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Land surveying, simply speaking, is the science and art of establishing or re-establishing property corners, property lines and/or boundaries.

There may be different reasons why someone wants a chunk of property surveyed. Essentially the most common is to determine whether a piece of land is vulnerable to flooding, to subdivide real estate to sell or deed to members of the family or know if there are any encroachments. This might happen when a neighbour disputes that you are using a piece of his lot or vice versa (for more about this, go here).If you have to have a piece of land surveyed, first thing will come to mind is “how much does it cost?”

There are numerous factors determining just how much land surveying on your land would cost. The fact that this sort of service needs to be done by an expert contributes a lot to the total cost of the service, but choosing a non-professional to survey your land is dangerous, and probably illegal for the non-professional. That is why you need to take a good look around before settling with a surveying company. If you must work inside a particular budget, discuss this with the surveyor up-front. Very often he may manage to offer cost saving steps to get the work you need done within these cost limits.

The form of the land also needs to looked into. A square or even a rectangle piece of land is easier to survey than an odd shaped parcel, or one with lots of sides. With the latter, the surveyor will have to take more time in surveying the curves as well as the bends meaning the cost of the service would increase. The overall measurements the land is also an important factor here.

Understand that the cost of land surveying is normally proportionate to the time and effort that a land surveyor would spend on the project. If the land that you’re having surveyed is not accessible, or has thick vegetation, then the total price of the survey could go higher. This is true of the weather conditions which could affect the work. Surveying in warm weather is sort of slower to keep from putting the crew members in danger. Also, most surveying cannot be done in the rain.

When requesting for a quote, keep in mind that surveyors base the estimate on expected conditions at the site. These conditions could change, resulting in additional costs. Always inquire about these potential additional cost scenarios.

All that being said, competitive prices are also to be expected, this is why we recommend choosing a surveyor based on his experience and reputation rather than on the price he writes on a piece of paper. Usually it is far better to invest a good amount of money on a survey that’s well-done rather than pick a company with a very “affordable” price but have the survey repeated because the results were wrong.To conclude, always discuss the costs of the survey before you decide to ask the surveyor to start his work. You should also obtain a contract that lets you know what is expected of the land surveyor. This is one of the most important steps in having your land surveyed.