How ALTA Table A Fits a Development Project

When you order an ALTA survey for a development site, you also get a list of optional items to pick from. That list is called Table A. The items you check decide what extra details the land surveyor measures and shows on the final drawing. Choose too few and your civil engineer may need more fieldwork later. Choose items no one needs and the extra cost buys data that sits unused.

Good ALTA Table A choices start with the project itself. Each item should connect to a question your team needs answered about the site. For commercial redevelopment, that planning also has to account for how the city records lots. New survey contracts now follow the 2026 ALTA/NSPS standards, which took effect on February 23, 2026.

Matching ALTA Table A Requests to Development Decisions

Every Table A item you request should answer a real question about your project. The standard ALTA/NSPS Land Title Survey already covers the boundary, the easements listed in the title commitment and the visible improvements on the land. Table A adds optional work on top of that base. Examples include ground contours, building dimensions, parking counts, flood zone notes and signs of underground utilities.

The easiest way to pick items is to list your team’s decisions first. Then match each decision to the data that supports it. This keeps the list short and useful.

• If you need to know whether a new building fits, ask about existing building dimensions and zoning setback information.
• If grading and drainage matter, ask for contours or spot elevations.
• If you need utility connection points, ask for observed utility evidence and locate markings.
• If lenders or insurers will ask about flooding, ask for the flood zone note.
• If you suspect fences, walls or buildings cross a line, ask about the newer summary table of possible encroachments.

Zoning items need extra care. The surveyor usually shows setbacks, height limits and similar rules only when someone provides a zoning report or letter. It’s also smart to tell your land surveyor in writing what you plan to build. Under the 2026 standards, a planned use reported in writing can guide how precisely the surveyor dimensions features on the drawing.

Coordinating Table A Needs Across the Project Team

Table A choices work best when the buyer, lender, title company and design team settle on one list before fieldwork begins. Each group reads the survey for a different reason. A lender may follow its own standard list of items. The title company may need certain survey details before it can offer some endorsements to the title policy. Your civil engineer, architect and attorney each want something different too.

Problems start when requests arrive one at a time. The surveyor may price the job twice, or an item may slip through because everyone assumed someone else asked for it. Pick one person to gather requests from the whole team. That person can send the land surveyor a single written list and ask them to confirm it in the proposal.

Ask your engineer whether Table A contour data will meet their design needs or whether a separate topographic survey makes more sense. Engineers often want a set contour interval, a named vertical datum or more detail at curbs and inlets. Getting that answer early can save a second trip to the site.

Connecting Survey Scope With Early Site Planning

Order the ALTA survey early enough for its findings to shape the concept plan. A survey that arrives after the architect has drawn the building footprint can only report conflicts. A survey that arrives first can help the team avoid them.

Several findings tend to change a site plan. Easements plotted from the title commitment show strips where you may not be able to build. Utility evidence shows where service lines enter the site and where they may block a foundation. Contours and spot elevations show how the ground slopes toward the street or a neighbor. Building dimensions help the architect judge what can stay and what must come down.

Some urban sites depend on rights over a neighbor’s land, such as a shared drive or access path. The 2026 standards call offsite easements like these “appurtenant easements.” An optional item lets the surveyor include them in the survey. Large shared parking or access areas can add real work, so talk through the limits with your surveyor first.

Ask for the survey as a digital drawing file too. Confirm which coordinate system and vertical datum the surveyor used. When designers build on the same base, the site plan and the survey stay in agreement.

Adjusting Table A Scope as Development Plans Evolve

Development plans rarely stay the same from contract to construction. Table A scope can change with them if you tell the surveyor as soon as plans shift. A new parking garage, a taller building, a new curb cut or the purchase of the lot next door may each call for items you skipped the first time.

Most changes can be handled with an amendment to the survey contract. Ask your land surveyor to price each added item on its own so the team can weigh the cost. If months have passed, the surveyor may also need to return to the site. Demolition, utility work and grading can all change what the first survey showed.

Financing changes matter as well. The certification on an ALTA survey names the specific parties who can rely on it. A survey certified for your purchase loan may need an update before a construction lender will accept it. Plan for that update early so it doesn’t hold up a loan closing.

Planning Table A Scope for Redevelopment

In Washington, DC, the lot on your tax bill may not be the lot you need for a building permit. The Office of the Surveyor, part of the DC Department of Buildings, is the legal office of record for plats and subdivisions in the District. It records what the city calls record lots. The Office of Tax and Revenue creates separate tax lots, sometimes called A&T lots, for billing only. Tax lots don’t change record lots, and they come from tax records rather than fieldwork.

This matters for redevelopment. Most development requires a record lot, and owners generally must convert tax lots to record lots through a subdivision plat before the city issues permits for exterior work. Some older blocks carry a mix of both after years of combined and split ownership. Ask your surveyor to show record lots, tax lots and square and lot numbers on the ALTA survey. Then compare the survey with the plats on file with the Office of the Surveyor, which you can search online through its SurDocs system.

Dense city blocks raise other Table A questions. Buildings often sit on or near the line, and party walls and public alleys are common. Building dimensions, notes on walls along the boundary and the encroachment summary table can all help here. Your land surveyor and land use attorney can confirm whether a subdivision or lot conversion fits your plan and how the ALTA survey should support it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who decides which ALTA Table A items to order?

The client who hires the land surveyor makes the final call. That choice should still reflect input from the lender, the title company and the design team. Lenders sometimes have a required list, and title companies may need certain items for policy endorsements.

Is Table A contour data enough for site design?

Sometimes it is, but not always. Design engineers may need a specific contour interval, a certain vertical datum or dense detail around curbs, inlets and building entries. If the engineer needs more than the ALTA items cover, a separate topographic survey can fill the gap.

Can Table A items be added after the survey starts?

Yes, in most cases. The surveyor can usually add items through a contract change and give a separate price for each one. Adding them before the field crew finishes may cost less than sending the crew back later.