We are land surveyors serving homeowners and property owners across Melrose, MA. Our work starts with the deed, recorded plat, and prior surveys of record, then moves into the field to recover the original corner monuments—the iron pins, stones, or nails that connect the paperwork to the property.
Older properties need a careful reading
More than half of the homes in Melrose were built before 1939, making older lots a regular part of our work. For a homeowner, the practical question is how the property described in century-old records relates to the ground today. We start with those records instead of assuming a familiar-looking corner tells the whole story. Our older neighborhoods feature varied historic house forms—from Second Empire and Queen Anne to Shingle Style, Colonial Revival, and Craftsman. We approach the particular lot and building in front of us, accounting for how Northeast winters and climate zone 5A conditions might have shifted or buried boundary evidence over the decades.
The work behind a property survey
Surveying includes work a homeowner can see and work that happens before our crew reaches the property. We pull the historical paperwork to give the fieldwork a defined purpose. On the ground, finding an object and establishing its place in the record are connected tasks; digging up an old marker is only part of the job. While single-family homes make up the bulk of Melrose properties, we also regularly survey two- to four-family and larger multifamily buildings. We handle the record research and corner-recovery work with the specific property in view, whether the building serves one household or several.
Understanding the question before quoting
When you get in touch, tell us what you are trying to establish. If your concern is a particular boundary line, say which one. If you have an earlier survey in your files, let us know. We want the question in plain language before discussing the scope of the job. Before quoting, we review your specific question alongside the available public records. This lets us frame the research and fieldwork around the actual issue. We keep a strict distinction between what the documents establish and what still needs to be found on site.
Careful work follows the evidence
A quick answer is easy to give if the records and the ground are treated as separate subjects. Careful work brings them together. We do not call something a recorded corner simply because it looks convincing. The research has to support that reading. On an older Melrose property, the age of the house gives useful context, but it does not answer the boundary question. We stay with the property’s own evidence. That is less dramatic than a confident guess, and considerably more useful when you need to understand exactly what the survey establishes.
Choosing surveyors and getting started
For your first conversation with us, gather any paperwork you already have. Tell us what you know about the property lines, including any physical markers you have noticed in the yard. We treat that information as a starting point for research, not as a conclusion. You do not need to turn your concern into survey terminology before contacting us. Explain what you are trying to build, resolve, or establish, and we can discuss the steps needed to address it.
A Look at the Work
Examples of the work involved, start to finish.
Choose Your Service
Boundary SurveyA boundary survey establishes the exact limits of your parcel.
Alta SurveyAn ALTA survey maps the property’s boundary framework, improvements, utilities, and encroachments, along with the specific Table A items your lender or title company requires.- Topographic SurveyA topographic survey maps the slopes, elevations, and physical features of your property.
Elevation CertificateAn Elevation Certificate documents your home's elevation relative to the base flood elevation.
Construction StakingConstruction staking puts the plans on the ground where the work happens.
What to Expect
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Tell Us What You Need
A two-minute call is enough for us to understand the job and what it'll take.
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We Take a Look
We come out, look at the space, and confirm exactly what the job involves.
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Know the Price First
We put the work, the timeline, and the number on paper — take your time with it.
In practice, on a job like this:
- Filing the record of survey with the county where the state requires it, and delivering the sealed drawing
- Researching the deed, recorded plat, and any prior surveys of record before anyone goes to the field
What It Typically Costs
These are planning ranges. Nothing is final until it is in writing.
$500–$1500
$500–$1200
Questions Melrose Customers Ask
It's a form a licensed surveyor completes documenting your building's elevation relative to the base flood elevation. You'll need one to buy or reduce flood insurance in a mapped flood zone, or to support a Letter of Map Amendment if you believe your structure was mapped into a floodplain by mistake.
Yes. Where corners are missing we set stamped iron rods or caps carrying the surveyor's license number, and we flag them so you can find them. The markers are part of the record — moving or destroying them is both a practical problem and, in most states, against the law.
No. A phone's GPS is accurate to several feet at best and isn't tied to your deed or the corner monuments, so the lines those apps draw are approximate and carry no legal weight. Survey-grade GNSS fixes a point to the centimeter against a reference network — a different instrument for a different job.
The property address and, if you have them, a copy of your deed, any prior survey, and your title commitment. Access to walk the property helps, and if there's a specific reason for the survey — a fence, a sale, a building permit — telling us up front lets us scope it right the first time.
Price tracks the work, not the lot size alone. A clean platted lot with good corners is quick; a parcel with missing monuments, conflicting deeds, heavy tree cover, or a metes-and-bounds description takes far more research and field time. We quote after we see the deed and the record, so the number is real.
Usually yes, and often the permit requires it. Building to an assumed line is how encroachment problems start — a fence a foot over the line can cloud a future sale. A current boundary survey shows exactly where you can build and keeps the improvement on your own ground.
A Few More Questions
It's marking the site so the contractor builds in the right place — offset stakes for the foundation, grade stakes for elevations, and layout for utilities, all set from the engineered plans. It's done in stages as the job progresses, which is why it's usually quoted per visit rather than as one flat fee.
A boundary survey with improvements locates visible features and the easements shown in the record — utility lines, drainage, access, and any structures near the lines. A full ALTA goes further. If a recorded easement doesn't show on your deed, the title research is where it turns up, which is one reason the record work matters.
In Oklahoma, only a licensed Professional Land Surveyor can locate and certify a boundary. A recorded plat shows the intended dimensions, but it doesn't tell you where the corners actually sit on the ground — that takes field measurement tied to the monuments of record. A signed, sealed survey is what a lender, title company, or court will accept.
Most residential lots take a few hours in the field once the research is done, but the whole job usually runs one to three weeks start to finish — record research, scheduling the field crew, computing the boundary, and drafting the sealed plat all take time. Acreage and parcels with conflicting deeds take longer.
Where We Work
We work across Melrose, MA. Call (781) 590-6899 to confirm coverage for your address.