Boundary surveying cost

[1100011CS]

My family has ~80 acres of land and on one side the adjoining land owner seems to think they can treat our property as theirs. So, I'd like to get it surveyed and put up some marker posts just to let them know where the line actually is. So, my question is what can I expect to pay for that service, roughly? Is it a few hundred? A few thousand? More? This would be on the edge of a crop field that has some timber along the 'fence' line although there is no fence anymore.

 

[CyVeteran]

I would guess $500-600.

 

[aauummm]

I am a Civil Engineer and I could address this but I'm sure that there are others on here who are surveying consultants who could address it in more detail than I can.

 

[PineClone]

My family has ~80 acres of land and on one side the adjoining land owner seems to think they can treat our property as theirs. So, I'd like to get it surveyed and put up some marker posts just to let them know where the line actually is. So, my question is what can I expect to pay for that service, roughly? Is it a few hundred? A few thousand? More? This would be on the edge of a crop field that has some timber along the 'fence' line although there is no fence anymore.

I'm not an expert on this, but here is something worth consideration...

We had a boundary dispute with a new neighbor who moved in and claimed that our fence was on his property. The fence had been there for 18 years, and we agreed with the neighbor on where it should be built. This was a constant point of contention from the new neighbor, and was years of passive-agressive behavior on his part. After he came over and started cutting down trees on our property, we finally decided to take more formal action.

We went ahead and had a surveying company come out and take some GPS readings of various landmarks (trees, fence posts, retaining walls, driveway) along the property line. They then used existing survey monuments in the neighborhood to calculate the location of the property boundary in relation to those landmarks. They provided us with an official (stamped) exhibit map that showed the "calculated" property line and the mapped features. We sent it to the neighbors by certified letter that basically said, "We had a professional surveyor locate the property boundary...blah blah blah, the issue is resolved." We deliberately did not say "We had the property surveyed", because it wasn't technically an official survey recorded with the county.

This only cost us a few hundred bucks 5 or so years ago. Our understanding was that an official survey would have been significantly more expensive, partly due to the recording fees.

 

[CyVeteran]

Let me clarify.......my $500-$600 estimate was not surveying the entire 80 acres.....just identifying the corner pieces on the side of the property you are concerned about. Had the same issue on a property I listed last year.

 

[Clonedogg]

I'm not an expert on this, but here is something worth consideration...

We had a boundary dispute with a new neighbor who moved in and claimed that our fence was on his property. The fence had been there for 18 years, and we agreed with the neighbor on where it should be built. This was a constant point of contention from the new neighbor, and was years of passive-agressive behavior on his part. After he came over and started cutting down trees on our property, we finally decided to take more formal action.

We went ahead and had a surveying company come out and take some GPS readings of various landmarks (trees, fence posts, retaining walls, driveway) along the property line. They then used existing survey monuments in the neighborhood to calculate the location of the property boundary in relation to those landmarks. They provided us with an official (stamped) exhibit map that showed the "calculated" property line and the mapped features. We sent it to the neighbors by certified letter that basically said, "We had a professional surveyor locate the property boundary...blah blah blah, the issue is resolved." We deliberately did not say "We had the property surveyed", because it wasn't technically an official survey recorded with the county.

This only cost us a few hundred bucks 5 or so years ago. Our understanding was that an official survey would have been significantly more expensive, partly due to the recording fees.

...AND?
Was the fence line right the whole time, or was the neighbor correct? Did the neighbor "cut-out" his shenanigans? Say F-U I don't believe it and continue on with his escapades?

 

[Tri]

My family has ~80 acres of land and on one side the adjoining land owner seems to think they can treat our property as theirs. So, I'd like to get it surveyed and put up some marker posts just to let them know where the line actually is. So, my question is what can I expect to pay for that service, roughly? Is it a few hundred? A few thousand? More? This would be on the edge of a crop field that has some timber along the 'fence' line although there is no fence anymore.

I do have experience hiring surveys for farmland. Assuming your land is relatively accessible and even better if the crops are not present at the time, you will get quotes all over the place. But plan on $1,500 +/- $300 in my experience. I just hired someone today actually.

 

[BCClone]

I do have experience hiring surveys for farmland. Assuming your land is relatively accessible and even better if the crops are not present at the time, you will get quotes all over the place. But plan on $1,500 +/- $300 in my experience. I just hired someone today actually.

This has went up. About 10 years ago we had a full job done for $500. Retired guy.

 

[houjix]

This has went up. About 10 years ago we had a full job done for $500. Retired guy.

I know for our LS to even put his name on paper it's going to be more than that. The $1-2k isn't out of the range of possibility depending on the services required. We are definitely on the high side, though. Little jobs like this, it's better to find a smaller survey firm.

 

[DeereClone]

This has went up. About 10 years ago we had a full job done for $500. Retired guy.

Every surveyor here is very busy and can just simply name their price. Put me in the $1,500+ camp.

 

[PineClone]

...AND?
Was the fence line right the whole time, or was the neighbor correct? Did the neighbor "cut-out" his shenanigans? Say F-U I don't believe it and continue on with his escapades?

