Not having the most accurate, true information before you start such a project can lead to some serious consequences. Your cousin is both right and wrong. While it seems that most authorities these days don't require an updated survey before granting a permit, they do stamp something on your plans stating that you need one at sign-off. In my experience, most of the time the inspectors end up signing off without receiving the updated survey papers. Only a few smaller jurisdictions follow through. The bigger ones are so burdened with more than they can handle that the final survey is forgotten. And since most title companies, real estate agents and lawyers don't check a survey's accuracy for missing information, such as complete measurements, heights, mathematical and compass data, properties are closed on all the time with incorrect or incomplete surveys. I have an archive of hundreds of incomplete surveys passed along to me from contractors, lawyers, and title companies who were careful enough to ask for an opinion about what the architect and builder needed before letting their client sign on the dotted line.Your survey is one of the most important documents we designing professionals need at the very beginning of the planning. Most critically, the survey has to be accurate. Now, I know that many builders are used to fudged plans by unlicensed practitioners or careless architects, and therefore just forge ahead because they need the cash flow, but legal problems can develop that you, the owner, will have to absorb if the construction is not in the right place. How often does this happen? When looking at a prospective client's papers before we start, approximately 90 percent of the paperwork is missing information. Because of this, and the inability to recognize the importance of correct documents, the owner, feeling overwhelmed by upcoming costs, decides not to spend the dollars needed to have the survey rectified. What that leads to is a lot of confusion and fingerpointing on the job site when the plans are off, the materials are mismeasured, and the job comes to an abrupt halt while everyone decides who will pay for lost time, new materials, and document corrections.I have seen over and over the problems caused, to the point where your cousin and you will no longer speak, the job gets way behind schedule, costs increase, and you wish you hadn't started the project at all. And it usually begins with trying to save the now seemingly small amount that could have prevented the whole mess in the first place. Now that I've given you insight as to the potential end of the job, I hope you know what to get in order to do the right thing. Good luck!Readers are encouraged to send questions to: HERALD Homes, 379 Central Avenue, P.O. Box 220, Lawrence, N.Y. 11559-0220Attn: Monte Leeper, architect.
