Land surveyors
Since California rewrote its ADU laws starting in 2020, backyard units have become one of the most common residential projects around Long Beach. The city's plan check wants a site plan showing lot lines, existing structures, the proposed unit and its distance to every line - and with side and rear setbacks as small as four feet, the lines need to be real rather than assumed from a wall or fence. An ADU site survey gives the designer that base: property lines, the house and garage, eaves, trees, easements along the rear of the lot, the sewer cleanout and utility meters, and the ground elevations needed to drain the new unit.
California's ADU laws, rewritten starting in 2020, turned a detached backyard unit into a realistic project on an ordinary single-family lot. A big part of that is the setback: for a new detached ADU, a city generally cannot require more than four feet from the side and rear lot lines. Four feet is not much room for guesswork. If the block wall at the back of the yard actually sits half a foot past the property line, a design measured from the wall ends up inside the setback - something plan check or the foundation inspector will find, and neither is a good moment to find it.
Plan check in Long Beach and neighboring cities expects a site plan with lot lines and dimensions, the existing house and garage, the proposed unit, distances to each line and separation between buildings. A site survey supplies that base: property lines from the recorded tract map, located structures including eaves and overhangs, trees, and the ground elevations needed to drain the new unit. Signal Hill and Los Alamitos have their own ADU ordinances, which vary on details but must meet the same state minimums.
On post-war tract lots in places like Lakewood and Bellflower, the recorded tract map can show a utility easement along the rear of the lot - exactly where a backyard unit wants to go - and building into an easement generally needs the holder's consent. The survey also locates the sewer cleanout and likely lateral route, gas and electric meters and the overhead service drop, because the new unit has to connect to them and keep required clearances from overhead lines.
Parts of Long Beach and Seal Beach are in the coastal zone, where an ADU can also need coastal development review. Converting an existing garage generally does not trigger new setbacks, but it is still worth confirming the garage stands where the permit record says it does. When the design is approved, construction staking puts the footprint on the ground; on low or sloping lots the base may need a full topographic survey, and an as-built survey can document the finished unit.
How long does it take? Usually a single field visit on a standard lot. Allow more time where rear-lot monuments are missing or the lot is sloping.
These are usually asked for on the same transaction:
Locates your property lines from the recorded tract map and street monuments, and shows where walls, fences and structures sit against them.
Learn More →Maps ground elevations, drainage paths, structures and visible utilities as a base for grading, drainage and building design.
Learn More →Offset, grade and utility stakes set from boundary control and benchmarks, so the building lands where the plans put it.
Learn More →Free - No obligation
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