Mockup. A sample site built as a design concept. Meridian & Chain is an invented name and is not affiliated with any real surveying firm. The phone number, street address, licence number, fees and turnaround times below are placeholders.
Meridian & Chain N 39°16′42″   W 93°58′06″   ELEV 812′ (816) 555-0142

RICHMOND, MISSOURI · MISSOURI PLS · SURVEYING SINCE 1983

Where the line actually is.

A deed says two hundred and ten feet. The fence says something else, and the neighbour has mowed to the fence since 1994. We go find the original corner, set new iron on it, and file a plat that holds up when somebody argues about it later.

Order a survey See what gets filed
ESTABLISHED
1983Third generation, same office
TYPICAL BOUNDARY
3–4 wksFrom signed order to sealed plat
COUNTIES WORKED
SixRay, Clay, Carroll, Lafayette, Caldwell, Clinton
CORNERS RECOVERED
1868–Original GLO stones still control out here
STA 1+00

What you actually receive

Every job ends in a document somebody else has to accept: a lender, a title company, a building department, a judge. These are the ones we seal, and what each is for.

SEALED DELIVERABLES
Boundary survey Corners recovered or reset with capped iron, a sealed drawing showing bearings, distances, encroachments and the record calls we held. 3–4 weeks
ALTA / NSPS land title survey The commercial standard. Built to the current ALTA table with the Table A items your title commitment asks for, coordinated with the title company directly. 4–6 weeks
Elevation certificate FEMA form completed from field shots, for flood insurance rating or a letter of map amendment when the map has your house wrong. 1–2 weeks
Topographic survey One foot contours, spot elevations, utilities located, delivered as a drawing and as a surface file your engineer or architect can build on. 2–3 weeks
Construction staking Building corners, offsets, grade stakes and blue tops set from your approved plans, restaked as the site changes. Scheduled
Lot split and subdivision plat Drawn to the county or city subdivision regulations, taken through review, and recorded at the courthouse. 6–12 weeks
PHOTOGRAPH TO BE SHOT

The crew chief at the total station on a section line. Tripod set over a recovered stone, orange lath and pink flagging in the foreground, early morning light down the fence row. Landscape, full bleed, at least 1600 pixels wide.

Section corner recovered on the Ray and Carroll county line. The stone was set in 1868 and it still controls every deed that touches it.
STA 2+00

Field to filed

Most of a survey is not the day the truck is in your driveway. It is the research before and the drafting after, and that is why the honest answer to "how long" is three weeks and not three days.

  1. Deed and record research

    We pull your deed, the deeds of everyone touching you, the recorded plats and every prior survey on file at the courthouse. Half the boundary problems in this county are already visible at this stage.

  2. Field recovery

    Crew goes out and hunts the original monuments: stones, pipes, axles, a nail in a hedge post. Found evidence beats a measurement every time, so we look hard before we set anything new.

  3. Measurement

    Total station and GNSS tied to the state plane coordinate system, closed traverse, checked back into itself. If it does not close, we go back out.

  4. Resolution

    The record calls and the found evidence rarely agree exactly. Deciding which controls is the professional judgement you are actually buying, and it is why a licence is required to sign the drawing.

  5. Monumentation and plat

    New capped iron set on every resolved corner, drawing sealed, copies to you, to your title company and to the county records where it belongs.

STA 3+00

Where we work

Surveying is a local trade because the records are local. We know which drawer the 1970s plats are in at each of these courthouses, and that is worth more than a shorter drive.

  • Ray County
  • Clay County
  • Carroll County
  • Lafayette County
  • Caldwell County
  • Clinton County
STA 4+00

Have these three things ready

You can order a survey in one phone call if you have these. Without them the first call turns into three, which is the most common reason a closing date slips.

Your deed

A copy, or the book and page number. The legal description on it is where every survey starts, and the address is not a substitute.

Why you need it

Closing, a fence, a building permit, a flood insurance rating, a dispute. Each one points at a different deliverable and a different price.

Your date

The real one. If the closing is the eighteenth, say the eighteenth, and we will tell you honestly whether it is possible.

(816) 555-0142 Email the office

12 N Camden St, Richmond, MO 64085  ·  Mon–Thu 7:30–4:30, Fri 7:30–noon