Sure! I apologize for my slacking off!

Boundary surveying means locating property corners (usually iron pipes, iron rods, brass disks, etc. buried a few inches underground) and measuring the distances and directions between them to see if the measurements match what is on the deed to the property. Sounds easy, but the reason surveyors are licensed and registered by the state is that there is a need for professional judgment to find where the boundary is when there is a question.

For example, if you live in a housing tract, the property corners are pretty straightforward, and generally there is not much question on where your boundary lies. You may have noticed wooden stakes with pink or orange flagging in a new housing development; that is where pipes or rods where set for property corners. But if you live out in the country, and have a large, irregularly sized piece of land, the complexity (and price) of doing a survey of the property multiplies. It also calls for a professional decision if there is a conflict with the deed or one of the neighbors. That's the short version.

In addition, part of performing a survey is drawing the "plat", or map of the tract showing the measurements you found in the field, and how the property is situated in relation to its neighbors. I do the drafting in AutoCAD now, and in Texas, I sign and stamp surveys, but 15 years ago, they were all hand drawn.

These days, I do both small lot surveys and large acreage surveys up in the mountains or way out in the desert. I enjoy the variety of work, and I love hiking up into the hills looking for old property corners, some of which are over a hundred years old.

Next lesson: total stations or GPS?