SHEET 4 OF 8 · GUIDE · REVISED OCTOBER 2026
Before you hire a surveyor.
Written by the crew chiefs for people who have never ordered a survey. Ranges, not promises, and a few things we wish everyone knew before the first call.
What a boundary survey is
A boundary survey answers one question: where does your land start and stop, on the ground, according to the record?
A surveyor reads your deed, the plat it refers to, the deeds of your neighbors, and any older surveys on file. Then the crew goes out and looks for the monuments those documents describe. Where the monuments are found, the surveyor uses them. Where they are missing, the surveyor works out where they should be from the measurements in the record.
The result is a set of marked corners and a map. It is not a fresh opinion about where the line ought to be. It is a retracement of where somebody once put it.
A mortgage survey or location report shows where buildings sit relative to the lines. It is not a boundary survey and should not be used to place a fence or a footing.
What a record of survey is
A record of survey is the public filing of what the surveyor found and set. It goes to the county recorder, gets an instrument number, and stays on file permanently. Anyone, including your neighbor and your future buyer, can pull it.
Idaho requires one for most boundary work that sets or finds corner monuments, and we file ours within the statutory window. It is the reason the next survey of your lot starts from your corners instead of starting over.
- It shows the monuments found and set, with descriptions
- It shows the basis of bearings and how the lines were derived
- It lists the documents the surveyor relied on
- It carries the surveyor's stamp and signature
How long it takes
Our average boundary survey runs 9 business days from signed agreement to stamped record of survey. A tidy city lot with all four monuments in the ground can be done in a week. A rural parcel with a 1910 plat and two missing corners can take five or six.
Research is the part nobody sees. For an ordinary lot we spend about three hours in the records before a crew leaves the shop. For a ranch, it can be three days.
Field crews book out roughly a week in winter and two to three weeks from May through September. Tell us your closing date at the first call and we will tell you straight whether we can make it.
What it costs
Prices below are ranges from jobs we closed in 2025 and 2026 around the Treasure Valley. They are not quotes. Every parcel gets a written fee after we look at the record.
| Work | Typical range | What moves it |
|---|---|---|
| Residential boundary survey, under 1 acre | $900 to $2,200 | Typical city lot with found monuments |
| Boundary survey, 1 to 5 acres | $1,800 to $4,500 | Rises with research and brush |
| Rural boundary, 40 acres and up | $4,500 to $14,000 | Old plats and missing corners cost more |
| Lot line adjustment, including documents | $2,800 to $6,500 | Plus county recording fees |
| Topographic survey, per site | $1,500 to $6,000 | Depends on area, cover and utilities |
| ALTA/NSPS land title survey | $5,500 to $18,000 | Table A items change the price |
| Construction staking, per crew visit | $650 to $1,400 | Half-day and full-day mobilizations |
| Drone survey, up to 100 acres | $1,200 to $3,200 | Includes surveyed ground control |
County recording fees, title documents and re-staking after disturbance are billed at cost.
What monuments look like
Most corners are marked with one of three things. If you have lived on a lot for years, you may have mowed over one. Please do not pull it up, even if it is crooked. It is still evidence.
Rebar with plastic cap
Five-eighths inch steel, 24 to 30 inches long, driven flush. The cap is usually orange or yellow and stamped with a license number.
Brass cap in concrete
Common at street corners and section corners. A stamped disc set in a concrete collar, often in the pavement.
Aluminum cap on pipe
Two-inch pipe with a wide aluminum cap, used where the ground is soft or the corner must be seen from a distance.
What to bring to the first call
- Parcel number and county, from your tax notice
- A copy of your deed and, if you have it, your title policy
- Any earlier survey, even a poor photocopy
- A plain statement of why you need the survey: fence, sale, build, dispute
- Your deadline, and whether anything is closing on it
Questions we get every week
Idaho does not require one, but a fence is the most common reason for a boundary fight. A stake-out of your line costs far less than moving a fence. If the neighbor's fence is already there, we can show you where it sits against the record line before anyone argues.
No. The county parcel layer is a tax map, drawn to be roughly right. It is often off by 10 to 40 feet on the ground. Only a survey that retraces the deed and plat and finds the original monuments tells you where the line is.
It shows the ones that are recorded and described in your title commitment or deed, and any we can see on the ground such as ditches, overhead lines and pedestals. It cannot show an easement nobody wrote down. That is what the title report is for.
The record of survey never expires. Lenders and title companies commonly want one dated within 90 days to a year. If fences, buildings or monuments have changed since, ask us whether an update is enough.
Yes, on bare or lightly snowed ground. Over about six inches of snow we cannot find monuments reliably, and frozen ground will not take a new rebar. We will tell you at the first call which side of that line your parcel is on.
We retrace the record, not anyone's opinion, and our record of survey shows our reasoning. We do not referee neighbors. When a line is truly unclear, the clean fix is a boundary line agreement, which we can draw up for both owners to sign and record.
They mark the property and belong to no one in particular, and moving or removing one is against Idaho law. If a monument is in the way of a driveway or a footing, call us before you dig. We can reference it and reset it.
No. We call ahead, we walk in through the gate you tell us about, and we leave a card on the door. If there is a dog, please tell us. Crews carry a spare lunch and are very fond of dogs, but the dog has to be told that.
Something not covered? Call the office at +1 (208) 555-0159. Ask for Dana, who has heard them all.
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Ready to talk about your lot?
Send the parcel number and county. If it is a simple lot we can often quote within one business day.
Request a quoteBoise, ID 83702
+1 (208) 555-0159
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