Riar Land Surveying is now part of Matson Peck and Topliss (MPT), bringing nearly 70 years of surveying expertise to our new office in the Fraser Valley.
As a trusted local firm, we continue to provide precise and reliable surveying services for construction, development, and legal needs. Our commitment to excellence, reliability, and prompt service ensures your project stays on track. Contact us today to benefit from MPT’s proven experience in the Fraser Valley.
Riar Land Surveying was a long-standing dream, that came into existence in 2021. As a previous partner at Aplin & Martin/Murray and Associates Land Surveying, we branched out to fulfil the goal of creating a family owned surveying company. With over 41 years of experience, our core values encompass excellent service, reliability, guaranteed satisfaction, and high-quality work to ensure every other professional working on your project can rely on our information. We value strong and effective relationships with anyone who comes in contact with us.
We liaise with municipalities, engineers, architects, planning and legal professionals on a regular basis, providing spatial, boundary, and title information as required for land use, development and environmental protection. We are proud of our profession, our responsibility to the public, and see the benefit in working proactively with local regulatory authorities.
Strata survey is the creation of lots that adjoin each other (single or grouped dwellings) with entitlement to a portion of the parent lot through a survey strata title. These lots may share common property such as driveways and also share utility connections. The BCLS prepares the preliminary strata plans based on approved architectural plans and once built, measures each individual strata parcel and prepares the final strata plans that are registered at the Land Title Office.
A topographical survey plan shows ground features, elevations and contours. This survey plan may also show cultural detail such as all buildings, improvements, fences, roads, available services, land uses and ground cover, within or about a certain designated area. Topographical plans are normally used for design of subdivisions, roads, ditching and residential planning purposes. This information may also be used for volumetric soil removal or excavation quantity determinations.
Cadastral legal surveys involve the measurement, placement, title descriptions and/or re-establishment of legal boundaries on land, above or below the surface, water and air space. Primarily the land surveyor is involved in subdivision of land or buildings, posting of lot corners and right-of-way or easement surveys. This scope of work involves both private and Crown lands and includes leases, mineral claims and the determination of any approved physical right of tenure, occupation and title. A BCLS may also advise on the most efficient method and proper steps to be taken by a client requiring government approvals, whether Provincial or Municipal, that will lead to a legal survey and subsequent creation of a new title. Many BCLS’s are also fully qualified to act as an agent in matters such as approvals, rezoning’s or other land use applications.
These surveys are carried out to place or fix a scale for photogrammetric mapping, establish precise coordinates based on a universal mapping system on government control points, establish control for well-site drilling, hydrographic charts, mine construction, or routing of highways, transmission lines, etc. Survey work in this category involves a range from large scale geographic and governmental mapping projects to smaller localized projects. Many of these surveys are most effectively done using today’s GPS (Global Positioning System) technology.
Surveys for the purpose of providing a certificate of building location on a particular parcel of land may be undertaken by a BCLS on the instructions of lawyers, notaries public, financial institutions, municipal building inspectors or owners. This survey is normally carried out for the protection of an owner to verify building placement setbacks and sitting within and on a lot. It is normally accepted as proof by municipal officials (usually before foundation pouring) and mortgage companies (following the placement of concrete) that there are no encroachment or zoning placement problems, and therefore represents a safeguard or protection to the permit holder or investor. If encroachments are found, then the owner can address these matters immediately and take remedial measures.
A BCLS is fully qualified to carry out subdivision design and all matters of parcel division in accordance with local, provincial and/or regional zoning and development by-laws. Preliminary presentations, reports and applications can also be handled by your BCLS in dealing with cities and municipalities, regional districts, provincial ministries, land commissions and federal authorities.
Many BC land surveyors also have special skills, expertise and experience in advanced geomatics and survey applications. This can include precise surveys for machine alignment and deformation analysis, mapping and GIS (Geographic Information Systems) expertise, remote sensing, real-time GPS (Global Positioning System) surveys from 1m mapping levels to millimetre-level precise surveys, and hydrographic surveys.
A BC Land Surveyor may also be accepted as an expert witness in matters of litigation, where survey determinations are in question. This may include appearances in matters involving motor vehicle or industrial accidents