<p>We are in the early process of working with an architect to tear down a small building on our property and build a larger one. The architect recommends that we get a topographic/boundary line survey before proceeding. Since I don’t want to ask him a dumb question and you guys are so smart…why do we need this and about how much should it cost?</p>
<p>One possibility: </p>
<p>Since the new structure is bigger than the old one, you need to make sure that you are in compliance with property line setbacks as spelled out in your zoning code. If you don’t know where your boundary line is (with surveyors stakes?) than a new survey might be needed.</p>
<p>Also, if there are slope issues with your new footprint, you’ll need to consider drainage. No idea what the cost should be.</p>
<p>No doubt the city requires the architect to submit a site plan with accurate boundary dimensions. You should have had a boundary survey commisioned when you bought the house? Most Americans do.</p>
<p>The architect also needs to show the city the grade levels between the house and the outside grade. There are regulations regarding minimum heights. The architect must also show a drainage plan to the city.</p>
<p>If you are doing an addition, you might also consider getting a geo survey done on the soils.</p>
<p>your neighbor will also appreciate the fact that the contractor doesn’t accidentally build the new building on his/her side of the property line. :)</p>
<p>Encroachments (yours or your neighbors) are a nightmare in subsequent property sales. If you are near the property line, your architect is doing you a favor by recommending the survey.</p>
<p>I mentioned this before…while our home was under construction, our neighbor built a fence that was located barely over the property line. During the routine survey prior to our closing, the encroachment was discovered and our title company refused to close. We were held up for a month as we went through unimaginable bs getting that fence moved. We had to make temporary living arrangements and reschedule utilities, furniture deliveries, moving company, etc… We didn’t even care that the fence was on our property, but title company was not about to close, so we had to pursue it.</p>
<p>Echoing the others…brother in law, living in rural central Illinois built a new storage building. His 1+ acre lot butts up to a narrow (non-buildable) strip of land that is native grasses that separates his land from corn/bean fields. When he had the new building put up, it was larger than the previous one, and ended up approximately 3 feet over his lot line. Field owners threatened to sue, they offered to purchase the 3’ strip of land (mind you, this part can’t be farmed), and the owners refused. Piece by piece, they dis-assembled the new building and moved it over 4’. Get the survey…it’s way worth it.</p>
<p>Around here:</p>
<p>There are full boundary surveys (run in the $1000 to multi $thousands in cost). Such surveys can be used in legal boundary disputes. They are expected (but not required) when large parcels are subdivided for sale.</p>
<p>There are also what used to be called “Class D surveys”, now called “Mortgage Inspection Plans.(MIPs)” These usually cost in the range of $150-200. They cannot be used in boundary disputes and are so stamped directly on the survey document.</p>
<p>What these MIPs <em>are</em> used for: mortgage lenders require them to ensure that the structures on the lot are in compliance with zoning setback requirements. Cities and towns will accept them with submittals of planned remodel/expansions/outbuilding construction - to ensure that these are in compliance with zoning setback requirements.</p>
<p>As others have said, re-sales can be held up if structures are found to be in violation of setback requirements. Or decks, outbuildings can be required to be disassembled. Houses can also be found to have, inadvertently, been constructed in violation of setbacks. I have never heard of a house having to be torn down, or the corner “shaved off” :eek:. But the owner, when the situation is found, has to seek a variance and it is always a pins and needles situation, more complicated than I am going into here.</p>
<p>Obtaining an MIP is cheap at the price when one is contemplating a major investment in buying or expanding the structure on a property. And that is all that is required “around here.”</p>
<p>YMMV.</p>
<p>Thanks to everyone. It all makes sense now. Probably a good idea as we already know we have one pesky neighbor and a question about whose property an existing fence is on. </p>
<p>Forget what all those kids say, you people are smart!</p>
<p>Don’t know about where you are, but here you can’t pull the building permit without an engineered site plan and you can get the CO without an “as built”.</p>
<p>Same rules here but the architect will be doing that work…when we did a remodel on our home we had the same architect and permit, and CO rules but with this it is a mixed use property and I was just curious why the architect was recommending the boundary survey. I think it is mainly as others posted because we want to use as much of the property as possible. Plus our home is in an unincorporated area and the mixed use is within city limits.</p>
