Land Surveying Services

An as-built survey involves surveying a piece of property with all improvements shown. It documents what was actually constructed and where it sits relative to the boundary, easements, and building lines.

A boundary survey locates your property lines and corners. It gets the same field work and drafting as a title survey, whatever the size of the property, and shows the fences, easements, creeks, roads, and other features along and inside the boundary.

Construction staking lays out the points from the plans you provide, marking them on the ground so the work is built where the plans place it. It takes experienced office and field personnel: our office prepares the staking from the plans, and our field crew sets and marks the points.

A design survey is perhaps the most stringent and precise survey typically ordered by engineers and architects. It includes all the elements of a title survey and usually adds elevations; we always confirm with you whether elevations are needed.

An elevation certificate is the FEMA form that records a structure's elevations against the base flood elevation. The flood map determines which zone a property is in; the certificate documents how the building sits relative to the base flood elevation, measured and certified by a surveyor.

A form survey, also called a form board survey, is a survey showing the location of form boards for a concrete foundation. Typically required for inspection prior to pouring a slab, form surveys check that a concrete slab will not be encroaching within various easements or building setback lines once placed on the ground. A foundation survey checks for the same thing after the concrete has been poured and set.

A grade survey, also called a grading or drainage survey, shows the improvements on a property and the drainage of the lot. It can be performed on its own, or the grade can be included on a title survey.

A layout marks the locations for building an improvement, usually a house, on the ground. Where a lot stake marks the lot itself, a layout marks what will be built on it.

A lot stake survey, also called lot staking or pinning the lot, involves accurate and visual marking of a lot or tract's corners, and possibly boundary lines, to show a property's boundary on the ground.

A pad elevation survey records the elevation of the existing lot pad, the flattened area where the improvements will be placed, before the foundation is formed. There are many reasons you may want or need to know this information, such as checking for drainage issues or confirming the pad matches the grading plan. The same survey covers spot elevations: we record elevations at the specific points you need them, shown as values on the drawing rather than as topographic contour lines.

Best done once the build area has been benched, graded to its planned height, so the survey confirms the pad. Before grading, it can show the cut or fill needed to reach the planned pad elevation, as a cut and fill measurement.

A plat is a drawing of a parcel of land. More specifically, it is the drawing created by the surveyor that shows the field work, with bearings, distances, and the lots, blocks, streets, and easements being created or changed. We prepare subdivision plats for new development, replats that reconfigure previously platted lots, and amending plats that correct a recorded plat.

A plot plan, or site plan, is a drawing of proposed improvements, such as a residence or accessory building, on a property. It is typically used for permitting purposes.

A slab elevation grid survey, sometimes called a slab survey, produces a drawing of the property that shows the elevation of the concrete slab throughout the house. It can be done before the house is framed, after framing, and even after a house is completely built.

When a business — a day care, a private school, a game room, a bar — wants a location the property is not zoned to allow, the city may permit the use through a specific use permit. The request goes through the zoning process and is granted by the municipality. Not every Texas city zones, and some call the same mechanism a special use or conditional use permit, so the first question is what your city calls it.

A title survey is a comprehensive examination and reporting of significant factors affecting a tract's boundary lines, right-of-way lines, setbacks, and easements. The parties to a transaction — the title insurance company, lender, buyer, and seller — all benefit from a title survey at closing.

A topographic survey is a survey showing the contours and elevations of a property. It gives engineers, architects, and property owners the ground information they need for drainage, grading, and site design.

A tree location survey records the location and trunk diameter at 4.5 feet above ground of located trees, and marks them if needed. Usually, a tree location survey is a city requirement for locating specific trees that may need to be replaced if building plans remove them.