Surveying the real estate landscape

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What do Henry David Thoreau, Walt Disney, Abraham Lincoln, Daniel Boone, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson have in common? All were surveyors.

Surveying is a profession with a lengthy and noble history, says Daniel V. Birrenkott, of Birrenkott Surveying in Sun Prairie. Of that group, consider just the last two, Washington and Jefferson.

“Our Founding Fathers were learned people. They had gone to the universities, and in those days, land was money and power. So, surveying and allocating land to people put them up about as high as kings,” Birrenkott observes.

Surveyors calculate the height, depth, relative position and property lines of parcels of land. Some surveyors work exclusively in the public sector, perhaps as county surveyors, spending a great deal of time keeping records for the county. Or, they might work with transportation agencies, assisting with the planning and construction of roadways, airports or bridges.

Private surveyors, on the other hand, might work with land developers and architects in planning construction projects, or with realtors and/or attorneys in real estate transactions or litigation.

Lisa Van Horn, of Van Horn & Van Horn LLC in Green Bay and president of the Wisconsin Society of Land Surveyors (WSLS), does most of the above. She’s the part-time surveyor for Shawano County. She works with neighbors when they cannot agree who owns a fence, for example — so not only is Van Horn doing the technical job of determining the boundary, but also, she’s a peacemaker (she hopes). Other times, she’s staking out property in a new subdivision, where she finds out with great frequency that what was thought to be a 40-acre parcel, isn’t. (In fact, she knows of only one parcel that’s exactly 40 acres in Brown County.)

The Tools of the Trade

Back in the mid-1800s, when much of Brown County was platted out, surveyors used compasses and chains.

These days, surveyors use highly technical instruments, such as Global Positioning Systems, better known as GPS. Birrenkott, who is a WSLS past-president and is currently its treasurer, says that many people know of GPS because they have them in their cars.

The GPS used in surveying is about 100 times more precise, however. GPS results can be affected by tree cover and the satellites’ configurations, he notes; GPS cannot be used for every aspect of every job.

Another modern-day surveying tool is a robotic transit, also known as a total station, which follows the surveyor as he or she works. The transit has an electronic onboard computer station that downloads and uploads data, measuring angles and distances.

Surveyors today also use laser levels, which work essentially like indoor levels that most people use in their homes to hang pictures straight. Like the GPS, the surveyors’ levels are much more precise than the handyman’s level, and do not resemble the indoor level in any way.

The surveyor looks for, sets or re-sets “monuments,” Van Horn explains, which are iron or rebar pipes set in the ground that mark the corners. These can be found and used in later surveys.

Measurements obtained by the various tools are then checked with mathematical equations. Surveyors use geometry, algebra and trigonometry in their work.

They also use history, researching previous records for a property. They often need to combine this with legal knowledge, regarding junior and senior rights to property, for example.

Ultimately, surveyors create maps and legal descriptions — essentially, lasting pictures and words to state as accurately as is humanly possible what the land looks like, and where a particular patch of land begins and ends.

Working with a Surveyor

Surveying is an art as well as a science. Boundaries do not change. But the equipment, the law and the land itself do change, says Birrenkott. Also, methodologies can differ and human judgment must be employed.

A lot might have been surveyed at 66 feet decades ago. However, with new technology, a more recent survey might reveal there’s only 65 feet of property. “That’s where we have to know how to divvy it up and defend that, keeping the law in mind,” he says. “You try to put as much information down, and try to arrive at a point where two different surveyors can agree. But there are definitely situations where two competent surveyors can disagree.”

Moreover, the best indicator of excellence is not necessarily the use of high-tech tools, says Van Horn. She is a certified instructor for Trimble GPS, teaching many of the other surveyors in the state how to use that equipment. She nonetheless states that technology has not changed that drastically over recent years. She knows a surveyor who uses older equipment exclusively and does a very fine job. She also knows surveyors who use new technology, but have not been trained on it and make loads of mistakes.

“The equipment isn’t the key factor. It’s the completeness of the map that matters,” she says. “I can look at another surveyor’s map and tell you within 30 seconds if he did a complete job or not. The law says you need to show all monumentation on the survey; you have to tie it to the government corners; and there are a lot of other things. Some surveyors create simple maps — but sometimes those maps are a little too simple. You should always be able to look at that map, the finished product, and be able to tell how the surveyor arrived at those boundaries.”

Background and experience can vary greatly among surveyors. Just as clients hiring lawyers should ask about practice concentrations, someone hiring a surveyor should ask about areas of specialization, says Birrenkott.

Van Horn adds that inquiring about a surveyor’s licensure (with the Department of Regulation and Licensing) and experience is important. Membership in WSLS is a strong indicator of a surveyor’s professionalism — although there are many good surveyors in the state who aren’t members, she says. Always ask for references. Check them. Ask other lawyers about the surveyors they’ve worked with that have given good results.

Check online to see if a surveyor has been professionally disciplined.

And, “cheapest is not always the best,” she cautions. Many surveyors quote “not-to-exceed” prices. Sometimes, people seem shocked that a survey for their new lake home might cost $1,000 or more. But it’s in their best interests to make that investment, considering that ultimately the home and land will be worth several hundred thousand dollars or more. Further, they need to keep in mind that the time and work required to complete the survey can vary drastically. A flat, treeless “postage stamp” parcel is much easier to survey, compared to that hilly, wooded lot along the winding lake shoreline.

Finally, maybe she’s stating the obvious, but Van Horn reminds that lawyers write deeds, while surveyors write legal descriptions. When copying legal descriptions, she cannot emphasize enough the importance of cutting and pasting, or carefully proofing. She saw a case where inadvertently changing “northeast” to “northwest” meant a difference of 40 feet of land. The property
had to be re-deeded once the error was discovered. Also, she says, “calls such as ‘parallel with the east line said section or quarter section’ are significantly more important than the bearing of the line.” That phrase might not mean much to lawyers, but it means a great deal to surveyors.

Along these lines, she urges lawyers and realtors to refrain from making representations about boundaries. What seems like the obvious property line isn’t always so. A corner of Van Horn’s lot falls in her neighbor’s concrete driveway. “A lot of times, people assume it’s the telephone pole or a crack in the sidewalk. But that’s not always the case.”