Tell the ALTA/NSPS surveyor how the property is expected to be used before the field and drawing scope is fixed. The 2026 standards distinguish planned use reported in writing from existing use when judging the appropriate precision for located features and annotated dimensions. A survey prepared without the development plan may still satisfy its agreed scope while leaving a later design question unanswered.
Describe the decision the team needs to make
Tell the surveyor whether the property is being acquired for continued operation, refinancing, redevelopment, an addition, or another planned use. Share the current site concept and the questions the lender, title officer, architect, or civil engineer expects the survey to inform. Identify known access, easement, utility, and improvement concerns without assuming the ALTA survey alone will answer every design or due-diligence question.
Sections 5 and 6 of the 2026 ALTA/NSPS standards refer to planned use reported in writing to the surveyor by the client, lender, or insurer when setting the appropriate degree of precision for certain field features and dimensions. If planned use is not reported, existing use informs that judgment. This does not turn every future design requirement into a standard ALTA deliverable.
Separate title-survey work from design data
A project team may also need detailed topography, utility investigation, tree information, or civil design data. Discuss those requirements explicitly. The standards say that an engineering design survey desired as part of the assignment should be negotiated under Table A Item 21. Terrane’s Table A guide helps explain the optional-item discussion.
Ask the design team to mark the area and level of detail it needs. Ask the surveyor to distinguish the ALTA/NSPS deliverable from any separately negotiated existing-conditions or design survey. This helps the buyer avoid discovering after closing that the drawing was asked to serve a purpose outside its original scope.
Send the planned use in writing with the title package and project contacts. For Terrane’s ALTA survey work, define the transaction deliverable and any additional design data together before fieldwork begins.
