What Is an ALTA Survey? Table A Items, Costs, and 2026 Changes

An ALTA survey is a detailed commercial property survey performed to a single national standard set by the American Land Title Association and the National Society of Professional Surveyors. It maps the property’s boundaries, buildings, easements, utilities, access points, and any encroachments, and it exists mainly so that a title insurer will remove the broad “survey exception” from the title policy at closing. Most commercial purchases, and many commercial refinancings, require one. The current version of the standards took effect on February 23, 2026, replacing the 2021 edition.¹

How It Differs From a Regular Boundary Survey

A standard boundary survey tells you where your property lines are. An ALTA survey does that and layers on everything a title insurer and lender want to see: easements pulled from the title commitment, locations of every building and visible improvement, evidence of utility lines, access points, rights of way, and signs of encroachment by neighbors. The output is a single document that works for both surveying and title insurance purposes.

The uniformity is the whole point. A boundary survey follows whatever rules the state happens to impose, which vary widely. An ALTA survey follows one national format, so a lender in New York can read a plat prepared in Arizona and know exactly what they are looking at. For any transaction where title insurance is involved, this is the version that matters.

Why Lenders and Title Insurers Require One

The practical reason buyers pay for an ALTA survey is title coverage. Without a current survey, the title policy typically carries a blanket survey exception that excludes coverage for anything a survey would have revealed: encroachments, boundary disputes, unmarked easements, access problems. That one carve-out can hollow out the policy.

When the title company receives an acceptable ALTA survey, it replaces that blanket exception with specific exceptions listing only the actual problems the survey found. A clean survey means full coverage for boundary and encroachment issues. A survey that flags a neighbor’s fence two feet over the line means that one encroachment becomes an exception, and everything else is still covered.

Most title companies want the survey to be no more than six months old. Some will accept a slightly older one accompanied by an affidavit from someone familiar with the property confirming nothing has changed, but lenders almost always want a current survey.

What Every ALTA Survey Includes

The 2026 standards set a floor that applies to every ALTA survey regardless of what optional items the client adds. The surveyor begins by locating boundary monuments — iron pins, concrete markers, or similar physical markers at property corners — and comparing them against the legal description in the deed and any recorded plats. Where what’s on the ground does not match what’s on paper, the surveyor notes the discrepancy. A surprising number of commercial deals discover at this stage that a fence line or retaining wall sits on the wrong side of a boundary.

Beyond boundaries, the surveyor must locate and depict:

Every building and improvement on the property, plus walls, fences, and improvements within five feet of each boundary line.
Names and widths of abutting streets, curb cuts, driveways, footpaths, and evidence that someone other than the occupant uses the land for access.
All easements identified in the title documents, along with visible utility evidence (manholes, transformers, overhead lines, pipeline markers, poles) within ten feet of the property.
Evidence of use or occupation along the entire perimeter, including by neighbors, regardless of how close the evidence sits to the actual line.¹
Streams, rivers, ponds, and other water features that affect or form boundaries.

The perimeter-occupation requirement was strengthened in 2026. A neighbor’s garden extending twenty feet past your line gets noted even if the line itself is nowhere near a structure, which is exactly the kind of fact that prevents expensive disputes after closing.

Optional Table A Items

Table A is a menu of extra tasks the client can add to the survey. Each item adds cost and time, and the contract has to specify which ones are included before fieldwork begins. The 2026 standards also let the client and surveyor negotiate the wording of any Table A item, with any negotiated change explained in a note on the plat.²

The items that come up most often in commercial transactions:

Flood Zone (Item 3)

The surveyor plots the FEMA flood zone designation on the plat as a scaled graphic, not just a text note, so you can see exactly where the flood line crosses the property. Lenders care because high-risk zones trigger mandatory flood insurance.

Topography (Item 5)

Contour lines showing elevation changes, along with the datum and benchmark used. Essentially required for any site where new construction or regrading is planned.

Zoning (Items 6a and 6b)

If the client provides a zoning report, 6(a) has the surveyor list the current classification, setback requirements, height and floor-space restrictions, and parking requirements on the plat with the date and source. Under 6(b), if the setbacks don’t require interpretation, the surveyor draws them as graphic lines so you can see at a glance whether anything is too close. The surveyor does not research zoning independently; the client supplies the information.

Building Dimensions (Item 7)

Exterior dimensions at ground level, footprint square footage, and measured building heights. Common where the buyer plans to expand or where height limits are tight.

Parking (Item 9)

A count and categorization of every clearly marked parking space, including accessible and motorcycle spaces, plus the striping layout. Lenders and zoning boards often require it to confirm minimum parking ratios.

