Order a boundary and topographic survey

Survey costs can feel high for what looks like a couple of stakes — but PP&D requires a stamped survey on the site plan, fence lines on older Portland lots are routinely a foot or two off the real boundary, and your designer needs the topo to draw anything real on top of.

What you're getting

A licensed Oregon land surveyor produces three things:

1. Boundary survey — the actual lot corners, set in the ground with capped rebar, with a stamped drawing.
2. Topographic survey — spot elevations on a grid (typically 5-ft) plus the existing house, fences, large trees, and visible utility hits.
3. Locator note — distances from the existing house's exterior walls to each lot line. This is what PP&D uses to confirm setback compliance.

Why you need it

PP&D's submittal checklist for a residential addition expects a stamped survey showing existing conditions and the proposed addition's relationship to lot lines. Without it, the submittal won't be accepted as complete.

It's also the document your designer builds the schematic on. Designing onto a measured lot is straightforward; designing onto a guess produces drawings that need to be redone after a survey shows the existing house isn't where everyone assumed.

Where to find a land surveyor

Three reliable channels, in order of how the founder would actually shop:

1. Your designer's referrals. Designers carry 2–3 surveyors they've worked with on similar projects. Ask first — the existing relationship smooths scheduling.
2. OSBEELS roster. Oregon State Board of Examiners for Engineering and Land Surveying maintains a public roster of licensed Professional Land Surveyors. Filter by city.
3. Recent permit history. Use Portland Maps Permits & Inspections tab; surveyors of record on recent residential addition permits in your neighborhood are local specialists who already know PP&D's submittal format.

What to look for: active license; residential experience (commercial-only firms charge more); written quote with deliverables clearly enumerated. Turnaround on an addition survey is typically two to three weeks once you sign the order.

What good looks like

A two-sheet PDF: sheet 1 the boundary, sheet 2 the topo with the house overlaid. The surveyor's stamp and license number are on each sheet. Setback dimensions to all four sides of the existing house are called out as text labels.

If anything in the lot description disagrees with what's recorded at Multnomah County (a fence not on the property line, a neighbor's structure encroaching), the surveyor flags it. That's the signal to resolve it before design starts, not after the addition framing is up.