ALTA Survey California

Licensed Land Surveyors in California

We have a network of highly competent land surveyors throughout California to complete ALTA Surveys for your project. Call Keith at 800-798-9540 and let him know which city or county the project is in.

Choose The City You’re Survey Is Nearest:

ALTALandSurvey.com is owned by J. Keith Maxwell. He manages a network of Surveyors in the United States and this website. Keith holds a Professional Land Surveyors license and Professional Engineers license in the state of Alabama and others, not yet in California. He has over 35 years experience with all types of commercial land surveying and commercial land development projects. Over the last 35 years he has completed numerous ALTA Surveys. Call 800-798-9540 to speak with Keith about an ALTA Survey in California.

Keith works with a network of California licensed Land Surveyor associates all around the state. We will select the closest one to your location, AND the best for the job. Keith can also guide you to Civil Engineering services if you need them for your project.

Guaranteed Results

Our California surveyors take the time to get to know your survey requirements and goals for the job, and then we’ll work to complete the project to meet those needs. If you have questions about the process or the survey, we have the answers. We’re eager to help you. We will listen to your questions, and then do our best to resolve them when you call us. We will also help to develop the scope of work for what needs to be done on your specific project and then do our best to meet those survey expectations.

Maps & Resources for California

California GIS Map & Information Sites
Flood Insurance Rate Maps for California
USA Web Soil Survey
USGS Quadrangle Maps
ALTA Land Survey Standards (PDF format)
ALTA Table A only (PDF format)
Cal Fire GIS Data – Geospatial data from the Fire and Resource Assessment Program (FRAP), including a statewide geodatabase of wildfire history.
California Department of Conservation – Geospatial data and maps related to agriculture, oil & gas, land use, geology, and mines & minerals in the state of California.
California Department of Fish & Wildlife GIS Clearninghouse – Geospatial data, biogeographic data, and shapefiles for streams, lakes, vegetation, and wildlife habitats.
California GIS Geoportal – Find statewide GIS data.
Caltrans GIS Data – GIS data created by Caltrans in zipped shapefile format.

ALTA Land Title Survey

An ALTA Land Title Survey is completed based on the “Minimum Standard Detail Requirements and Accuracy Standards For ALTA/NSPS Land Title Surveys.” This ALTA survey standards document was developed and is revised on a regular basis by a combination of Title industry (the American Land Title Association) and Surveying industry (the National Society of Professional Surveyors) professionals. The latest version of this document is the 2021 revision.

ALTA Survey Costs

Since ALTA Surveys take more time and effort, these surveys typically cost more than a survey done according to a particular state standard. I should point out that if the state standard is more restrictive on a certain point, then the most restrictive standard rules.

I see ALTA surveys priced from 50% to 200% more than a comparable boundary survey. This depends on the items checked in “Table A – Optional Survey Responsibilities and Specifications.” This table adds additional or specific tasks to the surveyor’s scope of work.

Aerial view of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco with the city skyline and ocean in the background, illustrating a large-scale land survey or mapping project.

For example, one item that is usually included with most all ALTA survey requests is Item #1, monuments placed. California Surveying standards include this and, in my opinion, all surveys should, but the ALTA survey leaves this optional unless the item is checked on Table A.

In regard to this, one of the things I appreciate is that the client should not only fill out Table A but also furnish title documents to the surveyor BEFORE he starts the survey. In practice we rarely get the title documents until we issue the first draft of the survey. This gives the Title folks what they need to complete the research. At that time the documents are sent to us and we are asked to revise the survey and show them. While this is not the way its planned, at least we have the chance to review the documents before issuing the final version of the survey.

Summary

So, if you have a commercial parcel or a large multi-family residential complex, you should consider asking for the ALTA standards to be used.

You should also probably do this if you are considering the purchase or development of a parcel outside your state. Most of the banks will require this if you ask for a loan on this type property, but I recommend this even if the bank doesn’t require it.