Colorado land survey rules
Colorado land surveyors are licensed by the State Board of Licensure for Architects, Professional Engineers and Professional Land Surveyors, created in C.R.S. 12-120-103.
Who licenses land surveyors in Colorado
The board's surveyor quorum is made up of at least its three professional land surveyor members and one member who is neither an engineer nor a surveyor (12-120-102).
Colorado regulates the practice of professional land surveying under Part 3 of Article 120, Title 12 of the Colorado Revised Statutes, starting at section 12-120-301.
The board's rules are 4 CCR 730-1 in the Code of Colorado Regulations; Rule 1.6 sets the rules of professional land surveying practice.
Sources: Board: State Board of Licensure for Architects, Professional Engineers and Professional Land Surveyors; Board rules: 4 CCR 730-1, Rule 1.6
Who may survey
It is unlawful to practice or offer to practice professional land surveying in Colorado without a license (12-120-305).
Colorado licenses individual surveyors only; a partnership, corporation, LLC or other entity cannot hold a land surveying license (12-120-304).
A company may offer land surveying in Colorado only if the person in responsible charge of its surveying is a professional land surveyor, whose seal and signature must be on its plats and reports (12-120-304).
Unlicensed employees may do surveying work when it is performed under the responsible charge of a licensed professional land surveyor (12-120-303).
Minimum standards for a boundary survey
Every land survey plat must include a scale drawing of the parcel boundaries and all recorded and apparent rights-of-way and easements (38-51-106).
The plat must describe all monuments, both found and set, that mark the property boundaries (38-51-106).
The plat must also show a north arrow, the surveyor's signature and seal, and any conflicting boundary evidence (38-51-106).
Corners established by a land survey must be marked by reasonably permanent markers solidly embedded in the ground, each with a durable cap bearing the responsible surveyor's license number (38-51-104).
A surveyor must prepare and deposit a plat when a monument accepted in the survey is not already of record in the county, or when a monument is set (38-51-107).
The plat must be deposited with the public office designated by the county commissioners within twelve months after the monument is accepted or set (38-50-101).
When a survey uses a public land survey monument as control, the surveyor must submit a monument record to the board within six months (38-53-104).
Filing a complaint
Complaints about a land surveyor go to the Division of Professions and Occupations, either online through its Online Services system or on a paper complaint form mailed to the Division.
The board cannot award money damages or settle fee disputes; those are civil matters.
The board may discipline a surveyor who fails to meet the generally accepted standards of land surveying practice, through act or omission (12-120-306).
Sources: File online or by mailed form; Discipline for substandard work
Common questions
What must a boundary survey include in Colorado?
A Colorado land survey plat must include a scale drawing of the parcel boundaries, all recorded and apparent rights-of-way and easements, a description of all monuments found and set, a north arrow, the surveyor's signature and seal, and any conflicting boundary evidence. Corners must be marked by permanent markers capped with the surveyor's license number, and a required plat must be deposited with the county within twelve months.