Things You Need to Know Before Hiring a Building Surveyor
Building surveyors play an important role in construction projects. They do not exclusively work on new builds. In fact, building surveyors are indispensable in the real estate world because they can be hired even when you are buying a property or expanding a room in your house.
Don’t let the camera-looking digital theodolite fool you. Even though their tools and jobs may seem ordinary, their job is anything but. Do you need to settle a dispute? Or do you want to confirm that the pricing contractors are proposing is realistic? Are you unsure how to construct a guesthouse? Yes, the building surveyor can help you with all this.
Below is a list of things you need to know about building surveyors that will allow you to hire only the best professional and also help you have realistic expectations of your surveyor:
1. For Border Delimitation
Contrary to what you may think, you need building surveyors for almost every construction project. While you usually don’t need a surveyor for a new house unless you are taking a mortgage. Whether you are buying, building a new home or adding an extension, the property surveyor will be able to establish the borders of the property.
Additionally, this mitigates both the risks of encroaching on someone else’ s property and the risks of a border dispute with your neighbors. Since their reports are legally binding, these reports will make settling the matter in courts easier.
2. They Are Regulated
What does that mean? Well, it simply means that they can’t do as they please. Yes, even if you approach, mandate and pay them. The thing is that surveyors do not solely answer to the people who hire them. Even though you are the one who hired the surveyor to do the work for you, you have to bear in mind that they prepare their report by using math, science, and history. And by history, we mean that the surveyor will take into consideration the historical data and compare it with present-day markers to determine the exact boundaries of the property.
Ergo, even if you desperately want an extra foot of land behind your backyard, there’s nothing the surveyor will be able to do. He or she is legally and ethically obligated to remain true to the data his calculations and research produced. In fact, if their report is found to be inaccurate or to have been falsified, the surveyor will be penalized and sued.
3. They are Trained Experts Against Which Your Phone’s GPS Can’t Compete
Today’s technology indeed allows regular people to accomplish significantly more in a relatively short amount of time when compared to previous generations. And one of the most useful tools that the advances in consumer technology have conferred on users is GPS. Every smartphone is equipped with one and can help you find your way in even the remotest of the region.
But if there’s one thing your GPS can’t do is find and demarcate your property. Yes, surveyors use GPS to demarcate property, but theirs is a professional-grade system that is accurate and precise down to the last centimeter.
What’s in a Professional Survey Report?
The professional survey report would have a precise description of your property and will help you determine your property rights by detailing the following:
1. Boundary Lines
Boundary lines are important to delimit your property and ensure that your property does not encroach on your neighbor’s. The building surveyor will usually inspect driveways, fences, and other additions built later on. Having a building surveyor do that ensures that the legal description of your property is accurate.
2. Zoning Restrictions
To understand zoning restrictions on properties, we first need to cover what a zoning ordinance is. In simple terms, the zoning ordinance is a law that regulates how property can be used. These laws will vary from one region to another. A building surveyor will help you find out how you could utilize your property.
3. Assess Improvements that Have Been Brought on the Property
A building surveyor will be able to determine whether all repairs, improvements, and additions done on the property comply with local rules and regulations.
4. Check the Utility Lines
Utility lines include underground cables and public drains that may be present on your property. In the event that these public utility lines are indeed present on your property, the building surveyor will give specific guidelines that you will need to follow for their proper maintenance.
5. Agreements about Easements, Abandoned Roads, and Rights of Ways
A building surveyor will be able to find out whether any private agreements or laws that enable others to the right to pass through your property exist.
