Order a boundary and topographic survey

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.

How to find one

Verify the surveyor is licensed via OSBEELS. Your designer likely has two or three they've worked with. Surveys for an addition project are routine work — turnaround is 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.