Get matched with top land surveyors in Mitchell, SD

When planning for land survey costs, you should consider the following elements as major contributors to the overall cost:

• Size of your property in terms of acres or square feet

• Complexity of the terrain in terms of hills, elevation changes, rocks, water, and other features

• Type of survey you need (boundary survey, topographic survey, or a combination of survey types)

• Distance traveled for the professional surveyor

Land surveys don’t technically expire. They do serve as a point of reference and a snapshot of your property, though, so as soon as you make changes to your property (and even if your neighbor makes certain changes to theirs), your existing land survey becomes inaccurate, and a new one must be done. Even if you don’t make any changes to your property, many states only guarantee the accuracy of a land survey for five to ten years.

A land survey can take anywhere from a few hours to a month or more, depending on the size of the property, the type of survey, the property’s accessibility and topography, and the availability of historical property records. A simple boundary survey to determine a fence line can be completed in a day while surveying 50 acres of undeveloped woodlands may take weeks or longer.

If a buyer pays for a survey, the surveyor they hired will only provide results to them. It’s up to the buyer whether they share the survey results with the seller or not, even if they ultimately walk away from the deal. It’s considered good faith to share the results with the seller, though, especially if you back out of the deal, as the seller can then provide that survey to future interested parties.