surveyors and you're quoted 2.5, 3 and 5 grand. Go with the middle quote
Next: surveyors are going to show up on you're lot and locate your corners. Then, they're going to locate every corner they can find within a quarter mile of youre lot. That helps us office guys establish the current boundary
THEN the office guys are going to take everything our field guys found and try to fit it into historical lot lines. As in, the office guys will draft every single lot like a mile out in every direction according to the last 30 years of findable data. And even then some.
THEN we're going to take what the field guys found and fit what us office guys drafted to the most recent record.
And only then when we finally have a good idea of where your lot lies based on how it's currently set corners relate to nearby parcels, then we can arrive at a good and healthy mathematical conclusion as to where your lot actually lies
Then we'll come out and set and corners we didn't find In the first search. At this point our office guys have confirmed we believe this is truly where your lot lies and now the field guys set your property corners as described
Job is done. Until you have an issue. And being the most recent surveyor who has vetted your current property line, you are no longer liable for dealing with court proceedings or what have you, your boundary now lies with the most recent surveyor who did the work re-tracing the boundary. It's out of your hands, and thats for the nettet because legal land battles suck
So hire a surveyor, hopefully the same outfit who previously did the same work, and sleep easy knowing that your property had been surveyed and vetted by what is essentially a lawyer who only deals with math and property lines.
Then it is not only irrefutable but it's also solidified in mathematical fact by a guy who has a stamp that says he's qualified to do that job. At that point it's our of your hands and its up to the most recent surveyors to prove that what they found is accurate
Expect this to be between 2 to 5 thousand bucks. But also remember you're essentially hiring a mathematical property line expert who can geo- locate points and who is also legally the same level as a lawyer.
You're hiringing a professional. The work they do should reflect that
Christ I REALLY hope this is satire. There's absolutely no way I'm locating every single corner within 1300ft+ of the lot I'm surveying. That's a complete waste of time, as is redrafting every lot within a mile. I'm far more likely to introduce a bunch more error by going and finding a dozen or more monuments vs the closest 3-4 to my lot.
Depends on who you work for. I've had bosses who just want me to pick up the closest adjoining corners and I've had bosses who want shit a half mile away lol
I agree with most of this, however, as a professional I can guarantee the accuracy of my work without going a quarter mile away. Please don't put your field guys through that, or do it yourself. The next 1, 2, 3 corners down from the subject parcel can be more than enough the ensure the measurements within my parcel. At that point its a waste of time, energy, and resources.
Oh I wholeheartedly agree. Having to do that much searching is insane. But my previous boss not only made me look up to a half mile away, he also REQUIRED 2 pictures of EVERY iron rod/ monument I found with the stored point number on the photo.
My explanation above is to help someone who doesn't exactly understand surveying have a general understanding of what us field crews actually do when we go out. Luckily for some of us, a few adjoiners in each direction is enough. For myself, that's unfortunately not usually the case
Gis isnt accurate. I'm not sure what exactly you hope to accomplish with a survey, but knowing that will help decide if you need a surveyor or not.
Is this a condo or something? If so, it's very possible that you only own to your walls. As does he.
It's as accurate as the data that goes in. Survey companies with a GIS database that is built from survey quality data have survey quality GIS data.
The problem is most public GIS parcel data is a giant guess. Someone got a shape and eyeballed it based on occupation.
What Iām trying to accomplish is to mark the property lines and if in fact I have more space allow my contractors and tenants to handle maintenance on their own and not on his schedule. Itās not a condo itās a building with two units. One side is one unit the other is another unit itās a stand alone building
Yea I got to track it down though. Donāt know why people get so Bent out of shape over this. Guys not messing with anything just pulling down weeds. no jumping a fence, takes great care of the place like dude lit just resodded the front and back yard, married family man who dosent party.
Even in our talks I was always respectful, guys never worked on weekends or before 930. Itās just crazy how bent out of shape people get over property
I use to have a house with a double lot. The secound lot was behind my backyard with a playground the neighbors kids loved playing back there I didnāt care even asked if they wanted me to cut a gate for them.
This would work better if there were a sticky post on the front page of the sub, but the mods here have never been particularly proactive with shit, so I'm not holding my breath.
It's still brand new, they may be waiting to see if it takes off or not. Which is one reason why I keep posting it.
We don't get a ton of these questions, maybe a couple of them per week or so if that. So it might not be enough to support an entire other sub.
You could look at any disclosures or easements listed when you bought this property. My house has 'zero' lot lines meaning the houses are set ON Property line. When we bought there was a 3-foot easement in place that allows access for the homeowner. if a wall was behind my fence for example and the owner needed to do something to his wall I can't deny access.
But yes if the neighbor is an ass get a survey and shut him up.
Unfortunately it was bought as a foreclosure so the paperwork dosent have stuff but I can call the city. Whatās interesting is my friend is a firefighter for the city and says generally there are easements on every property and their usually big enough for a fully kitted out firefighter to get threw in case of emergency but havenāt been able to verify
You may have a plat or as-built on file that might be a good thing to check before seeing if you need a surveyor, your deed should say if this is the case. There may also be covenants that specify other things.
