Certification Survey

What is it?

A certification survey is a property survey that assesses the location of buildings and drives on the property. The purpose of a certification survey is to verify that there are no encroachments between your property and neighboring properties. Encroachments can take on many forms. For example, your house or building could be built on a property line shared with a neighbor. In this case, your house or building would be considered an encroachment on your neighbor’s property.

Why do I need it?

Certification surveys are often requested by banks or mortgage companies to assure that there are no legal issues with your property’s boundary that may affect the investment value of the property.

How do you do it?

Our firm starts by doing standard research where we obtain tax maps, recorded plans, and deeds of your property and all adjoining properties. After reviewing the research, the survey crew goes on-site to locate known boundary markers and other physical features of the property that are referenced in the research. In order to accurately locate buildings and other required features, the crew will set many temporary wooden stakes or masonry nails that act as temporary measurement references. After taking measurements in the field, the team uses specialized CAD (computer-aided design) tools to validate the crew’s measurements in order to draft a property drawing. The data and drawing are carefully reviewed and signed by the firm’s licensed surveyor. The survey can be provided as physical paper copies or by standard electronic file formats.