A survey, the primary purpose of which is to document the perimeters of a parcel or tract of land by establishing or re-establishing corners, monuments, and boundary lines for the purposes of describing the parcel, locating fixed improvements on the parcel, dividing the parcel, or platting.

Creating a subdivision requires dividing acreage into smaller parcels or sublots. When designing a subdivision the land surveyor must also layout roadways, a variety of easements, building setbacks, etc.

Construction staking involves laying out survey points on the ground as a guide for constructing site improvements taken from plans prepared by design professionals. The different types of construction staking projects can range from a single house for an individual homeowner, staking a network of streets, roads, utilities for multi unit residential and commercial subdivisions to laying out large, complex, multistory building sites. It is the land surveyor’s responsibility to interpret the improvement plans and layout the project to fit the site as the design professional intended.

Land surveyors are often times called upon to draft a written description of the property for deeds or legal descriptions in the transfer of property. The drafting of such verbiage often times requires extensive research of the property, adjoining parcels and right-of-ways.