Underground Utilities (Item 11)

The client chooses between (a) the surveyor plotting utilities from plans or reports the client provides, or (b) arranging a private utility locate service to mark the ground before measurement.³ Either way, the standards include a prominent warning that underground locations cannot be guaranteed without excavation. In some areas, utility companies ignore locate requests from surveyors entirely, and the surveyor has to note that on the plat.

Potential Encroachments (Item 20, New in 2026)

The surveyor compiles a table of potential encroachments observed during fieldwork: structures crossing boundary lines in either direction, improvements intruding into easements or rights of way, features inside setback lines, and apparent use by third parties with no recorded easement. The surveyor flags what they see without opining on who is right.

Custom Items (Item 21)

Anything not on the standard menu — airport conical zone analysis, internal tax parcel lines, building story counts — goes here. This was Item 20 under the 2021 standards.

Documents You Need to Provide

Incomplete documentation is the single most common reason ALTA surveys run late. The surveyor needs the right paperwork before fieldwork can produce anything useful.

The most important document is the title commitment, specifically Schedule B-II, which lists every recorded easement, restriction, and encumbrance affecting the property. The surveyor uses it as a checklist, and every item on it that can be physically located has to appear on the plat. Without Schedule B-II, the surveyor is working blind and the title company will not accept the result.

Plan to provide:

The current legal description from the deed or most recent recorded survey.
Any prior surveys or subdivision plats, which help verify historical monuments.
Your Table A selections, chosen before you ask for a price quote. Adding items after fieldwork begins means a return trip and a higher bill.
A zoning report, if you selected Item 6, since the surveyor won’t research zoning on their own.
Utility plans or engineering drawings, if you selected Item 11(a).

These documents typically come from the title company’s preliminary report or the purchase agreement. Getting them to the surveyor early is the easiest way to protect your closing date.

Cost and Turnaround

Pricing depends on property size, terrain, how many Table A items are selected, and local market rates. For a straightforward commercial property, expect roughly $3,000 to $8,000. Properties with complex boundaries, hilly terrain, or heavy improvements typically run $8,000 to $15,000. Large or heavily customized projects can exceed $15,000 and sometimes substantially more. These are professional fees only and don’t include pass-through charges such as private utility locate services.

Turnaround for most commercial assignments is two to three weeks from the date the surveyor has complete documentation. That stretches when title documents arrive late, when utility locate responses are slow, or when the client adds Table A items mid-project. If you’re working toward a fixed closing date, moving the documents early does more good than asking anyone to rush.

Why You Can’t Just “Update” an Old One

Buyers often ask whether they can save money by updating an existing ALTA survey rather than ordering a new one. Professionally, there is no such thing as an update. When a surveyor recertifies with a current date, they are certifying that the plat reflects current conditions and was performed under the current standards. That means redoing the fieldwork, checking all Schedule B-II items against a current title commitment, and meeting every 2026 requirement. It is a new survey, sometimes at a reduced fee because prior work still has value, but not a shortcut.

If someone offers to update an ALTA survey for a suspiciously low price and quick turnaround, ask exactly what fieldwork will be performed. The answer tells you whether you’re buying a real survey or a recycled document.

What the 2026 Standards Changed

If you worked with ALTA surveys under the 2021 version, a few changes in the 2026 edition are worth knowing about.

The biggest conceptual shift is that fieldwork no longer has to happen “on the ground.” Instead, surveyors must use “practices generally recognized as acceptable” by the profession.² That language leaves room for drone imagery, LiDAR, and other remote-sensing tools without needing a standards revision each time the technology changes.

Other notable changes:

If a landowner or neighbor makes a verbal claim about a boundary or title issue during fieldwork, the surveyor must note it on the plat.¹
New Table A Item 20 covers potential encroachment observations as described above.
When a recent title commitment is unavailable, the standards now give clearer direction on how the surveyor should gather title evidence.
The standards now explicitly permit certifying the survey to a lender’s successors and assigns when requested, though ALTA guidance still cautions surveyors about agreeing to similar language for buyers.⁴

Any survey contract signed on or after February 23, 2026, must comply with the 2026 standards, even if the parties describe the work as an update of an older survey.

1
National Society of Professional Surveyors. 2026 ALTA/NSPS Standards
2
National Society of Professional Surveyors. Minimum Standard Detail Requirements for ALTA/NSPS Land Title Surveys
3
Illinois Professional Land Surveyors Association. 2026 ALTA/NSPS Land Title Survey Standards
4
American Land Title Association. Frequently Asked Questions and Other Guidance for ALTA/NSPS Land Title Surveys