I could go on and on about the neighbors and was trying to avoid that in my response.

The fence angled onto their side by a maximum of 1.04 feet, at the very end of the property. So the total encroachment was like a 10-foot-long triangle, with the base of the triangle being 1.04'. Total area of encroachment would be less than 5 SF. This was hugely different than what he had been claiming, which was that the property line ran through the corner of our house, and was 8-10 feet along the entire property. At one point he made a big stink and said that he was going to have a surveyor come and measure from a different monument. I told him to go for it, and to please let me know in advance so that we could allow access to the surveyors. Of course he never followed through, but continued to complain.

We sold our house about a year ago and couldn't be happier with our new property and neighbors. We did disclose the boundary dispute in the sale documents and to the buyers, and provided them with the survey information. We understand the neighbor tried the same BS with the new owners and they told him to go pound sand.

 

[JayV]

Every surveyor here is very busy and can just simply name their price. Put me in the $1,500+ camp.

That's is the case for us, in eastern Iowa. Not sure about other locations in the state.

Like others have said though, it will vary by location and how far a surveyor has to travel to get to the site.

It will vary by how much information exists. If the corner monuments are present and just need to be found that's cheaper than having to start working out looking for surrounding monuments and calculating back in.

It will vary by the line of sight between monuments. If there are scrub bushes blocking the sight can they be removed or do they have to be worked around.

And it will vary by schedule. If you want a survey done tomorrow, we can do it, but it won't be cheap. If you can accept being added to a list and we get to you in order that's different.

And there will be other variables.

That said, even though everyone is busy, we'll still discuss and get you an estimate.

 

[Cydkar]

I would guess $500-600.

Too low. Double at least.

 

[isufbcurt]

Just make a fake one and give it to the neighbor they will never know.

I wrote a fake letter to my neighbor from the county giving them 1 week to get all the garbage out of their yard or face a $2500 fine per day over the 1 week. It worked for now. LOL

 

[GMackey32]

My Dad is a Land Surveyor, I should pimp him out to survey people's yards and take 20% of the cut lol.

 

[Cydkar]

That's is the case for us, in eastern Iowa. Not sure about other locations in the state.

Like others have said though, it will vary by location and how far a surveyor has to travel to get to the site.

It will vary by how much information exists. If the corner monuments are present and just need to be found that's cheaper than having to start working out looking for surrounding monuments and calculating back in.

It will vary by the line of sight between monuments. If there are scrub bushes blocking the sight can they be removed or do they have to be worked around.

And it will vary by schedule. If you want a survey done tomorrow, we can do it, but it won't be cheap. If you can accept being added to a list and we get to you in order that's different.

And there will be other variables.

That said, even though everyone is busy, we'll still discuss and get you an estimate.

The best is when people call over the noon hour and ask if we could come out before the end of the day.

 

[BCClone]

Just make a fake one and give it to the neighbor they will never know.

I wrote a fake letter to my neighbor from the county giving them 1 week to get all the garbage out of their yard or face a $2500 fine per day over the 1 week. It worked for now. LOL

Person who I sold a house to tried this with me. Claimed I didn’t correctly disclose stuff in the sales info. They threatened to sue me if I, the realtor, or inspector didn’t give them 14k. I’ve seen crap like that before so I sent it to my lawyer and he said he would be happy to pound them down if I needed him to. Never heard another word.

 

[JayV]

The best is when people call over the noon hour and ask if we could come out before the end of the day.

Of course we can. If they are prepared to pay for that.

 

[VeloClone]

Of course we can. If they are prepared to pay for that.

I constantly have to tell our sales people that there are three qualities: Good, Quick, and Cheap. They can choose a maximum of two when they are making promises of what we can do.

 

[NWICY]

I could go on and on about the neighbors and was trying to avoid that in my response.

The fence angled onto their side by a maximum of 1.04 feet, at the very end of the property. So the total encroachment was like a 10-foot-long triangle, with the base of the triangle being 1.04'. Total area of encroachment would be less than 5 SF. This was hugely different than what he had been claiming, which was that the property line ran through the corner of our house, and was 8-10 feet along the entire property. At one point he made a big stink and said that he was going to have a surveyor come and measure from a different monument. I told him to go for it, and to please let me know in advance so that we could allow access to the surveyors. Of course he never followed through, but continued to complain.

We sold our house about a year ago and couldn't be happier with our new property and neighbors. We did disclose the boundary dispute in the sale documents and to the buyers, and provided them with the survey information. We understand the neighbor tried the same BS with the new owners and they told him to go pound sand.

Similar situation Had the same neighbors for 30 yrs, new guy moves in moves the fence over a foot we move it back he moves it again and threatens to sue we moved it once more and split the difference and have decided to just ignore him. It's timber adjoining a field and there was no field loss.

I do enjoy it when his cattle get out and I knock on the door tell him them walk away. I wouldn't piss on him if he was on fire, let alone help him get his cattle back in.