How much does land-surveying cost in upstate NY and what does he service include?

Question

I own a large piece of land in the Catskills which was already legally subdivided before I purchased the property. There is a 4 acre lot (with the house on it), as well as 10 acre parcel surrounding that. Then there are two adjacent lots of 2 acres each, as well as a 2.5 acre lot and I believe one smaller 1/2 acre lot.
Roughly how much will the survey cost and what would be included (ie. will they stake or mark the different lots in some way, will they provide a small map of some sort, will they "walk the land" with me to point out the different boundaries)? Also, what info will I need to provide them prior to starting the survey (ie. will they be able to determine which plots of land I are mine on their own)?
Thanks!

Answer 1

We just had this service done in Oregon, so while I can't say what this would cost where you are, I can safely tell you what will happen and what you will end up with.

1) The surveyor you hire will go to the county surveyor's office and see if there are any previous surveys that have been done on your property. Because you mentioned there was a house on the land, this is probably the case. These existing surveys will show permanent iron pipes that may be on the property to use for reference in detemining boundaries. You can see these same documents - they are public.
2) The surveyor will also pull up a copy of the legal description of the land from the county records. This information is also public, and is located in the county clerks/recorders office.You should also have gotten a copy of this with your title to the property. It will describe the property in terms of township, range, section and then lots. Depending on the age of the legal description, it may state something like "6 chains from the large oak tree" which is obviously difficult to identify, or something like "beginning 300 feet NE from the iron stake identified as xxxxxxx".
3) The surveyor will walk your property. They will place temporary marking stakes for their use and will reference and cross reference their marks, trying to tie them to other points that have already been surveyed and have the most precise descriptions (like my second example above).
4) The surveyor will locate the corners for all of your various lots and parts. They need to find these or it is impossible to go to the next corner correctly. Often this involves uncovering or in some cases, digging down to a steel rod placed at a corner of your property.
5) The surveyor should then walk the property with you and show you where all of the corners are. If the terrain doesn't allow this to happen easily, they may just tell you what they found and you would have to walk it without them.
6) They will take their findings, put them down into a new survey map. You will receive one copy and another copy will be filed with the county surveyors office and available to the public.

Some things to consider. The more of the property and corners they survey, the greater the cost. Also the rougher the terrain, as you are paying for their time. If you don't need all of the corners on an inside piece marked, it saves you money. Another thing to consider is that when you survey a border between you and a neighbor, if you don't negotiate a split of the cost BEFORE the survey is done, then they benefit from your work without having to pay for it. If there is a legal dispute and the property hasn't been surveyed recently, in a court case the judge will generally require the property be surveyed and that the cost be split between you - because it benefits you both.

Hope this helps!

Answer 2

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