In a house where our treed acreage is shared with a neighbors treed lot. They have a fence between us that stops at the woods.

We shoot on the property, so Id really like to put up some basic T post fence between us. I always hear fences make good neighbors.  Maybe just make a big berm along the whole line.

Personally, ive never dealt with a surveyor....what am I too expect, ask or look for?

Its seemingly easy to tell, with poles and water meter...but I do not want to make a costly error. And the neighbors are old and who knows what will happen when someone new comes.

Thx for any advice bros.

Any surveyor brethren around Laff Co that can help a brother out?  (long shot I know lol)

Hi,

I just had my property surveyed.  It took about 4 hours and 1/2 hour checking with county office.  They did all 4 side of property, and research for $540.00, but worth every penny of .
it.  Now I can fence in property and not worry about infrigment.  Company was in Pierce City, Mo.

JJKrzos

$540? Hang onto that guy! Everyone I know who's hired a surveyor has paid at least $1500, usually around $2000 or more. That's for 10-80 acre rural tracts, with none of the existing boundaries surveyed, so quite a bit of research required.

I assisted a surveyor on a few jobs many years ago.  The biggest unknown is generally the research of the metes and bounds and tieing into established pins in the ground.  If there have been quality surveys done in the past (especially the recent past), life is a lot easier.  If not, there can be a lot more research.  If you have a copy of your Warranty Deed, look at the metes and bounds (generally 1/2 way down the first page).  If there is language that gives specific distances and bearings from iron pins, axles, rerod, etc., that will be helpful.  For instance, my property description describes a chunk of ground that is perfectly 1/4 mile wide x 3/4 mile deep (120 acres).  Then it follows with language that subtracts a perfect 208' x 208' piece (a 1 acre lot), then it follows with language that subtracts another 60 some acres.  Nowhere in the description are any pins mentioned, so I assume that no real survey work was ever done.  It is also a red flag when perfectly straight bearings and distances give exact acreages.

So assuming that a real survey has never been done, and all the neighbors have been working off of "that ole treeline (or pile of rocks or old shitty fence) is the property line mentality", realize going in that at best case, it is off a little.  This can create a pissing match.  Be prepared to gain or lose some property.  Hopefully your neighbor wants to know where the line really is too.  To me, the worst thing that can happen is spending money on a survey just to get results that one neighbor disputes, then you have to fight it out in court, or pretend that you never had it surveyed and go back to using the old "property" line.

ETA: $540 is dirt cheap.  Completing a survey in 4.5 hours including research, finding pins and field work is fast.

yea, its never cheap.

I have two side by side lake lots, I'm guessing they are about 80'Wx120'L +/-...

I was wanting to get them surveyed so I'd know for sure before I did anything on them. I talked to a friend of a friend surveyor and asked him for an unofficial quote.
He told me starting at about 800 and it could go way up from there depending on other surveys and how much research he had to do.  
For some dumb reason I figured it was based of the size of the land and would be pretty cheap.   He laughed and said really the sky is the limit.

He said he'd seen jobs like mine go upwards of 5500.00 It just depended on the research needed and what they found.

I wasn't happy with that answer, so I asked another guy that I shoot with, he laughed and said the same thing...

So, I never got it done and have never done anything with the two lots. I just pay my taxes and assessments on them.

Before the survey team comes out buy a plat map from the county offices.  Usually sell for $30-$50.  You can use it to ensure the people who come out are (roughly) in the correct spot.  Their results should be fairly close to the plat.

That works pretty well for 20+ acre tracts.  When you start getting into smaller lots, the plat map may not be very useful.