A land survey can reveal many key pieces of information about the piece of property that you wish to purchase. They help you to understand not only the boundaries of your property but also vital things to know about it such as the locations of pipes or other buried utilities. The land surveys we produce may seem complex at first, but they’re very consistent and easy to explain.

What Am I Looking at?

The first step to reading the land survey produced by First Choice Surveying is to identify the constituent parts of the survey. You are looking at a geometric, two-dimensional drawing showing the boundary and footprint of the structure from an “aerial” view. The illustration is a map of the surveyed area, along with any topographic or utility-oriented data.

Find the Survey Legend

All surveys include a survey legend. A legend is used to decipher the abbreviations that are used on a survey.

What are boundary lines?

Our illustration will note the boundaries of the property, along with details such as angles, latitude and longitude, and the square footage of the property itself. Boundary lines show the measurements of your property. When looking at a survey, this is depicted in the magenta color. You’ll notice these lines will appear “thicker” than all other lines.

How do I know where my boundary is located?
The corners of your property are usually marked with a reference monument, whether it’s an iron pipe, nail and disk or concrete monument. They are typically buried 3”-6” in the ground. The building/structure is colored in neon green and the dimensions of the footprint of the house. Fences are usually shown as some pattern of dashed lines and labeled.

Easement Rights  

Please note that easements are not ownership but are legal rights of access to the property. For example, a 10’ utility easement gives the utility company a right of access to that portion of your property to maintain, improve or install utilities. The homeowner cannot restrict this access by constructing any improvements on the easement.  First Choice Surveying uses dashed red lines on the survey to denote easements.

Curve & Line Data:

This line data shows the property’s distance in an abbreviated format in order to fit on the page.

B.S.L or Building Setback Line

This is an area in which the municipality determines which part of the lot you can build on. Building setback lines are shown as black dashed lines and are labeled BSL.

Additional Information

Our land surveys will always provide the same basic pieces of information such as the address, the legal description of the property, whether or not it’s in a flood zone or otherwise prone to a natural disaster for insurance purposes, any encroachments on the property from neighboring properties, the surveyor's notes, an indication of the certified owner, as well as the signature and seal of the surveyor.

First Choice Surveying is one of the premier land surveyors in the state of Florida. Order your survey online at www.firstchoicesurveying.com If you have any questions about your order, reading your land survey, or would like to discuss your unique surveying needs, you can contact our office by email at customerservice@firstchoicesurveying.com or by phone at 407-951-3425.