Welcome to Carrollton Land Surveying

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Welcome to Carrollton Land Surveying’s website

This site is intended to provide you with information on a Land Surveying Company in Carrollton, GA. If you’re looking for a Carrollton Land Surveyor, you’ve come to the right site. If you’d rather talk to someone about your land surveying needs, please call (470) 729-1411 today. For more information, please continue to read. 

Carrollton land surveying

Land Surveyors are professionals who measure and make precise measurements to determine the size and boundaries of a piece of real estate.  While this is a simplistic definition, boundary surveying is one of the most common types of surveying related to home and land owners. If you fall into the following categories, please click on the appropriate link for more information on that subject:

Carrollton Land Surveying services:

  1. I need to know where my property corners or property lines are. (Boundary Survey)
  2. I have a loan closing or re-finance coming up on a commercial property or multi-family property and need an ALTA Survey. (ALTA Survey)
  3. I need a map of my property with contour lines to show elevation differences for my architect or engineer. (Topo Survey)
  4. I’ve just been told I’m in a flood zone or I ‘ve been told I need an elevation certificate in order to obtain flood insurance or prove I don’t need it. (Flood Survey)
  5. I’m purchasing a larger tract of land, acreage, that hasn’t been subdivided in the past. (Boundary Survey)

If your needs don’t fall into one of the above, don’t worry, we’ll get to the bottom of it. CALL Carrollton  Land Surveying TODAY at (470) 729-1411 OR better yet, fill out a Contact Form request to discuss your survey needs.

How Surveyors Reestablish Missing Property Corners Using Historical Records

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Professional land surveyor using surveying equipment to locate property boundaries in Carrollton, Georgia.

A property corner is a small thing with a big job. It marks where your land begins and ends. But corners go missing all the time. A stake rusts away, a pin gets buried, or a marker is pulled during construction. When that happens, a professional land surveyor cannot just guess where it belongs. Finding the true spot takes old records and proven methods.

Why a Missing Property Corner Is Not Simply Replaced

It sounds easy. Just measure from the nearest corner and drop a new pin. That approach is wrong, and it can cause real harm. A corner has a legal meaning, not just a physical one.

The corner marks where the original survey set the line. That location came from a deed and a plan made long ago. You cannot recreate it by eyeballing the fence or the curb. You have to find where it was first intended to go.

Guessing shifts the line. Even a foot off can start a fight. A misplaced corner can put a building over a setback. It can hand part of your land to a neighbor, or take part of theirs. The stakes are too high for a quick estimate.

So the surveyor treats the missing corner as a puzzle. The goal is to prove the spot, not to invent it. That proof comes from history and from clear rules of evidence. Both matter, and both take training to use.

How a Professional Land Surveyor Traces an Older Boundary

The search starts on paper, not in the field. A professional land surveyor digs into the records first. These documents hold the clues about where the corner belongs.

Deeds come first. The current deed describes the property and its lines. Older deeds often add more detail. Each one can point toward the original corner.

Recorded plats help too. A plat is the map filed when the land was divided. It shows lot lines, dimensions, and corner points. A good plat can pin down where a marker once sat.

Then there are past surveys. Another surveyor may have worked the property years ago. Their drawings and measurements are gold. Old field notes matter as well. These are the handwritten records a surveyor kept while on site.

Reading the Clues Together

No single record settles it. A deed may give a distance. A plat may give a bearing. Field notes may describe a nearby monument. The surveyor reads them side by side.

Each source adds a piece. Together they sketch a picture of the original layout. That picture guides the field work that comes next. Skipping this research leads to weak, shaky results.

Matching Historical Descriptions With Evidence on the Ground

Paper only goes so far. At some point the surveyor walks the land. Now the written words meet the real world. This is where the corner starts to take shape.

The surveyor looks for physical evidence. An old monument nearby is a strong find. A neighbor’s known corner can anchor the search. Fences, roads, walls, and buildings all tell a story. Even an old fence line can hint at where a boundary ran.

