E.D. Lewis & Associates, P.C.
804-285-3948
An E.D. Lewis total station on a tripod in a grassy field beside a company truck

Land surveying in Richmond & Central Virginia

Boundary, ALTA, topographic and physical improvement surveys, plot plans and construction stakeout.

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Which survey do you need?

The appropriate deliverable depends on what the survey is for. We can discuss the records and submission requirements that apply to your property.

Boundary surveys

Researching and field-locating all existing evidence, then determining and establishing the legal property lines and corners. The evidence is the recorded deeds and plats and the monumentation found in the field. Smaller residential lots, sometimes called property-line surveys, follow the same process with less field work.

ALTA/NSPS land title surveys

ALTA stands for the American Land Title Association. An ALTA/NSPS survey is a very detailed survey prepared to the national ALTA/NSPS standards, most often requested for commercial real estate transactions.

Physical improvement surveys

We locate the property lines, then show an accurate representation of what sits on the property: the house, well, driveway, sheds and other improvements.

Plot plans for building permits

The plan a locality needs before it issues a building permit. We show the new house on the lot, or take a physical improvement survey and add the proposed addition or building.

Topographic surveys

Existing contours, structures, utilities, tree lines, drainage and other features — the base map every site plan is engineered on top of.

Easement plats

Drawing and describing easements of every kind — utility, access, drainage and conserved open space among them — so they can be recorded and the party granted the easement knows exactly what they have.

Right-of-way plats

Plats defining public and private rights of way, dedications, and the strips of land involved in a road improvement or a subdivision street.

Subdivision plats

The recordable plat that turns one parcel into several, drawn to the locality's subdivision ordinance so it can actually be approved and recorded.

Construction stakeout

Putting the engineered design back on the ground: building corners, road centerlines, utilities, grades and offsets, so the crew builds what was approved.

As-built surveys

A survey confirming that a stormwater management facility (SWM/BMP, usually a pond) was built accurately to what the construction plans show.

Land surveying in Richmond and Central Virginia

Land surveying is the process of making accurate measurements, locating and determining property boundaries, and documenting the information to define a property and its features. In Virginia it has to be performed under a licensed surveyor, and the plat it produces is the document a county, a lender or a title company will accept as the answer.

People call us for one of a small number of reasons. They are developing a site and need a topographic base map before an engineer can draw anything at all. They are buying or selling real estate and the lender wants a plat. They are building a fence, a shed, a pool or an addition and the locality wants the physical improvements and setbacks shown. They are dividing a parcel. Or they need to know where the line actually runs.

The part clients underestimate is the research. Field work is visible — someone stands in your yard with an instrument — but the answer is usually decided before anyone leaves the office, in the deed books and the recorded plats and the records of every parcel that touches yours. An old rural tract whose deed refers to a neighbor's fence line and a creek takes real work to resolve. A current lot in a subdivision with its monuments already set is much faster: it still has to be researched and located in the field, but there is far less to reconstruct.

Most of that research is done electronically, through the county circuit court image viewers, where old deeds and plats can be pulled up and read without a trip to the courthouse.

What happens after you call

You tell us the parcel

Address, parcel number, jurisdiction, and what the survey is for. That last one changes what kind of survey you need.

We pull the record

Deeds, recorded plats, adjoining parcels and prior surveys. This is where the boundary is genuinely determined.

We measure the ground

Field crew locates existing monuments, improvements and features. New monuments are set only where a corner is determined to be lost.

You get a sealed plat

The appropriate deliverable is prepared for the purpose discussed with the survey professional and the applicable reviewing party.

An E.D. Lewis surveyor setting up a total station beside a company truck A survey prism on a tripod over a point on a cleared site A total station on a tripod on a graded lot

Six reasons you might need a surveyor

If one of these is you, the survey you need is probably already named further up this page.

Developing the site

Before any engineer can design grading, drainage or utilities, someone has to map what is there. That is the topographic survey, and it is the base every sheet of the plan set is drawn on top of.

Buying or selling real estate

A lender or title company wants a current plat showing the boundaries and the improvements on them. This is the most common reason a residential survey gets ordered, and it usually arrives with a closing date attached, so tell us the date when you call.

Building a fence or a wall

The cheapest way to avoid a boundary dispute is to find the line before the posts go in. A fence a foot over is a legal problem that outlasts the fence, and neighbors who were friendly beforehand often are not afterward.

Building or adding on to a house

Setbacks decide whether the house or addition you have drawn is permitted at all. Most Virginia localities want a plot plan showing the proposed structure and its distances to the lines before they will issue a building permit, so this belongs before the architect finishes, not after.

Dividing a parcel

Turning one lot into two or more requires a subdivision plat drawn to the locality's ordinance and recorded with the clerk. The ordinance sets minimum lot sizes, frontage and access requirements that frequently decide how many lots the land will yield.

A commercial closing

When commercial property is bought, sold or financed, the lender or title insurer usually asks for an ALTA/NSPS survey: a very detailed survey prepared to the American Land Title Association standards, showing the boundaries, improvements, easements and access.

Find your location

We survey throughout the greater Richmond area and Central Virginia. Choose a locality to see the projects we have done there, or call about a parcel elsewhere in Virginia.

Land survey questions, answered

How much does a land survey cost?
Cost depends on the parcel's size and shape, the available deed and plat records, field conditions, and the purpose of the work. A recorded suburban lot and an older tract with incomplete records can require very different research and field time. Share the address or parcel number and what you need the survey for to request a quote.
How long does a boundary survey take?
A boundary survey has two essential phases, and clients usually only see one of them. The first is research: pulling the deeds, the recorded plats and the adjoining parcels' records to work out where the line is supposed to be. The second is field work, which on a normal residential lot is a matter of hours. Then the drafting and the plat. Research is the phase that stretches, and it stretches most on older rural parcels with thin records. We will tell you which kind of parcel yours looks like when you call.
Do I need a survey to build a fence or an addition?
Usually yes, and it is cheaper to find out where the line is than to move a fence. Most Virginia localities want a plat showing the proposed structure and its setbacks before they will issue the permit, and a fence built on a neighbor's land is a legal problem that outlives the fence. If you are adding onto a house, the setback question is the one that decides whether the addition you have drawn is even allowed — better to know that before the architect finishes.
What is the difference between a boundary survey and a topographic survey?
A boundary survey answers where does my property end. It establishes the property lines and corners from the deed record and marks them on the ground. A topographic survey answers what is the shape of this land. It maps elevations, contours, existing structures, trees, utilities and drainage. You need a boundary survey to buy, sell, subdivide or build to a setback. You need a topographic survey before anyone can engineer a site plan, because you cannot design drainage without knowing which way the water runs.
How do I get a copy of an existing survey of my property?
Start with your own closing documents, because a plat is often in the package from when you bought the house. Recorded plats are public record at the circuit court clerk's office in the county where the land sits. You can look them up there in person; viewing them online usually requires a paid subscription to the clerk's records system. Your title insurer may also have one. If a survey exists and is still accurate, you may not need a new one — send us what you find and we will tell you whether it will do the job you need.
Can you survey land outside Richmond?
Yes. We survey throughout the greater Richmond area and Central Virginia, including the City of Richmond, Henrico, Chesterfield, Goochland, Hanover, Powhatan, Amelia, Louisa, New Kent, Prince George, Spotsylvania, Dinwiddie, Cumberland, King William, Caroline, Charles City, Surry and Sussex Counties, and the City of Petersburg. If your parcel is somewhere else in Virginia, call and ask.

Send the address and the parcel number. We will tell you what it will take.

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