Preparation
A land surveyor will get an order to survey a certain portion of land for many reasons. It could be the sale of a home or lot or the planning of a subdivision, or someone may simply want to erect a fence. Whatever the reason, the surveyor must first obtain certain information about the land. Identification numbers that it has been assigned, present owners and location are just a portion of the information he will gather before he does the actual field work. This may require time on the computer or a trip to the local records room of the county government. Once the preparation work is done, the surveyor will move on the field work.
Field Work
The field work may consist of finding a starting point to the land and using his information found in his preparation to measure each portion of the land until he gets back to the starting point. He has special equipment to do the measuring, and when reaches a point, he will mark it for future reference. Sometimes the land is wooded or grown over with weeds, and a line will need to be cut in order for the surveyor to accurately measure. In the case of planning a new subdivision, the field work is much more complicated and could take weeks or even months to complete. Once the fieldwork is completed, the surveyor will move back to his office with all his newly gathered measurements and information.
Mapping the Survey
Today most surveyors use a CAD machine to map out their surveys. CAD stands for computer aided drafting; the surveyor can input his information into a computer, and the CAD draws out the survey for him. The actual paper survey contains important information. It gives the measurements to each line of the property and if there are buildings on the property, the measurements of the building and how far off the property lines they are. They will include driveways, pools, sheds and garages. Anything that affects the property will be on the survey. Any property that borders water are especially difficult because water lines change so frequently. Once the paper survey is completed, the surveyor signs, dates and seals the survey to be a true copy. Then he passes it on to the person or entity that ordered it from him for a fee.
Tags: field work, surveyor will, completed surveyor, paper survey, planning subdivision, portion land