The next step is comparison. The surveyor checks whether the ground matches the records. Say a deed calls for a corner 150 feet from a road. If a nearby pin sits at that spot, the record holds up. When the two agree, confidence grows.

Sometimes they disagree. The deed says one thing, and the ground says another. That gap is a signal, not a failure. It tells the surveyor to look closer and weigh which evidence is stronger.

Field evidence can confirm or challenge the old records. A long-standing fence may show how owners always saw the line. A found monument may outrank a written distance. The surveyor uses judgment and rules to sort it out.

When Neighboring Property Records Help Fill the Gaps

Your lot does not sit alone. It shares lines with the parcels around it. Those neighbors hold records too. Their paperwork can help find your missing corner.

A shared boundary shows up in both deeds. Your deed describes one side of the line. The neighbor’s deed describes the same line from their view. Reading both can clear up a fuzzy call.

Neighboring surveys are useful as well. A survey done next door may reference the same corner. It may name the same monument yours relies on. It may list measurements that lock in the shared point.

Here’s a common example. Your corner marker is gone. The neighbor’s survey from ten years ago shows that exact corner. It even notes an iron pin they found there. That record can rebuild your corner with real confidence.

Adjoining records also catch conflicts. Two deeds might describe the same strip in different ways. Spotting that early helps avoid a dispute. The surveyor pulls these threads together into one clear answer.

How Surveyors Establish and Document the Recovered Corner

After the research and field work, the surveyor makes the call. Every deed, plat, monument, and physical clue gets weighed. The strongest evidence sets the corner’s location. This step follows set rules, not personal preference.

Those rules give order to the evidence. Original monuments usually rank high. Clear intent from the records ranks high too. Loose measurements rank lower. This order keeps the result fair and defensible.

Once the spot is set, the surveyor marks it. A new monument goes in the ground at the proven location. It is often an iron pin or a capped marker with the surveyor’s license number. This gives the corner a solid, physical presence again.

The work then gets documented. The surveyor prepares a drawing that shows the corner and the evidence behind it. Depending on local rules, this record may be filed with the county. That filing leaves a clear trail for the future.

Good documentation protects everyone. The next owner has a reliable reference. The next surveyor can see how the corner was set. A developer planning a project can trust the line. For older parcels, that certainty is the whole point. A vanished corner becomes a marked, recorded point your work can stand on.

Why Shopping Centers Often Need an ALTA Land Survey

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ALTA land survey showing a shopping center, shared parking areas, and retail property layout in Carrollton Georgia

Shopping centers are busier than they look. Behind the stores, restaurants, and parking lots sits a web of property lines, shared spaces, and physical features that owners and lenders need to understand clearly. That’s where an ALTA land survey comes in. For retail properties in Carrollton and nearby areas, this type of survey gives a detailed, accurate picture of what actually exists on the ground. It’s a tool that buyers, banks, and property managers rely on before they sign off on a deal or start a project.

Retail centers aren’t simple. They often include multiple buildings, several tenants, and site features that changed over the years. An ALTA survey captures all of that in one clear document.

Mapping Shared Parking Areas Across a Shopping Center

Most shopping centers share one big parking field. Customers park once and walk to several stores. Tenants use the same drives and entrances. This setup works well for shoppers, but it can get complicated for anyone trying to understand who is responsible for what.

An ALTA survey can show exactly where parking areas sit, along with curbs, islands, and striped rows. It can also map internal drives that connect one part of the lot to another. This isn’t about restating property lines or access rights. Those topics get covered elsewhere. This is about the physical layout itself: how the pavement, curbs, and green spaces are arranged today.

For a lender reviewing a loan, or an owner planning a lot restripe, having this layout on paper saves time and cuts down on guesswork.

Documenting Outparcels and Freestanding Retail Buildings

Walk through almost any shopping center and you’ll spot a few standalone buildings near the road. A bank, a coffee shop, a fast food restaurant. These outparcels often sit on their own piece of land, yet they’re part of the same retail destination as the main center.

An ALTA survey shows how these separate buildings relate to the larger property. It marks their footprints, their distance from other structures, and how they connect to the shared site. This matters a lot during financing or a sale, since lenders want to see exactly what’s included in a deal and what stands apart from it.

