LiggieSurveys offers a wide variety of accurate and affordable land surveying services in the District of Columbia. With a highly skilled professional team we are able to conduct high quality surveys that meet or exceed District and federal standards, provided affordably, on time and within budget. Whether you need a simple boundary survey, construction staking, FEMA flood elevation certification or subdivision platting, we have the knowledge and expertise to ensure the job is done right.
A Brief History Of District of Columbia Land Surveying
Land surveying in Washington, DC dates back to the founding of the federal capital itself. The Residence Act of 1790 authorized President George Washington to select a 100-square-mile site along the Potomac River for the new seat of government, and in 1791 he commissioned Major Andrew Ellicott to survey and mark its boundaries. Ellicott was joined by Benjamin Banneker, a self-taught free Black mathematician and astronomer from Maryland, who used astronomical observations to help fix the position of the survey’s starting point at Jones Point in Alexandria. Over the following months, Ellicott’s team ran the boundary lines outward in ten-mile segments to form a diamond-shaped, 100-square-mile district, setting 40 sandstone boundary markers at one-mile intervals along the way — the oldest federally placed monuments in the United States, most of which are still standing today.
The District’s boundary changed once more in 1846, when Congress agreed to retrocede the portion of the original federal territory lying south and west of the Potomac River back to the Commonwealth of Virginia, following a petition from residents of Alexandria concerned about the area’s economic prospects and, notably, the future of slavery under federal versus Virginia law. That retrocession is why the modern District of Columbia forms a smaller, roughly diamond-cornered square rather than Ellicott’s original 100-square-mile boundary, and why several of the original 1791–92 boundary stones today sit across the river in present-day Arlington and Alexandria, Virginia rather than within DC itself.
District of Columbia Land Surveying Today
As one of the most densely built and tightly regulated jurisdictions in the country, the District places a premium on precise, well-documented surveys for everything from residential additions and party-wall agreements in its historic rowhouse neighborhoods to large-scale commercial and mixed-use development. Land surveyors practicing in DC must meet strict licensure requirements to ensure their work complies with District and federal regulations, including coordination with agencies such as the DC Office of the Surveyor when boundary or record-plat questions arise. LiggieSurveys is duly licensed in the District of Columbia to perform both commercial and residential land surveys that meet and exceed District standards.
Types Of Surveys Offered
For accurate, timely and affordable land surveys in the District of Columbia, LiggieSurveys offers the advantages of skill, expertise, experience and reliability.
As duly licensed surveyors in the District of Columbia,
LiggieSurveys can offer many different types of surveys in the state. With our many years of proven experience, we have the expertise to make sure your DC land surveying needs are met accurately, on time and within budget. For a free quote, call LiggieSurveys today at (202 ) 702-7995 , or contact us here.