How much to get lot surveyed on the Big Island

[CyberCity]

To each their own. But I'd not be wanting to buy property, or build a house, unless I knew for sure where the property lines were. A "do it yourself" survey, done by someone who is not knowledgeable, can be as reliable as a "do it yourself" concrete job... great, until the cracks start showing up.

[HiloDiver]

Originally Posted by CyberCity

To each their own. But I'd not be wanting to buy property, or build a house, unless I knew for sure where the property lines were. A "do it yourself" survey, done by someone who is not knowledgeable, can be as reliable as a "do it yourself" concrete job... great, until the cracks start showing up.

+1

[1hotnspicy1]

When the original developers performed the original surveys, I wonder where they reported that information?

Oh, yea, to the County Planning Department. If it's a subdivision, the county Planning Department has the "Subdivision Book"; you can sit in their office and look through the book like in the reference section of a public library. It's a Very Very interesting read thanks to the Gov. Ariyoshi gang.

There's Lat/Long & elevation in the books and who doesn't have a gps iphone? Our new neighbor found his back pin in about 8 minutes and he's a skinny, pasty 23 year old Minnasota'an who never heard of the word 'machete' before.

Metal detectors don't work on most of the island, according to the metal detector rental places.

And we ALWAYS pour our own crackless slab, footings/foundation.

When we signed our real estate contract for purchase, there was a clause that said that we needed to make sure, even though our AGENT was our AGENT, we needed to make sure to consult with:
An Attorney,
An Accountant
An Appraiser
An Architect
A Pest Control Expert
A Home Inspector
An Insurance Advisor
A Contractor
A Land Surveyor
An Electrical Engineer
A Civil Engineer
A Structural Engineer
A Soils Engineer
A Land Use Professional
A Zoning Expert
An Environmental Engineer
A Designer
An Estate Planner
A Title Insurer
Other Professionals, and/or "Subject matter experts"

People can't even pick their own nose.

[1hotnspicy1]

That's actually pretty funny!

[CyberCity]

Yea, well, like I said, to each their own. Of course, I'm the type that likes having, for example, a professional MD consult on my major medical questions, instead of the just the neighbor with google on his cel phone, but hey, that's just me.

[OpenD]

In my case, measurements didn't help, GPS didn't help, and metal detectors didn't help, because the pins were buried 3' deep under soil that had migrated over the years due to erosion from uphill properties and street paving and utility pole placement.

With an approximation from all of the above, what actually worked was excavating the general area with pick and shovel until we found the first one, and then repeating the process with a little more precision for the rest.

[Gyva]

Thanks everyone got a good idea of what to expect now.

[terracore]

2021 update. To get four monuments located: $1,500. To have a point set on the property line (like for marking where a fence would be), $175 per point.

[hotzcatz]

We paid a bit more for that about twelve years ago to have some new pins placed, but it was a small lot and no jungle hacking. That was an interesting lot, though, one of the pins was six feet up a cliff side, no wonder it had been hard to find.