Land Surveyor Blogs

S t r i p p e r :  C o n f e s s i o n s  o f  a  L a n d  S u r v e y o r
B y  P e a n  C h e n e y i n g  P L S

(Originally published in Gulf Coast Surveyor, September 2011 under the column "Chain!")

PART 2

STRIP NAKED

Joe called saying he wanted a Land Survey to define a strip of land he was occupying next to the recorded lot he owned that he wanted to purchase from his adjoiner. He said he had read some positive reports about our firm and that is why he was contacting us. A current tax mosaic was

S t r i p p e r :  C o n f e s s i o n s  o f  a  L a n d  S u r v e y o r
B y  P e a n  C h e n e y i n g  P L S

(Originally published in Gulf Coast Surveyor, September 2011 under the column "Chain!")

PART 1

Striptease

I received a phone call from Joanne who said she was purchasing a home on a lot in a block of a recorded subdivision. She said she needed a Land Title Survey. I pulled the current tax report on the property, the current tax mosaic showing the property and sent her these along with a p

So last time we did a cursory review of the PLSS and went over the basics of simple legal descriptions.  We start the survey process at the office looking up the original surveys for the area, I’m a history buff so I love reading the original notes, and looking at the original maps. Then we head to the courthouse to research deeds for not just the parcel of land that we are surveying, but also all of the adjoining deeds to look for any issues that may involve junior or senior rights. Then we hea

Gerr I lost my data.. Be it a picture, a survey job, a letter or some other item you took a few minutes to a few hours, days creating. Here is a example. I had this whole article typed and in this box and hit submit and the page failed to load. It got lost in the digital wasteland that is wifi to my router and on to the internet to the sever that is LSU. where did it go?? I dont know but if I typed it local and hit save then copied and pasted it I would have a backup. Thats where we start... AGA

Do you ever wonder what the pros use to make your computer run right? Well here is a list of a few that I use to make it run better. This is by no means a complete list but it is a good list to get you started and save a few bucks.

AVAST
The BEST antivirus out there in my experience is AVAST. It is fast, stable blocks everything that has ever tried to attack my system and doesn’t slow my computer down like Norton or some of the others. I am not saying the others don’t protect you. I am saying that

I have been talking with some of the wonderful folks on here and I think I can help some of you and learn from many of you. I am a computer and network systems engineer and by NO means a surveyor. So what brought me here.. Well when I was in school I worked as a survey tech and construction inspector for about 5 years and I still help my uncle as a rod man when he needs an extra hand on a weekend here and there. So let’s get down to what brought me here. My uncles Recon is a little slow compared

The first part of this series we looked at what a Surveyor is, and does.  This article will look at what a Land Survey is, and will briefly look at the history what is called the Public Land Survey System or PLSS which is the basis of most non-colonial surveying.  This article will by no means be exhaustive--but will be longer than my normal posts.  The story you are about to read is true, only the names have been changed to protect the innocent...

The Public Land Survey System or Rectangular Sur

Center 1/4 Corner.PDF

For photos posted 11/30/2011

Contract Contingencies
I would say that most people who have gone through the real estate purchasing process are familiar with purchasing contingencies.  They find their “dream property” and make an offer to purchase.  If they are replacing their existing home they will typically want to make the purchase IF their current house sells.  So they put a contingency into the contract that allows them to back out of the contract if their house does not sell.  Sometimes there is a contingency for finan

It’s All Greek to Me

At one time or another you may have heard the terms “surveyor,” or “land survey,” or “land surveying.”  You might have an idea of what a surveyor is–the most common image people imagine is of someone standing in the middle of a road, blocking traffic, with a funny looking “camera” on top of a large tripod.  To be certain, that person is a surveyor, and that funny “camera” is what is known as a Total Station.  A Total Station is a precision instrument used to measure angles a

Sadly, I discovered something a couple of days ago while checking out my Klout Score. I had recently unfollowed a LOT of land surveyors on Twitter due to inactivity or simply lack of use and noticed that my score actually went up! I try to not unfollow surveyors who are on this network, but I am seeing that if I were to do so, I'd probably go up in score another 10 points. Why does this matter? Because the ever fluctuating Klout measures a person or entity's overall influence on the web, taking

Every so often we will find a property corner that is monumented multiple times.  This is often referred to as a “pincushion” corner.  Property law and the law of boundaries demand that an existing monument that was originally set in order to represent a property corner be honored by all following land surveyors. By this definition, a land surveyor is either an original surveyor who is establishing new boundary lines and setting corners for the very first time, or the land surveyor is doing a re

Think about what you always considered to be job security, and flip it inside out.

When you join a Support Group on LSU, you are immediately on your way to customizing your own unique support network based on your general (or specific) location, a topic which you are passionate about or a type of equipment which you are either learning or have already mastered.  Your profile and network becomes more diversified and your influence grows according to your particular level of participation.

 Ever

Hello!

I am interested in possibly starting up my own private land surveying business. I was just looking for some information and/or tips from some people that have done this and been through it themselves. With the amount of money needed to get into the business, i would hate to start off wrong. Some questions i would have are:

How much money would I be looking at to buy all the equipment and to get my business going?

How do I begin to determine what a person should charge when running a business