Highlight/flag EXISTING survey stakes or NEW survey?

[Cynthia Lucas]

Hey BPers!  Anyone have advice for finding a new surveyor who will flag a former surveyors property stakes?   We are building a privacy fence and want to ensure we are within our property boundaries. Neither of the neighbors have a survey (not required in GA). The former surveyor was nice enough to call me back, but will not offer recommendations. Note to self - always go with a larger company who will be around for the long haul. We've called a few companies, but are being told it will be $700 for a NEW survey.  My survey is 7 years old and we cannot locate the stakes even after cutting all brush back. Seems reasonable that someone else could easily use tech to re-establish the lines for us instead of conducting a whole other pricey survey. 

Would appreciate any advice. Thx!

[JD Martin]

No surveyor is going to certify another set of stakes or pins because they have no idea how they got there or who put them in. Bite the bullet and get the new survey. 

I have told this story here before but I'll tell it again. Years ago we wanted to fence in the backyard of one of our rentals. Guy next door tells me he knows where the stakes and pins are. We go out and he shows them to me. We pull guidelines using these stakes and I tell my fence contractor to stay a foot or so inside the line. A few months later the tenant tells me the neighbors are raising hell because our fence is on their property. So I go over and meet with the guy, and show him we pulled lines off the stakes he showed me. He tells me that the stake in the backyard is the wrong stake, that there's another stake back there. Sure enough, we go beating through the weeds on the hill and find an old stake about 3 feet in from the new, fresh looking stake. So I get my surveyor to come out and mark the lines and the old stake is the right one, and my fence in the back is over the line by about 3 feet. So I had to pay the fence contractor to come back out and redo that section. 

If you are putting up a fence and there is any questions, get a new survey. It's a cost of doing business.