Services

Turning Point Surveying, PLLC offers a wide array of land surveying services. A registered Professional Land Surveyor performs both the field and office tasks, ensuring that you get the most accurate, efficient and quality service.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Boundary Retracement Surveys

A boundary survey is performed in order to establish the boundaries of a parcel using its legal description and other supporting information which typically involves the setting or restoration of monuments or markers at the corners or along the lines of the parcel, often in the form of iron rods, pipes, or concrete monuments in the ground, or nails set in concrete or asphalt. In the past, wooden posts, blazes in trees, piled stone corners or other types of monuments have also been used. A map or plat is then drafted from the field data to provide a representation of the parcel surveyed.

Architectural/Design Surveys

A combination of boundary and topographic surveys for preparation of a site plan to be used for designing improvements or developments, and obtaining government building permits. A design survey is used by engineers and architects to design the new improvements and/or structures.

Topographic Surveys

A topographic survey depicts the topography or the "lay of the land" of a specific parcel(s). Elevations are taken with surveying equipment at several points on the property and plotted on paper. Lines, called "contours", are drawn to connect identical points of elevations.

This type of survey may be useful for planning applications where determination of the Base Flood Elevation per the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) needs to be determined or more accurately depicted. It could also be used to show drainage of rainfall. A topo survey may often be confused with a design or architectural survey.

ALTA/ACSM Land Title Surveys

An "ALTA Survey", as it is most often called, is a land survey that meets the specifications set forth in the ALTA/ACSM Land Title Survey Standards. "ALTA" stands for American Land Title Association, which is the national trade association and voice of the abstract and title insurance industry. "ACSM" stands for American Congress on Surveying and Mapping, which is a non-profit educational organization whose goal is to advance the sciences of surveying and mapping and related fields.

This type of survey is specifically designed to satisfy lenders, title companies, attorneys and other corporations when dealing with valuable commercial properties. You can download a copy of the 2005 Minimum Standard Detail Requirements for ALTA/ACSM Land Title Surveys by visiting http://www.acsm.net/alta.html.

Mortgage Location Reports

Often misconstrued as a "real" survey, a Mortgage Location Report is nothing more than a simple map that proves a home or other structure is located on a specified parcel of land. We do provide this type of report, but we do not provide them as "drive-by surveys" like many other companies. Yes, you will likely find a lower price elsewhere, but you won't get the level of service and verification we provide.

We actually perform the research necessary and spend some time in the field to correctly verify the existing parcel boundary and locate the building(s) accurately. Our report will show these measurements with comparisons to record measurements as well as accurate dimensions from the structure(s) to the parcel boundaries.

Construction Staking

This is the process of establishing and marking the position and detailed layout of new structures such as roads, buildings and parking lots for subsequent construction. Wooden hubs are set in the ground, accompanied by lath with information written on them by the surveyor indicating their 3D location and what they are referencing. Surveyors determine where to set these hubs based on design plans provided by a licensed engineer. Construction contractors use this information to grade and build the improvements accordingly.

As-Built Surveys

This type of survey is much like a design or architectural survey in that it shows current conditions of a particular area or parcel of land. However, an as-built survey is usually provided shortly after the completion of construction and often used to verify the site was built as designed. It may also be recorded by a government planning or public works department for future reference and use.

Property and Easement Descriptions

Often called a "legal description", this service may or may not require a physical survey of the parcel or easement to be described. This document provides a specific description of a parcel of land or easement and is usually used for conveyance to another party in conjunction with an appropriate deed or easement form.

To better clarify the intent of the description, Monument Land Surveying also includes an 8.5" by 11" exhibit, which is a map showing the property or area being described, including the same references used in the description. It is highly recommended to include this exhibit when submitting the description to title companies, attorneys or other parties, including the County Recorder.

Boundary Line Adjustments

Often called a "Property Line Adjustment", this type of survey is basically a follow-up to a result from an application filed with a local planning department to have a particular boundary line moved or "tweaked". The survey provides documentation of said adjustment and the surveyor sets new monumentation at the new location(s). In addition, the surveyor will often provide property descriptions to be used in conveyances between the adjacent property owners to finalize the adjustment.

RECOMBINATION Plats

 

For cases where you are moving property lines within several tracts and you finish with the same number of  tracts as you started with, or combining multiple tracts into one. These require prior approval from the appropriate city or county planning department. Once you obtain the conditions of approval, we will follow them in our survey. This type of survey will include a boundary survey of the land, setting monuments at new parcel corners, replacement of existing corners if necessary, recording of the plat with the county register of deeds, and copies of the plat for the client.

 

Subdivision Plats

A subdivision plat is a map based on a survey of a parcel of land. Boundary lines are drawn inside the larger parcel to indicate the creation of new boundary lines and roads rights-of-way. The number and location of the newly created lots, are usually discussed back and forth between the developer and the surveyor until they are agreed upon. At this point, monuments, usually in the form of iron rods or pipes, are driven into the ground to mark the lot corners and curve ends, and the plat is recorded with the local county. The recording or filing of a subdivision plat is highly regulated by the State of Oregon and local municipalities.

Condominium Conversions

A condo conversion is a process whereby an existing apartment complex (rented units) is converted into condominiums (to be sold). For most local jurisdictions, this is treated similarly to a subdivision plat in many ways, but quite differently in others. Because condos are sold based on volume, each unit has to be surveyed on the inside -- that is, horizontally and vertically and to include all measurements that make up the interior space. Common areas such as decks, balconies, recreation facilities, parking lots, parks, etc. and all visible on-site utilities must also be surveyed. The collected field data must then be transformed into a plat map, which must show all of these details. As one might imagine, both the field and office survey tasks can be very extensive and detailed.

Right-of-Way/Route Surveys

Reconnaissance, preliminary surveying and location surveying for an alignment or linear type feature such as a road, railroad, canal, pipeline or utility line.

Utility Location Surveys

Much like a design survey, a utility location survey provides exactly what it says but focuses specifically on utilities. Many times the existing mapped utility information from various utility companies will be combined with the newly-surveyed data to provide a full map of all utilities in the designated area.

Flood Certifications

A survey which completes an Elevation Certificate Form by FEMA which is used when Flood Insurance is purchased and demonstrates the vertical relationship between the buildings and the base flood elevation (if defined).

CAD Drafting

The latest technology in hardware and software allows surveyors to provide digital mapping services for each type of survey. Because we have this technology on hand, we can also provide mapping and drafting services specifically for your needs. For instance, we can provide survey mapping for other surveying and engineering firms who are over-booked or don't have qualified staff to provide these services. We can also prepare tentative and conceptual plat maps, sketches required by planning departments for specific types of applications and more.