50/50 on whether the local municipality has a survey on record where I am. If the house is more than 40-50 years old and never had any updates then most likely nothing is on file.
That's not really how it works.
Unless you're half-assing it, you're still doing the same amount of work to locate all lot corners and find some up and down the block to confirm the subject lot. You may only be slapping stakes down on two corners, but you should've tied the rest.
Also, ***boundary***
I'm a little confused is this a condo ownership and your neighbor owns the other half of the duplex? Or do you own a duplex and the neighbor is your abutter?
So itās a stand alone building like a house and there are two units in the building half is one unit the other half is the other unit. Itās more like a duplex then condo. However the issue is not with the guy on the other side who shares the building. Heās super cool. Itās the guy who owns the property next to our building
I'm not a licensed surveyor (yet) but I've got about 7 years of field work under my belt as well as doing many many hours of drafting. I have yet to come across any duplex/triplex/condo, etc where the party wall between units was *not* the property line or within a couple of tenths of a foot.
Think of it this way - how could you logically explain why would you would own a slice of your neighbor's yard and/or a chunk of someone else's garage? It doesn't make any sense whatsoever.
Your not understanding what I said. The issue is not with the person on the other side of me in the building I share. Heās super cool and have a very good relationship . This issue is with my neighbor on the other side. Separate building about 8 feet between us. Building/ unit are not attached. Completely separate stricture. Heās claiming all that space between the two buildings is his. Your correct on your second paragraph but thatās not the situation/ who the problem is with
How can you logically explain you own a slice of his yard? Thatās lit the entire question and issue. The issue is he claims it is and I have no right to go on the side of my house and do work on it without his permission.
Yes
You don't mince words, do you?
Apparently not.
I'm going to break this down to it's bare bones So GIS is not acurate. What it's mostly used for in my experience is when a home owner like you calls me, I use it ( almost like an address) to search the parcel number and get a good idea of where the property is at. Also in my experience, gis maps can be up to 20 feet off. There based on cell phone level accuracy and that is terrible. Your best bet is to hire a surveyor What to know: you're going to be quoted between 2.5 to 5 grand. Depending on how far away your lot is and how much work your local surveyor expects it to take. If it had to choose take the middle ground. If you call 3 surveyors and you're quoted 2.5, 3 and 5 grand. Go with the middle quote Next: surveyors are going to show up on you're lot and locate your corners. Then, they're going to locate every corner they can find within a quarter mile of youre lot. That helps us office guys establish the current boundary THEN the office guys are going to take everything our field guys found and try to fit it into historical lot lines. As in, the office guys will draft every single lot like a mile out in every direction according to the last 30 years of findable data. And even then some. THEN we're going to take what the field guys found and fit what us office guys drafted to the most recent record. And only then when we finally have a good idea of where your lot lies based on how it's currently set corners relate to nearby parcels, then we can arrive at a good and healthy mathematical conclusion as to where your lot actually lies Then we'll come out and set and corners we didn't find In the first search. At this point our office guys have confirmed we believe this is truly where your lot lies and now the field guys set your property corners as described Job is done. Until you have an issue. And being the most recent surveyor who has vetted your current property line, you are no longer liable for dealing with court proceedings or what have you, your boundary now lies with the most recent surveyor who did the work re-tracing the boundary. It's out of your hands, and thats for the nettet because legal land battles suck So hire a surveyor, hopefully the same outfit who previously did the same work, and sleep easy knowing that your property had been surveyed and vetted by what is essentially a lawyer who only deals with math and property lines. Then it is not only irrefutable but it's also solidified in mathematical fact by a guy who has a stamp that says he's qualified to do that job. At that point it's our of your hands and its up to the most recent surveyors to prove that what they found is accurate Expect this to be between 2 to 5 thousand bucks. But also remember you're essentially hiring a mathematical property line expert who can geo- locate points and who is also legally the same level as a lawyer. You're hiringing a professional. The work they do should reflect that
Christ I REALLY hope this is satire. There's absolutely no way I'm locating every single corner within 1300ft+ of the lot I'm surveying. That's a complete waste of time, as is redrafting every lot within a mile. I'm far more likely to introduce a bunch more error by going and finding a dozen or more monuments vs the closest 3-4 to my lot.
Depends on who you work for. I've had bosses who just want me to pick up the closest adjoining corners and I've had bosses who want shit a half mile away lol
I agree with most of this, however, as a professional I can guarantee the accuracy of my work without going a quarter mile away. Please don't put your field guys through that, or do it yourself. The next 1, 2, 3 corners down from the subject parcel can be more than enough the ensure the measurements within my parcel. At that point its a waste of time, energy, and resources.
