Survey Land Twice, Clear-Cut Once

While this saying may be taken from the carpentry profession where you “measure twice, cut once” I found an article with the above title that reminded me of some boundary line problems I’ve seen over the years. In most cases the land owners hired loggers to harvest timber on their property and the logging company got over the property line in their zeal to get the “biggest trees out there.” In those cases, it would have saved the landowner LOTS of money and trouble to have the boundary marked first by a licensed land surveyor.

    “If you want to be certain and not rely on (assumptions) … it should be properly surveyed,” said Herb Suderman, a real estate attorney.

This is a common occurrence in rural areas where more logging is done. BUT, boundary line problem occur regularly in the city by landowners building additions, drives, fences, pools, and storage buildings over the property line.

Even if you’re positive you’re not building over the property line, there are also utility easement lines and building setback lines on most lots that must be honored.

Be sure to check your property lines and your previous survey drawing before starting any building or land clearing project. As the cliche’ goes, you can “pay me now or pay me later.” And, I’ll add that it always costs more later.

    “In rural areas because it’s more expensive to survey a large parcel of land, often the surveys are not done,” he said, adding that can cause some “big surprises.”

And, while you probably won’t REALLY need to survey twice, locating your property lines FIRST is highly recommended before you beginning any logging or building project on your property.