FAQ
We are contacted with this question often. Here is what we suggest doing.
- Arm yourself with information: find out the building permit number, land owner's and builder's contact information, how to contact the municipality, and/or WorkSafeBC (if you see something unsafe).
- Builders are required to obtain a recent survey for new construction or renovations. Ask them for a copy, even a digital one. If they cannot provide one, contact the municipality.
- Getting a survey performed should be a last resort (it will be costly).
This depends on the type of the survey you require, your timeline, and the end product you would like to receive.
To help answer this question, please provide a land surveyor with details about your project such as: a brief description of the project, address of the property, project timelines, and cost expectation (if applicable).
No, they do not. Between federal, provincial and municipal governments, there is a lot of information related to ownership, utilities and infrastructure. However, this information is collected for government purposes only and does not go into the detail needed for individual properties. Matters such as property lines between neighbours, site surveys, and land development almost always require a BC Land Surveyor to be involved to create an accurate, up to date survey.
A topographic survey is typically valid for 6 months. For example, most municipalities only accept survey plans that are less than 6 months from the date of survey. When a survey was originally done by our company and needs updating, we are able to update certain work that is more than 6 months old without redoing the entire survey. This depends mostly on what has changed on site since we last visited.
One of the most important factors is whether or not the boundary markers and reference points are still there.
There are a variety of occasions when a survey of your property might be necessary, including:
- building a new house;
- adding on to existing house;
- requested by a lending institution;
- property line clarification;
- adding any structure to your property (garage, carport etc)
We are open to working all over British Columbia, but our primary areas of service are Vancouver, Burnaby, North Shore, and Bowen Island.
