Survey cost?

[testrun]

Hi,
How much do you think it'd cost to have a crude land survey done of a 337,000sf plot of land in NYC? It is an L shaped property, with 8 bldgs on it. All that is needed is the property corners and the bldg corners.

Thanks,
Brian

 

[cvg]

have you done the research, ie: title search or do you have any kind of record of survey? When was it last surveyed - this century or last? Have you located the property corner monuments? Is it in the city or in the boonies? Not sure what a "crude" survey is. You probably need an ALTA and if so, it should be recorded.

 

[concretemasonry]

Not enough information to even provide a guess, let alone an estimate.

Everything will depend on what site/pins/monuments are available for a starting point. If it is an old parcel that has had recent subdivisons around it, it could get pricey.

If it is in NYC, there should be some starting or near-by reference points.

For a parcel that size and shape and the liability involved, the liability for an error since most licensed land surveyors do not do "crude work" because their life, reputation and insurance do not allow that type of work.

Every property corner must be established in relationship to the other adjacent properties and then the building corner locations must be determined after that.

If you want it cheap, find out who did the last survey or subdivision and contact them since they may have some old notes and records to refer to. It also may be good to find a politician since I am aware of the ways things work in NYC.

 

[Hoagie]

Assuming that you don't need any mapping AND that the field conditions vs. deed/records are in agreement (best case scenario)....I'd guess somewhere between $5000 and $8000. Again, no mapping of any sort and no stakeout.

 

[testrun]

Hi All,
Thank you for the information. This is starting to help. The property is on the water, and is used to hold special events. What I meant by "crude" is, the owner simply wants the property boundaries and existing buildings put on a drawing for a special event that is coming up. With this done the owner can see the usable space for the event. The existing fence line will be assumed to be the boundaries. A high level of accuracy is not needed. ...Still think in the $5000- $8000? That seems a bit high for locating the property boundary and corners of 8 bldgs. ...But hey, this is why I'm asking! You all know better than I do.

Maybe I could do a search for an old survey? ...I'll check Google.
Sincerely,
Brian

 

[cvg]

then just use google maps and trace it in autocad. you don't need a surveyor

 

[testrun]

Hi All,
No, Google maps wouldn't be accurate enough, but thanks for the suggestion. The perspective would mess things up, and possibly cause the locations of bldg corners to be off by feet.

Let me revise my last post, because I guess the best way to determine a cost for what needs to be done, is to first determine a cost for a conventional survey. With that in hand, then I would know the cost to do what needs to be done would be less than what the conventional survey cost is, because there would presumably be less effort involved.

Therefore, lets assume that there is no data on record for this property, and that it requires locating the corners of 8 bldgs and the fence that surrounds the property - which could be assumed to be the known property limits. Also, the property is shaped like an "L".

Does $5000 - $8000 still seem reasonable.

Sincerely,
Brian

 

[cvg]

survey crew for 1 day and cadd operator for 1 day. crew cost $125 - $200 per hour and cadd operator maybe $80 per hour

 

[GoldDredger]

Yes for what you are seeking that seems reasonable if you want to estimate a cost. Of course getting competitive bids from a couple of survey outfits is the best way to get the lowest price. Remember there might be other issues aside from scope to consider, for example how soon do you need it, turnaround time, type of deliverables, presentation, etc.

For that size site, about 8 acres, just getting building corners and fence lines is fairly easy, probably 2-3 days of field crew time at about $150 per hour. Since you are only needing 'horizontal control', ie not elevations or topography information, those 'shots' are easy to take.

After field crew time, there is office time to transfer and label the points to ACAD. Takes a technician at about $80 per hour half the time it takes the field crew (typically). Then add on about half again as much for project surveyor time, at about $140 per hour to review, oversee, coordinate, etc.

As far as property corners are concerned, you may want to omit that from scope if this isn't a land title survey you are performing (as in selling the land). Locating property corners is sometimes a time sink because they are hard to find, not there, require research to approximate location, etc.

For this it seems you could just locate building corners and fence lines, along with sidewalk widths. That is to say, if you are only concerned about how much available room you have for pedestrian ingress/egress for some event.

Good luck. If you do any work in Texas look me up, hehe.

 

[Spartan5]

If all that is needed is fence lines and rough (+/- 0.5') building location, one day of fieldwork should be plenty sufficient, with probably half a day of processing.

Fence lines are easy to shoot. And if this doesn't need to be spot on accurate, you don't need to shoot every building corner. Two corners of each building would suffice for location with the building dimensions determined from measurement or by plans. It really depends on the site layout, building shape, and how many setups would be required to shoot the all of the corners if choose to actually shoot all of them.

Using local control, assuming regular shaped buildings, and considering the fence as the boundary you are looking at 50-100 shots from maybe 3 setups. I'd be glad to have a whole day to do the work. Especially if it is sunny out!

Just make sure to put the appropriate disclaimers on the drawing so that is clear what it represents. I would hesitate to call it a "survey", instead, a "site drawing".

 

[testrun]

To All,
FYI: Each reply was helpful in one way or another, and I really appreciate it.

Sincerely,
Brian

 

[brandoncdg]

If similar to the Los Angeles area, you can go online and get the assessors map for your plot of land if you know the APN number. Then find out how big the building is. Or find the original architect plans?

I find it a bit scary that there is something less accurate than a survey done by a surveyor.

CDG, Civil Engineering specializing in Hillside Grading in the Los Angeles area

http://www.CivilDevelopmentGroup.com

 

[testrun]

@brandoncdg

Thanks, the LA Assessor's maps were good to look at to see how things are done in LA. Because of this post I actually ended up finding the NYC property tax maps, through the NYC dept of finance. The details they have are incredible, although I don't know how they obtained the survey info. Anyway, the maps were very helpful to me in being able to submit a proposal to create a "site drawing" (as Spartan5 said) for the prospective client. The maps are great, but don't stand on their own, because on site confirmation still needs to be made that nothing has changed.
Sincerely,
Brian

 

[brandoncdg]

Here in LA the Assesors Maps are a good reference and can be wrong. Typically the maps are pretty accurate though. The survey info no these maps is generally for the title companies use. It's a good start. In Los Angeles they having something called NavigateLA. You can get general Topography, utility info, maps, etc all for free online. I wonder if NYC has something similar. Check out the NYC Engineer website if there is one.

If you had architect plans along with this other info, you can do a very good rough number. I think a survey out this direction would be in the $3-4k range depending on how the site physically looks. Well at least with the Surveyor I like to work with, who happens to be cheap and very good.

CDG, Civil Engineering specializing in Hillside Grading in the Los Angeles area

http://www.CivilDevelopmentGroup.com