ALTA Survey Benefits and Its Utilities

Posted by Calvada on July 4th, 2016

ALTA is a land title survey conducted for commercial purposes. The survey helps purchasers and lenders in evaluating the property and the land for potential risks. Likewise, it helps them identify the benefits of owning that property or land. ALTA surveys can provide crucial information on property easements and boundaries. They can provide suggestions for improvements, too, such as roads, trails, fences, and rights of ways. You can order an ALTA survey to learn about the other features of the property that may determine or affect property ownership.                                                 

An ALTA survey makes sense if you find that the property has other features that must be investigated due to the possibility of adverse rights to it. A survey may reveal further easements, improvements, ownership areas, encroachments, and encumbrances on the property's boundaries. An ALTA survey may be a bit more expensive compared to traditional land surveys for contouring and mapping, but it is accurate, faster, more precise, and highly detailed. 

Professional surveyors follow a uniform set of codes when conducting an ALTA survey for construction purposes. Hence, it is important to only hire seasoned and licensed surveyors who can fulfill all survey standards set by authorized institutions and the government to ensure reliable results. Professional surveyors can conduct this survey with the utility option, too. Optional Table A items are available to you, and it is important to consider all options and determine what will fulfill your requirements. 

ALTA survey utilities are under item 11 of Table A: Optional Survey Responsibilities and Specifications. You have two options:

1. Option 11 (a) – This is the location of the utilities serving or existing on the surveyed property as pointed out by observed evidence. It is the least expensive option for clients and land surveyors. Observed evidence pertains to the items that surveyors see when conducting field work, and these include sanitary and storm manhole covers, gas and water valves and meters, fire hydrants, storm inlets and outlets, and electric outlets.
2. Option 11 (b) – This is a more comprehensive study that can produce data on below-ground utilities. It can be labor-intensive and costly, too. It uses the observed evidence together with the evidence from plans that you can provide or obtain from utility companies, and markings from other appropriate sources and utility companies. Surveyors interpret the information from these sources to pinpoint the location of all utility systems before transferring the information to an ALTA survey.
   
   You should carefully understand, consider, and maintain realistic expectations on what the utility information will come up on the survey, the cost, and the reliability. It is recommended that you hire a professional land surveying company to conduct an ALTA survey for you. That way, you can be sure that only the best and most advanced equipment will be used for faster and more accurate results.

Sources:

http://www.globest.com/sites/globest/2013/08/06/alta-surveys-understanding-the-optional-utility-requirements/?slreturn=20160520004432

www.calvadasurveying.com/whatWeDo/alta-acsm-land-title-survey.php

About the Author:

Armando Dupont, a professional land surveyor started his career in surveying in 1977 and has extensive experience in managing personnel and projects. His experience includes: topographic mapping, boundary surveys and analysis, construction and control surveying, preparation of tract and parcel maps, earth work calculation and quantities, targeting and control for photogrammetric, and land title surveys in accordance with the American Land Title Association and the American Congress on Surveying and Mapping. Mr. DuPont founded Calvada Surveying, Inc. in 1989 and is a licensed Professional Land Surveyor in the State of California.