How long should a survey take?

Sometimes they have to go way out to locate known points to survey a property.

I called him a month ago. A week after we made arrangements, he came out to look for old stakes. It's been about 3 weeks since then.

Took two weeks to survey my 130 acres. That was for site time and drawing preparation

I am a surveyor and have been in practice for over 30 years. Every question about surveying can be answered in two words "it depends".

If you live in a traditional subdivision most states require monuments to be set on all lot corners or some offset distance from the corner. The recorded plat will give you this information.

The monuments are usually iron rods or iron pipe and if found undisturbed control your property lines/corners period. They do get disturbed or destroyed over time and this can lead to problems. It is then necessary to look for your neighbors monuments on both sides of you and use them to calculate the correct position of yours. If your neighbors are gone then you go up and down the street until you find something useful.

These surveys can take an hour or two or a day or two depending on what is found. After the initial field work is done the information is brought into the office and processed. The location of any disturbed monuments on your property is calculated and another visit is done to set your corners.

That's pretty much what I was expecting. Thanks for the comments everyone.