Land Survey Cost / Surveyor Recommendation Needed (insurance, attorney, house)

[Obrero]

I need to get a land survey of a single family property in Morris county. It's about 0.9 acre. I got a quote for $650 with no markers. The markers are $200 each (yikes) if required. This seems high to me.....can anybody comment on the price or suggest a Land Surveyor I might try. Thanks.

[tahiti]

Originally Posted by UKOK

I need to get a land survey of a single family property in Morris county. It's about 0.9 acre. I got a quote for $650 with no markers. The markers are $200 each (yikes) if required. This seems high to me.....can anybody comment on the price or suggest a Land Surveyor I might try. Thanks.

we never actually picked one ourselves (i guess we relied on our realtor), but coincidentally david smith (yes, real name, lol) out of mount olive did ours 2 times. this was a long time ago so i don't know price. the surveys were fine and turnaround time was good.

when we bought our current house 7 yrs ago we had the option of markers but decided again it b/c it was somewhere around $150/each? so when you say $200 it doesn't surprise me. it's outrageous, IMHO!

[Obrero]

Originally Posted by tahiti

we never actually picked one ourselves (i guess we relied on our realtor), but coincidentally david smith (yes, real name, lol) out of mount olive did ours 2 times. this was a long time ago so i don't know price. the surveys were fine and turnaround time was good.

when we bought our current house 7 yrs ago we had the option of markers but decided again it b/c it was somewhere around $150/each? so when you say $200 it doesn't surprise me. it's outrageous, IMHO!

Thanks. I should be in the land surveyor business. I was expecting it to be around $500. $650 just seems like a rip off.

[BobKovacs]

Originally Posted by UKOK

Thanks. I should be in the land surveyor business. I was expecting it to be around $500. $650 just seems like a rip off.

Well, maybe you should spend 4 years in college to get a degree in surveying, spend 4-6 years working under a licensed surveyor to get enough experience to qualify to take the licensing exam, pay $10-15k/year in errors-and-omissions insurance to avoid a lawsuit due to an employee's error, and buy $20k worth of digital surveying equipment and $5k worth of software to save yourself that "ripoff".

In order to do your survey, they need to spend time finding the local points of reference to establish your property boundaries from- both via public records and then in the field. A two-man crew is then going to spend several hours at your property to survey it (or one guy with a $40-50k data-collecting GPS system), and then someone has to draft up the actual survey, prepare a written meets-and-bond description, and deliver it all to you. $650 sounds like a good deal to me for almost an acre of property. Getting a legitimate company to do virtually anything for less than $500-600 is becoming more difficult every day when you factor in the true costs of operating a business.

Bob

Bob

[Obrero]

Originally Posted by BobKovacs

Well, maybe you should spend 4 years in college to get a degree in surveying, spend 4-6 years working under a licensed surveyor to get enough experience to qualify to take the licensing exam, pay $10-15k/year in errors-and-omissions insurance to avoid a lawsuit due to an employee's error, and buy $20k worth of digital surveying equipment and $5k worth of software to save yourself that "ripoff".

In order to do your survey, they need to spend time finding the local points of reference to establish your property boundaries from- both via public records and then in the field. A two-man crew is then going to spend several hours at your property to survey it (or one guy with a $40-50k data-collecting GPS system), and then someone has to draft up the actual survey, prepare a written meets-and-bond description, and deliver it all to you. $650 sounds like a good deal to me for almost an acre of property. Getting a legitimate company to do virtually anything for less than $500-600 is becoming more difficult every day when you factor in the true costs of operating a business.

Bob

Bob

Perhaps you should chill out. Your completely pointless lecture offers no value, except for the joy you must obtain from hearing yourself spout off.

My home inspection didn't cost that much and the house is huge and ancient. I guarantee the home inspection will take longer than a survey. I have already done some research and $500-$550 seems to be the going rate, so it seems you got on your high horse for nothing. The $650 quote was $100 too high, as I thought.

[BobKovacs]

No high horse here- I was just offering you an avenue to save yourself $100-150. Looks like you found another way to do it by calling around and getting more numbers.

Bob

[NewHomeHappy]

[area201]

I like this guy... he would give all info you need over the phone...unlike some others....Alan at 908 222-9966 or Frank at 732 339-9350.. I will share my exp once my survey is done!

[wileynj]

Originally Posted by BobKovacs

Well, maybe you should spend 4 years in college to get a degree in surveying, spend 4-6 years working under a licensed surveyor to get enough experience to qualify to take the licensing exam, pay $10-15k/year in errors-and-omissions insurance to avoid a lawsuit due to an employee's error, and buy $20k worth of digital surveying equipment and $5k worth of software to save yourself that "ripoff".

In order to do your survey, they need to spend time finding the local points of reference to establish your property boundaries from- both via public records and then in the field. A two-man crew is then going to spend several hours at your property to survey it (or one guy with a $40-50k data-collecting GPS system), and then someone has to draft up the actual survey, prepare a written meets-and-bond description, and deliver it all to you. $650 sounds like a good deal to me for almost an acre of property. Getting a legitimate company to do virtually anything for less than $500-600 is becoming more difficult every day when you factor in the true costs of operating a business.

Bob

Bob

Are they requiring a degree now? back in the day..when you were still clinging to your mum's bossom : ) - no degree was required.

UKOK..is there an existing survey for the property? If so, are there any changes to the original layout? If not, you may be able to have the original surveyor just recert the original survey...if he or she is still around that is. Mine cost the builder ..$600.00 5 yrs ago for a 4 acre piece. I stiffed him at the closing for the survey costs because his attorney was an a** and should have included it in the closing cost schedule and he didn't... so oh well - not my fault.

[Sergio M]

Use someone that is local, they know where the monuments are, also, a well established engineering firm will probably have the modern equiptment. Surveys today are much more accurate than even 10 years ago.