During a redevelopment project, this kind of clarity helps everyone involved. Developers can see which parcels are truly separate and which ones share infrastructure like drives or utilities.

Showing Internal Drive Aisles and Circulation Features

Getting around a shopping center smoothly depends on good circulation. Drive aisles, fire lanes, and loading routes all need to work together so cars, delivery trucks, and pedestrians don’t get in each other’s way.

An ALTA survey documents these features as they exist on site. It shows where drive aisles run, how wide they are, and where fire lanes are marked. This is separate from legal access questions, which are a different topic entirely. Here, the focus stays on the physical layout: the pavement, the striping, and the paths people and vehicles actually use.

For property managers juggling multiple tenants, this kind of map becomes a handy reference. It’s much easier to spot a bottleneck or plan a fix when you can see the whole layout at once.

Recording Loading Areas, Service Zones, and Rear-Site Improvements

Shoppers rarely see the back side of a retail center, but that’s where a lot happens. Delivery trucks pull into loading zones. Dumpsters sit behind buildings. Retaining walls hold back slopes, and utility equipment lines the rear of tenant spaces.

An ALTA survey can record these features too. It shows loading areas, service lanes, and rear-site improvements as they exist right now. Trucks need enough room to maneuver, and dumpster pads need to sit clear of drainage or utility lines. When all of this is mapped out, owners get a fuller picture of how their property actually functions, not just how it looks from the front parking lot.

This kind of documentation becomes especially useful when a center changes hands or when a new tenant needs specific loading access.

Supporting Renovation and Reconfiguration of an Existing Shopping Center

Retail centers rarely stay the same for long. Facades get updated. Tenants expand into neighboring units. Parking lots get reconfigured to add a new pad site or improve traffic flow.

Before any of that work begins, it helps to have a current ALTA survey showing exactly what’s already there. Contractors and architects can use it as a base map, so they’re not guessing at distances or working from outdated plans. This keeps the renovation focused on what’s actually changing, rather than the general planning work that happens on any commercial site.

An accurate, up-to-date survey also reduces costly surprises once construction starts, since crews already know where existing improvements sit.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is an ALTA land survey useful for a shopping center? 

Shopping centers usually pack in a lot of buildings, parking areas, and site features. An ALTA survey lays all of that out clearly, which helps buyers, lenders, title professionals, and owners understand the property before making decisions.

Can an ALTA survey show parking areas at a shopping center? 

Yes, parking details can be included, but it depends on the scope of the survey and which Table A items were requested for the project.

Does an ALTA survey include freestanding buildings and outparcels? 

It can. Visible improvements and how separate parcels relate to each other are often shown when they fall within the agreed survey scope.

Can an ALTA survey show loading areas and internal drive aisles? 

Yes. Physical features like paved drives, loading zones, and curbs can be depicted as part of the survey, giving a clear view of how the site is laid out.

When should a shopping center owner update an ALTA survey? 

A new or updated survey often makes sense when ownership changes, financing is underway, major improvements have been added, or a redevelopment project needs current site information to move forward.

Understanding Table A Options in an ALTA Survey

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Land surveyors conducting an ALTA survey while clients review property documents at a commercial property in Carrollton, GA.

An ALTA survey has a menu, and most buyers never read it. That menu is Table A, and it decides how much your survey actually tells you. Pick the right options and the survey answers the questions your deal depends on. Pick blindly and you pay for detail you don’t need, or worse, miss detail you do. For a developer, knowing Table A is how you get a survey built for your project instead of a generic one.

Table A Options Show Which Extra Details an ALTA Survey Will Document

Every ALTA survey follows a shared set of national standards. Those standards cover the basics, like boundaries and title matters, on every job. Table A is the part you choose from.

It’s a list of optional items a buyer can add to the survey scope. Each one tells the surveyor to go document something extra. Without a Table A selection, you get the standard survey and nothing more. Add items, and the survey grows to match your needs.

