Short answer: If you’re doing something residential like a fence, an addition, settling a property-line question, you almost always want a boundary survey. If you’re closing on commercial real estate, working with a lender, or need title insurance, you’ll likely need an ALTA/NSPS survey instead.

There’s no rule that works 100% of the time, so always confirm with whoever’s requiring the survey before you order one.

What a Boundary Survey Actually Covers

A boundary survey does what the name suggests: it maps your property’s boundary lines and anything affecting them. It’s the standard choice for simpler residential projects like installing a fence, settling a property-line question, planning a home addition, and it’s usually what a contractor or municipality asks for before approving a permit.

In Pennsylvania, a boundary survey prepared by a licensed Professional Land Surveyor typically includes the location of monuments found or placed at your property corners, any existing easements and rights-of-way of record, a calculation of acreage, a written description of the property, and the surveyor’s signature and seal. Under 49 Pa. Code Chapter 37, only a state-licensed Professional Land Surveyor is permitted to establish those boundaries, prepare the plat, and set or restore the corner monuments. So the license and seal aren’t just formalities, they’re what makes the survey legally usable.

What an ALTA Survey Adds on Top

An ALTA survey follows a different rulebook entirely. Instead of the state-by-state standards that govern boundary surveys, it’s built around the Minimum Standard Detail Requirements for ALTA/NSPS Land Title Surveys, a national standard set jointly by the American Land Title Association and the National Society of Professional Surveyors, so a lender or title company in Pennsylvania and one in California are working from the same playbook. An ALTA survey starts with everything in a boundary survey, then builds on top of it: utility lines, access points, encroachments, and easements are all part of the base package, and you can usually add extras like building dimensions, setback information, or even a parking space count. That extra depth is exactly why ALTA surveys take longer and cost more. You’re paying for a lot more research and a lot more detail.

How to Tell Which One You Need

Start by checking whether you actually have a choice. If someone else is requiring the survey, a bank, a title company, your municipality, they’ll usually tell you exactly which type they need, and that answer settles it. When there’s no one dictating the requirement, three things usually decide it:

Who’s asking for the Land Survey?

Pool and fence contractors almost always want a boundary survey. They just need to know they’re not building on your neighbor’s land.

Commercial property deals and title insurance almost always call for an ALTA survey instead.

What is your Budget for a Land Survey?

More detail isn’t a bad thing, but it isn’t free. An ALTA survey can run two to three times the cost of a boundary survey.

Consider the Turnaround Time for the Different Survey Types.

A survey isn’t just fieldwork. It’s also the office work that turns raw measurements into a usable report. A boundary survey requires digging into the Registry of Deeds and sometimes local historical records before a surveyor can put together a defensible written report. An ALTA survey builds on all of that same research and adds even more documentation, which is why it almost always takes longer to finish.

The Terms You’ll See on an ALTA Survey

Monument

Physical evidence of a point on a survey, like a marker set at the corner of your property.

Right-of-way and access

Streets, highways, or any public or private way of access to the property, including something as simple as a footpath.

Lines of possession and improvement

Walls, buildings, fences, and other improvements within five feet of either side of the boundary line.

Easements

A legal right for someone other than the property owner to access a specific part of that property, most often used for utility access.

So, Which Do I Need?

Generally speaking, residential projects call for a boundary survey and commercial projects call for an ALTA survey, but that rule doesn’t hold 100% of the time. The safest move is always to check with whoever is requesting the survey before you order one, since ordering the wrong type usually means paying for a second survey later.

How Horizon Engineering Can Help

Horizon Engineering Associates handles both boundary and ALTA surveys for clients throughout Pennsburg and the greater Montgomery, Bucks, Berks, and Lehigh County area. With more than 40 years of combined surveying experience on our team, we can help you figure out which survey your project actually needs before you spend money on the wrong one. Call us at 267-923-8673 or email info@horizonengineers.com to get started.

 

 

*The information in this article is current at the time of publishing, but things may have changed. You should always consult an engineer to confirm the applicable rules and regulations.