<p>In our County every municipality has slightly different rules, but they all require surveys of some sort for just the reasons mentioned. (One town in particular requires that the slopes be notes and has all sorts of special rules if you have any steep slopes on the site.)</p>
<p>Yes, we are finding out that the rules are very specific. We have to address the fact that we don’t have a handicapped ramp, we have to “pay” for parking spaces from the city or put them on our property, etc. We have plenty of street parking but that is not sufficient. If we cannot put the required number of spaces on our property they want us to pay $13K per parking space. Ouch.</p>
<p>Two moves ago, we sold our house in Ottawa to a wealthy couple who moved there from Asia. They didn’t like our remodeled kitchen (sniff, we thought it was great, oh well) and ripped it out to make a much larger addition that went much closer to the property line. I later learned, from a newspaper article sent by an old acquaintance there, that the next-door-neighbors brought suit against them and they had to tear down their new addition to comply with property requirements on sidelots between houses. I felt badly for everyone involved.</p>
<p>We have a rule that if you add more than 200 sq. ft. of impervious surface to your property you have to plant a tree or if you don’t want one, pay into the town’s tree fund. Parking rules can be really annoying. You aren’t allowed to park in front of a house except when the space is in front of a garage facing the street. So when my clients remodeled their garage into a rec room we had to build a new driveway on the side of the house. They’d always parked in the street anyway since that driveway was very steep - (basement garage).</p>
<p>My neighbors have been in the process of a major construction project for the last 2 months. It appears that boundaries must be determined in advance so that the workers will be sure to throw all their cigarette butts and fast food wrappers in MY yard. . .;)</p>
<p>Please be kind to your neighbors–this won’t be fun for them.</p>
<p>atomom,
I hear you. Actually we are in the construction business so I understand what you are saying. When I walk around construction sites I am always amazed with the trash and can’t understand why they can’t find a trash can. I tell my “guys” I better not find there trash all over the place and stock the trucks with trash bags.</p>
<p>We had a quote of $1,200 to survey two of our three property lines on a 1-acre parcel (it’s a triangle).</p>
<p>Zoning fun: we now have the “critical areas ordinance” in King County, Washington – also known as the “people in Seattle like to have nice rural areas to drive through so they forced through legislation to make it impossible to build anywhere in the county outside Seattle and Bellevue.” A good friend built a 2,000 square foot house on a 5-acre rural lot in the ONLY place on the lot that was buildable according to the CAO. His builder waited until July to do have the CAO evaluation done because a shallow rain puddle on the property might have been considered “wetlands” requiring a huge buffer area leaving the entire lot unbuildable. I miss SoCal sometimes…</p>
<p>EDITED: The CAO also started the “if you see a cattail in ditch, tear it out rule.” Cattails automatically mean “wetlands” and “wetlands” automatically mean an 80- to 300-foot radius buffer zone. (This means that my friend’s winter puddle would have made a 160- to 600-foot circle unbuildable. According to him, anyway.) If homeowners tear out young cattails it’s slightly less likely to be a wetlands.</p>
<p>EDITED2: A 28-year-old second-story deck on my house rotted away. To build a replacement, and not even an expansion, I will need to fill out 13 county permitting forms, including a CAO impact statement. To replace a 175-square foot deck that has been there for 28 years. The plans review will cost – well, who knows? The county won’t even provide an estimate. A builder friend says I should allow at least $600-1,000 for the permits for my replacement deck. Including the fee to review the environmental impact statement.</p>
<p>Our neighbor approached us a few weeks ago to split the cost of tearing down two enormous cottonwood trees on the property line. They bother his drainage system, and have a minor impact on us because the cotton blows onto our screens and is a mess all over our lawn. We split the cost, so it was $400 from us total. Now I wonder if I was, pardon the pun, a sap. But I AM enjoying the new sunshine, as both properties were too heavily treed. I love trees, but people plant enormous ones very thoughtlessly near houses, never imagining them 20 years later. Do you think I shouldn’t have paid it? I rationalized it as being a good neighbor, but maybe I was a doormat there.</p>
<p>No, you did the right thing. You are getting benefits beside neighborliness. Now you get to put in plants that enjoy mor sunshine!</p>
<p>My neighbor and I split the cost of trimming some HUGE laurel bushes that start growing on his side but were more of a problem for me (blocking the light to the kitchen window). We compromised on how low to cut them, and we are both happy.</p>