Think of the base survey as the frame. Table A is what you hang on it. The options can pull in things like site improvements, utilities, parking counts, flood data, and building measurements. You decide which ones belong on your survey before the work starts. That single choice shapes how useful the final drawing turns out to be.

Different Table A Choices Answer Different Property Due-Diligence Questions

Each Table A item exists to answer a specific question about the property. The trick is matching the option to the question you actually have.

Some options deal with what sits on the site:

  • Improvements like buildings, walls, and paving and where they sit
  • Parking spaces and a count of them, which matters for commercial use
  • Building dimensions, height, and square footage
  • Utility locations based on markings and available records
  • Flood zone information tied to published federal maps

A buyer worried about parking ratios cares about the parking count. A lender checking flood risk wants the flood item. A developer planning around underground lines needs the utility option. Same survey, different questions, different Table A picks. You choose the items that map to the risks and plans in front of you. Skip the ones that don’t apply, since each item adds time and cost.

The Right Options Depend on What the Buyer Plans to Do With the Property

There’s no universal Table A list. What you select should follow what you plan to do with the land. A holding investor and a ground-up developer need different things from the same parcel.

A developer planning to build wants utilities, improvements, and site detail that inform design. A lender wants the items that protect the loan, like flood data and clear improvement locations. An investor reviewing risk may want a lighter scope focused on title-related concerns. A commercial buyer keeping the existing building might care most about parking and zoning-related items.

Financing drives some of these choices too. Lenders often hand you a required list of Table A items as a loan condition. If that’s your situation, start there, then add anything your own plans call for. The point is to match the survey to the deal. A redevelopment project and a simple purchase shouldn’t order the same scope, because they’re answering different questions.

Surveyors Need Clear Instructions Before Fieldwork Begins

A surveyor can only document what you ask for before they head to the site. Decide the Table A scope late, and you risk a second trip or a gap in the survey. Decide it early, and the crew collects everything in one pass.

The best starting point is the title commitment. It lists the easements and exceptions the survey should locate and address. Reviewing it with the surveyor up front helps them plan the fieldwork around real title issues, not guesses.

Your project requirements come next. Tell the surveyor what you’re building or buying, and share any list your lender required. With the title commitment, your goals, and the selected Table A items in hand, the surveyor knows exactly what to capture. That clarity keeps the job efficient and the final survey complete. Vague instructions produce a vague survey, and then you’re paying for revisions.

A Well-Chosen Table A Scope Makes the Survey More Useful for Due Diligence

Table A works best when you treat it as a set of choices, not a box to check. A thoughtful selection turns a standard survey into a document built around your actual transaction. A careless one leaves you with detail that doesn’t fit the deal.

Match the options to the property’s real goals. Order what your financing, your build plan, and your risk review actually need. Leave off what doesn’t apply so you’re not paying for extra fieldwork with no payoff. The result is a survey your title company, lender, and design team can all use.

Talk through the options with your surveyor before the order is final. A short conversation about your plans lets them recommend the items that fit. Get the scope right at the start, and the survey earns its cost during due diligence instead of leaving you with questions it was never asked to answer.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Table A in an ALTA survey?

Table A is the optional list of items a buyer can add to an ALTA survey. The base survey covers standard boundary and title matters, and Table A extends it. Options can include improvements, utilities, parking counts, flood data, and building dimensions. You choose which items the surveyor documents based on your project needs.

Which Table A options do lenders usually require?

It varies by lender and deal, so there’s no fixed list. Flood zone information and clear improvement locations are commonly requested. Some lenders also ask for utilities and parking details. Always get your lender’s required Table A list early, then add any items your own plans need.

Do more Table A items cost more?

Yes, each option adds fieldwork, research, or both, which raises the price and can extend the timeline. That’s why picking only the items that fit your project matters. Ordering everything wastes money on detail you may never use. A focused selection keeps cost tied to real value.

When should I choose my Table A options?

Choose them before the surveyor begins fieldwork, ideally right after you review the title commitment. Early selection lets the crew capture everything in one visit. Deciding late can force a return trip or leave gaps in the survey. Share your plans and any lender list with the surveyor up front.