If you are looking to purchase a commercial or developmental piece of property, chances are your lender may have asked you to provide an ALTA survey before the loan is approved. So what is it and what do you need to know?

An ALTA survey is a very specific type of survey that follows national standards developed by the American Land Title Association in conjunction with the National Society of Professional Surveyors. In addition to locating the boundary of your property, an ALTA survey identifies physical features, evidence of possession, and other conditions that could indicate adverse title claims.

Basically, the survey helps the title company be sure that there is nothing on your land that is going to indicate someone else has a claim to it and that you are going to be able to use the land in the way you intend.

For example, an ALTA survey will look at everything within five feet of the boundary lines, as well as trails, fences, easements, or overhangs that encroach onto the property. Simultaneously, a title examiner will supply a title commitment, including documents that might affect the title, such as liens, easements, mortgages, rights of way, reservation of mineral rights, and others. Those items are then plotted on the survey to see exactly how they impact the property.

Standards for an ALTA survey are typically revised every five years, with the next revision expected in 2016. Unlike a mortgage location survey, which varies from state to state and is typically used for residential property, an ALTA survey is normally specific to commercial or industrial properties.

Before requesting an ALTA survey, be sure to confirm with your lender if there are any specific requirements that they will need. For instance, to verify zoning compliance, the number of stalls in existing parking lots may be needed. This is just one of several “Optional Table A” items. Knowing those requirements upfront can expedite the delivery of the survey and potentially save you money in the long run.

An accurate ALTA survey will ensure there are no surprises that may negatively affect the use of the property.

The Kleingers Group has long believed in the importance of building better communities.

While we hope that those values come through on every project we work on, there are some projects of which we are particularly proud.

For the last several years, The Kleingers Group has worked with Habitat for Humanity Greater Cincinnati to survey properties donated to the group.

Specifically, once an individual has donated a piece of property to Habitat, our surveyors have volunteered to complete boundary and topographic surveys of the property, ensuring property lines are correct and no conflicts exist with the property.

Habitat then uses the information to build a new home or rehabilitate an existing home.

“This is one thing we can do to help the overall community by giving back,” said Director of Surveying Dave Cox.

This past year, surveyors have spent time at homes in Lockland, but have previously surveyed throughout the Greater Cincinnati area.

In addition to the time spent surveying, our surveyors have also given to their communities in a multitude of other ways, helping others to learn about the profession.

Several of our surveyors have spent time helping Cub Scouts earn their Engineering badges by helping them learn about what engineers, architects, and surveyors do.

Recently, Matt Habedank worked with the St. Dominic cub scout pack 483, showing them how to measure property lines with the robotic total station.

Among other things, Matt said he let the kids guess how far they were away from the instrument.

Most of them have never even heard of surveying, Matt said, and learning about it can be eye-opening.

Other surveyors have volunteered their engineering knowledge throughout the world. Randy has spent time on construction projects in Guatemala, Ecuador, and Peru.

Regardless of how they choose to do it, The Kleingers Group is proud of our surveyors for helping to strengthen their communities and for sharing their knowledge and talents.

We are excited to announce our newest small business enterprise (SBE) certification! Recently, we received our SBE certification through the City of Cincinnati.  This certification allows us to meet small business hiring goals for a variety of projects through Cincinnati Water Works, Cincinnati DOTE, and other City departments.

In addition to the City of Cincinnati, we are also certified as an SBE through the Metropolitan Sewer District of Greater Cincinnati, the City of Dayton, and the U.S. Small Business Administration.

Traveled through Columbus lately? You may have seen construction at the new Orange Barrel Media Headquarters. The headquarters is located along I-670 just west of the confluence of the Scioto River and the Olentangy River near downtown.

It’s hard to miss the gigantic signage for the project, also under construction. Each tower for the sign is designed for a construction height of 160′! To help verify the towers were being constructed plumb, the contractor looked to our Central Ohio based surveyors to provide measurements at 20′ intervals to check the position of concrete forms. Proper adjustments were then made to ensure the towers met adequate dimensions, there is a minimal tolerance of 3/4″ for the steel between the towers.