On every property we have surveyed whose deed is an old one, the real surface area has never matched the declared figure. The differences reach 20 %, and they run both ways: plots that come out smaller than the paperwork claims, and others considerably larger.
On a 5,000 m² plot, 20 % is 1,000 square metres. That is a difference you pay for, build on, or lose.
You do not need to have bought yet. Several clients ask us to survey before they sign, precisely to know what they are buying. More than one has taken that figure into a price negotiation.
There is an exception, and it is worth saying. Recent subdivisions do match: they are measured with precise instruments and the deed reflects the surface area well. If the property comes from a recent parcelling, the figure is probably right — and the survey earns its keep elsewhere: slopes, water, access, where you can actually build.
The gap shows up in everything else: inherited land, subdivisions from decades ago, boundaries that were never measured again.
We do not raise this to alarm anyone, but because it is the figure almost nobody has on the table when they sign.
Why the paperwork and the ground drift apart
Many deeds come from old measurements, taken with methods that lacked today's precision. Others were inherited and never checked again. And a good share describe boundaries by landmarks —the creek, the big oak, the track— that shifted or vanished over the years.
On top of that sits an unwritten rule everyone in the countryside knows: the old fence wins. When the paperwork and the actual occupation disagree, what tends to be respected is the one that has stood for decades, not the line on the plan.
The reason is practical rather than legal. Moving a fence is a cumbersome procedure, and in most cases it works out better to correct the surface area on paper than to open a dispute with the neighbour. That is what almost everyone chooses once they find out in time.
It is not a rule: each case is settled separately. Where the neighbour agrees, we can carry the surface-area correction as far as the property registry; where they do not, the route is judicial and that commission belongs to a lawyer. It is worth knowing before you sign rather than after.
So we measure the land as it stands: its real surface area, its boundaries and the line the fence actually runs along.
What the exact number changes
The price. If the land trades by the square metre, that gap carries straight over into what you pay. Walking into the negotiation with the measurement done is not the same as doing it on an impression.
Whether the project fits. Minimum subdivision size, setbacks and where the house goes are all calculated on real metres. What works on paper may not work on the ground.
The boundary with the neighbour. Finding the discrepancy with the survey in hand, before buying, is very different from discovering it the day someone decides to move a fence.
The access. The right of way on the deed and the track people actually drive in on are not always the same.
In none of these cases do we decide for you. We hand you the figure, and the decision is yours.
How we measure it
We fly the property with a drone and tie it to points taken with geodetic GPS. The two techniques are complementary and work together: the flight covers the whole surface, the ground control gives it exact coordinates.
The result has centimetre precision. From it come the contour lines, the orthomosaic and the digital terrain model.
And there is something you can check yourself: the point cloud from one of our surveys runs in your browser, with nothing to install. It is real work, not a generic demo.
What is not ours to do, and worth knowing
The survey ends when we give you the plan. With it in hand you decide how to carry on.
If the surface area or the boundaries need correcting, we do the technical work and the filing. We measure, draw the plan, prepare the application and lodge it with the property registry, the Conservador de Bienes Raíces. It goes as a separate commission from the survey, because not everyone needs it.
And there is a ceiling there that is not ours to move. The registrar may refuse to record the change —if it could affect third-party rights, for instance— and the route then becomes judicial: a ruling has to be sought from the competent court. That filing has to be sponsored by a lawyer, even when it is brought as a non-contentious petition. We go as far as the registry; past that, we do not.
The authorities' fees, duties and notary costs are not included either: they are the owner's. And if title comes from an unsettled inheritance, there is another road first, which is also a lawyer's.
If the property comes from a recent subdivision, the surface area is probably already right and you do not need this to confirm it. It would serve you for the rest —slopes, water, access, where you can build— or perhaps you do not need it yet. We would rather say so up front than afterwards.
Timeline and price
from the moment fieldwork begins.
is the reference value for the survey. And it really is one: every property is quoted on its surface area, the scope and the conditions on site. We publish it alongside the rest of the process so you know the range before you write to us.
What comes next
With the measurement done, what follows is deciding what to do with the property. These are the stages after this one, and what each of them settles.
- Subdivision and lot layout How the site is divided: where the lots sit, how services reach them, what is left untouched.
- Property master planning Where the house goes, how the water runs, which use belongs in each zone.
- Functional landscape A place that, as well as looking good, produces, protects and regenerates.
- Firescaping If the property borders forest, the area around the house is designed to slow the fire down.
- Staking and site works Setting the layout out on the ground and building what was drawn, with whatever corrections come up.
You do not have to commission them now, or have us do them. But if the measurement left you with questions, that is where they get answered.