Our team of professionals is dedicated, appreciated, and ready to take on your surveying, draw inspection, and utility location needs throughout all of Ohio and in surrounding counties in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Indiana, and Kentucky.
But there is more to McSteen. It also is important to us to be a leader in the industry, providing information and serving as a resource for the industry as a whole and our fellow professional surveyors.
We have curated our top articles from 2022, but you can check out all of the latest industry news, surveyor resources, educational articles, and the happenings at McSteen on our blog. Be sure to check back because we are always adding more information.
The Importance of a Site Plan
It’s not possible – or at least not wise – to design a building until you know what the land can support. A quality site plan performed by a professional land surveyor is crucial to responsible land development and construction projects.
A graphic representation of all existing and proposed improvements to a site. The site plan. “allows the property owner, developer, architect, and engineer to know exactly what they are dealing with because it is much better to know upfront than to find out later once the project has already started,” says Ryan Snezek, PS, the Director of the Survey Department for McSteen.
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A Guide to ALTA Surveys
An ALTA Survey is essentially a boundary survey plus a detailed depiction of property improvements, easements, and anything else impacting the parcel. It is used for a variety of reasons, from securing title insurance at the closing of a deal to being used as a design document for engineering purposes.
Typically contracted by the title company, lender, or attorneys representing involved parties for commercial property purchases, refinances, or improvements, an ALTA survey provides confidence that results are guaranteed. The fact is that in the United States, there is no guarantee of ownership of real property and it is one way you can protect your interests.
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Four Things to Know About Construction Draw Inspections
A construction lending best practice used by most lenders is ordering draw inspections to validate progress in conjunction with disbursing funds. Draw inspections follow along with the builder so that both the project owner and the lender can ensure the loan proceeds are going into the collateral on the loan, and identify progress concerns as early as possible.
Construction projects are funded by high-risk construction loans that require a long time to process. A construction draw inspection helps ensure timeliness by identifying construction issues and preparing change orders that can modify the scope of the project.
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Utility Easements and Your Property
It may come as a surprise to a property owner, but there may be restrictions on how certain parts of your property can be used. In fact, it is not uncommon that as the owner, you may not have use rights to certain parts of your property at all. An easement on your lot can significantly limit what you can do with a specific portion of your property.
While you may have reserved rights to use the land and can deny access to some individuals, you cannot deny access to the easement holder. It is important, then, to understand what restrictions exist on your property before purchasing or building a home so that in the future you are not prevented from building on or making an improvement to the land because an easement exists.
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The Importance of a Professional Land Surveyor
Land surveying is crucial to responsible land development and a professional land surveyor plays an integral role, from mapping project areas, identifying potential risks, and verifying plans. After all, it is essential for every project to start with good information, as that is the basis for everything that goes forward with that development or construction.
While the profession of land surveying is becoming much more technology-driven, the role of a professional land surveyor remains irreplaceable. Says McSteen CEO, Kevin Woeste, “No matter how important we think technology is to our company, it will never replace our staff. We want to find tools to make the job easier for our crews, but not replace them. There will always be a need for surveyors in the field, locating monuments and collecting data.”
Read More >With 50+ years of experience, McSteen is well equipped to tackle your draw inspection, utility locating, and survey needs. We service all 88 counties in Ohio as well as surrounding counties in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Indiana, and Kentucky. Contact us today for more information or to get started.