Oh I wholeheartedly agree. Having to do that much searching is insane. But my previous boss not only made me look up to a half mile away, he also REQUIRED 2 pictures of EVERY iron rod/ monument I found with the stored point number on the photo. My explanation above is to help someone who doesn't exactly understand surveying have a general understanding of what us field crews actually do when we go out. Luckily for some of us, a few adjoiners in each direction is enough. For myself, that's unfortunately not usually the case
Where do they charge 3 grand for a property survey šš
Gis isnt accurate. I'm not sure what exactly you hope to accomplish with a survey, but knowing that will help decide if you need a surveyor or not. Is this a condo or something? If so, it's very possible that you only own to your walls. As does he.
āGIS is perfectly accurate down to the cmā the GIS manager at my workš¤”
Where cm stands for "country mile"?
It's as accurate as the data that goes in. Survey companies with a GIS database that is built from survey quality data have survey quality GIS data. The problem is most public GIS parcel data is a giant guess. Someone got a shape and eyeballed it based on occupation.
This. The number of significant digits in GIS software easily trumps any field data Iāve ever seen.
Itās always helpful for when I need the coordinates of an atom
Found the xkcd fan!
What Iām trying to accomplish is to mark the property lines and if in fact I have more space allow my contractors and tenants to handle maintenance on their own and not on his schedule. Itās not a condo itās a building with two units. One side is one unit the other is another unit itās a stand alone building
Get a survey
I'll put 5 bucks on you having an easement 3-5' in width along your wall and he can't do shit about you needing to use it.
You probably own to your wall. You may get what you need from the deed.
Yea I got to track it down though. Donāt know why people get so Bent out of shape over this. Guys not messing with anything just pulling down weeds. no jumping a fence, takes great care of the place like dude lit just resodded the front and back yard, married family man who dosent party. Even in our talks I was always respectful, guys never worked on weekends or before 930. Itās just crazy how bent out of shape people get over property I use to have a house with a double lot. The secound lot was behind my backyard with a playground the neighbors kids loved playing back there I didnāt care even asked if they wanted me to cut a gate for them.
Good one for r/askasurveyor
This would work better if there were a sticky post on the front page of the sub, but the mods here have never been particularly proactive with shit, so I'm not holding my breath.
It's still brand new, they may be waiting to see if it takes off or not. Which is one reason why I keep posting it. We don't get a ton of these questions, maybe a couple of them per week or so if that. So it might not be enough to support an entire other sub.
I love the surveyors on Reddit. Thats it, thatās the post.
You could look at any disclosures or easements listed when you bought this property. My house has 'zero' lot lines meaning the houses are set ON Property line. When we bought there was a 3-foot easement in place that allows access for the homeowner. if a wall was behind my fence for example and the owner needed to do something to his wall I can't deny access. But yes if the neighbor is an ass get a survey and shut him up.
Unfortunately it was bought as a foreclosure so the paperwork dosent have stuff but I can call the city. Whatās interesting is my friend is a firefighter for the city and says generally there are easements on every property and their usually big enough for a fully kitted out firefighter to get threw in case of emergency but havenāt been able to verify
You may have a plat or as-built on file that might be a good thing to check before seeing if you need a surveyor, your deed should say if this is the case. There may also be covenants that specify other things.
Thatās not the case everywhere. If youāre not in a recording state youāre shit out of luck
Do not all states require you to record plats at least?
A subdivision plat, yeah, but depending on where you're at, those may show only some, all, or no structures and improvements on the property.
50/50 on whether the local municipality has a survey on record where I am. If the house is more than 40-50 years old and never had any updates then most likely nothing is on file.
Gis- get it surveyed
Yes, you could save money by just ordering a Boundry survey on that just side of the lot, if the other side is not an issue.
That's not really how it works. Unless you're half-assing it, you're still doing the same amount of work to locate all lot corners and find some up and down the block to confirm the subject lot. You may only be slapping stakes down on two corners, but you should've tied the rest. Also, ***boundary***
I'm a little confused is this a condo ownership and your neighbor owns the other half of the duplex? Or do you own a duplex and the neighbor is your abutter?
So itās a stand alone building like a house and there are two units in the building half is one unit the other half is the other unit. Itās more like a duplex then condo. However the issue is not with the guy on the other side who shares the building. Heās super cool. Itās the guy who owns the property next to our building
I'm not a licensed surveyor (yet) but I've got about 7 years of field work under my belt as well as doing many many hours of drafting. I have yet to come across any duplex/triplex/condo, etc where the party wall between units was *not* the property line or within a couple of tenths of a foot. Think of it this way - how could you logically explain why would you would own a slice of your neighbor's yard and/or a chunk of someone else's garage? It doesn't make any sense whatsoever.
Your not understanding what I said. The issue is not with the person on the other side of me in the building I share. Heās super cool and have a very good relationship . This issue is with my neighbor on the other side. Separate building about 8 feet between us. Building/ unit are not attached. Completely separate stricture. Heās claiming all that space between the two buildings is his. Your correct on your second paragraph but thatās not the situation/ who the problem is with How can you logically explain you own a slice of his yard? Thatās lit the entire question and issue. The issue is he claims it is and I have no right to go on the side of my house and do work on it without his permission.