Serving Sonoma County and the North Bay, Brelje & Race offers a comprehensive range of professional land surveying services to support land development, infrastructure planning, real estate transactions, and legal documentation. Our licensed surveyors apply technical precision, regulatory knowledge, and field expertise across a variety of project types. Below is an overview of the survey and mapping services we offer:
Topographic surveys provide a detailed representation of a site’s physical features, including both natural terrain and built improvements. These surveys depict elevation contours, drainage patterns, and prominent site features such as trees, roads, fences, buildings, and utilities. Collected using high-accuracy instruments or aerial techniques, this data is essential for engineers, architects, and planners to design projects that are responsive to existing site conditions. Topographic maps support grading and drainage design, infrastructure layout, environmental analysis, and permit applications.
A boundary survey is performed to formally establish or re-establish the legal boundary lines of a parcel of land. This includes identifying and marking property corners, locating boundary lines, and documenting existing improvements that may affect or be influenced by those lines—such as fences, driveways, or buildings. The process involves detailed fieldwork using modern surveying equipment (such as GPS and total stations), as well as thorough research of historical deeds, plats, and other public records. The result is a detailed survey map that reflects boundaries, easements, and potential encroachments. Boundary surveys are commonly required for construction, land transfers, permitting, subdivision, or resolving disputes between adjoining land owners.
Construction staking, also known as construction layout, involves translating design plans into precise physical reference points on the ground. These stakes guide the accurate placement of buildings, utilities, roads, retaining walls, and other structures during construction. This critical phase ensures that improvements are built to plan, within regulatory boundaries, and to proper elevation. Construction staking is typically conducted in stages throughout a project’s lifecycle—from rough grading through foundation, paving, and final detail work—and plays a vital role in minimizing costly errors and delays.
Control surveys establish a highly accurate network of reference points (control points) across a project site. These points provide the geodetic framework upon which all other survey and design data is based. Control surveys ensure spatial consistency across complex or multi-phase projects and are essential for integrating data from multiple crews or consultants. Control surveys are also critical in support of aerial photogrammetry, where visible ground control points anchor aerial imagery to real-world coordinates. Additionally, control networks are used in monitoring and deformation studies, where the surveyor returns over time to assess movement or settlement in structures, slopes, or other sensitive areas.
In addition to field-based surveying, Brelje & Race prepares a range of legal and regulatory documents that are essential to land transactions, development approvals, and property adjustments:
Land title surveys are prepared according to standards set by the American Land Title Association (ALTA) and the National Society of Professional Surveyors (NSPS) and are typically required in commercial real estate transactions. They include boundary lines, easements, access rights, encroachments, improvements, and other matters affecting title, and are often used by title companies and lenders to ensure clarity of ownership.
We prepare legally compliant written descriptions that define easements for utilities, access, drainage, or conservation purposes. These documents accompany recorded easement agreements and clearly define the limits and purpose of each easement across the property.
Our team supports property owners and developers in adjusting shared boundary lines through the preparation of updated legal descriptions and plat exhibits, along with coordination with local planning agencies. Lot line adjustments allow for the reconfiguration of parcels without creating new lots and are often used to correct encroachments or improve development potential.
When boundary lines or monuments are found to differ materially from record information, Brelje & Race prepares a Record of Survey for submittal and filing with the County Surveyor. This document provides a legal record of boundary locations, monumentation, and other pertinent survey data.
In cases where property or subdivision corners are recovered or re-established and a full Record of Survey is not required, a corner record is prepared and filed in accordance with applicable state laws. This document preserves the surveyor’s work and ensures future surveyors can retrace the corner location.
For projects involving the division of land into four or fewer parcels, Brelje & Race prepares parcel maps that comply with local subdivision ordinances. These maps often accompany applications for land division or lot line adjustment and include detailed survey information and legal descriptions.
For larger subdivision projects, we prepare Final Maps (also referred to as Tract Maps) that establish new legal lots and show precise layout of public improvements such as streets and easements. Final Maps must be reviewed and approved by the local jurisdiction prior to recordation.
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