{"id":37455,"date":"2024-06-17T11:26:58","date_gmt":"2024-06-17T15:26:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/?p=37455"},"modified":"2024-06-17T11:26:58","modified_gmt":"2024-06-17T15:26:58","slug":"darrah-land-surveying-provides-important-information-to-homeowners-and-developers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2024\/06\/darrah-land-surveying-provides-important-information-to-homeowners-and-developers\/","title":{"rendered":"Darrah Land Surveying Provides Important Information To Homeowners And Developers"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Kristin Darrah, owner of Darrah Land Surveying, became interested in the profession while attending Paul Smith\u2019s College in the Adirondacks.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By Christine Graf<\/p>\n

It was while attending Paul Smith\u2019s College in the Adirondacks that Darrah Land Surveying\u2019s Kristin Darrah developed an interest in becoming a land surveyor. After meeting some neighbors who worked in the field, she changed her major from environmental studies to surveying technology.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had never even heard of land surveying,\u201d said Darrah. \u201cI observed them working on one of their projects– hand drafting a topographic map. I thought it was really interesting.\u201d<\/p>\n

The field of land surveying has a rich history, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln all having worked as land surveyors. The famous duo of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark created close to 140 maps while surveying the Louisiana Purchase and the Pacific Northwest.<\/p>\n

Land surveying draws heavily on mathematical principles, the fundamentals of geometry being of particular importance, used to calculate angles, distances, and elevations.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span>Surveyors must also familiarize themselves with local history, especially in the Adirondack region where land patents date back to before the Revolutionary War. A land patent is a document that assigns official ownership of a particular tract of land.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe goal of what we do is to reproduce the work of the original surveyors\u2014figuring out what their intention was. There\u2019s a lot of history involved in order to understand how the land was split up to begin with,\u201d said Darrah.<\/p>\n

Working in the profession since 2002, Darrah joined Darrah Land Surveying in 2007. The company was established in 2006 by her husband, Donald Darrah.<\/p>\n

\u201cI became a partner in 2011,\u201d she said. \u201cI wear a lot of hats, overseeing project managers , technicians, field staff, and our administrative staff.\u201d<\/p>\n

Based in\u00a0 <\/span>Lake Luzerne, Darrah Land Surveying has 14 employees and offers a variety of services to its customers. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe do a little bit of anything. We do construction layout for new buildings, new homes, and subdivisions. We do some heavy highway work for some local construction companies. We also do boundary surveying and design mapping for upgrades to sewer systems or upgrades to municipal properties,\u201d said Darrah.<\/p>\n

As a certified New York State Certified Women Business Enterprise (WBE), the firm works on many publicly-funded municipal projects.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPublicly-funded projects have a minority component requirement for a certain percentage of it to be handled by a minority-owned business, and that\u2019s us,\u201d Darrah explained. \u201cThat helps us get our foot in the door on a lot of municipal projects. We just did layout for the Glens Falls Farmers\u2019 Market. We also have the contract with Warren County, working on road projects with the Department of Public Works.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Darrah, boundary surveying represents a significant portion of the firm\u2019s work. Used to determine property lines, these surveys are sometimes necessitated by property-related disputes between neighbors.\u00a0 <\/span>Regardless of the circumstances, the process begins with a deed analysis.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf I go to your house and survey your property, we look at your deed, and we look at the deeds for all of the lots that adjoin you– ones that you share a boundary with. We do research at the county clerk\u2019s office and get copies of those deeds. We look for any filed maps that may exist, ones that could affect your property or your neighbor\u2019s property,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

They also look at their internal records which include records purchased from several local surveyors who worked throughout the region. In the field of surveying, it is common to purchase records from surveyors who are retiring. Most recently, the firm purchased the records from Dennis Dickinson in Lake George.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEssentially, we are buying information,\u201d said Darrah.\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cIn Dennis\u2019 case, it was about 40 years\u2019 worth of work.\u201d<\/p>\n

After researching deeds and scouring internal records, Darrah said field crews are sent to the site.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe recover any existing markers that are called for in the deed or shown on the map so that we can reproduce the intention of the property. We look for iron pins, stone walls, fences, or whatever it happens to be. It\u2019s however the property was described when it was sold. We are trying to reproduce that to the best of our abilities,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n

According to Darrah, property owners are sometimes surprised by the results of a survey. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMost people have some sort of preconceived idea of where their property boundaries,\u201d she said. \u201cSome of them are far off, and they should have called us before they put that addition on their house. It does happen from time to time.\u201d<\/p>\n

In those instances, she said the homeowner may be able to work with their neighbor to fix the issue.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully you have really nice neighbors and have the ability to do a lot line adjustment or an easement or something to fix the issue,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Before purchasing a property, Darrah recommends obtaining a land survey, even if a lender does not require one.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a really good idea to get a survey when you are buying a property so that you know what you are actually buying,\u201d she noted.<\/p>\n

Land surveying is a male dominated profession, with Darrah estimating that women represent less than 25 percent of the field. Earlier in her career, it was often assumed that she was the firm\u2019s secretary, something that now happens only occasionally. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

With fewer people pursuing careers in surveying, her firm is finding it increasingly difficult to fill open positions. Not all positions require the individual to become licenses as a land surveyor.<\/p>\n

\u201cLand surveying is a field that is shrinking,\u201d said Darrah. \u201cEvery company in this area is looking for people. It\u2019s hard to find people who want to do this work because most of the entry-level people are going to be working in the field. It\u2019s hard work. It\u2019s a physical job, but it\u2019s something you can make a career out of whether you get licensed or not. We can train people from the ground up.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Christine Graf It was while attending Paul Smith\u2019s College in the Adirondacks that Darrah Land Surveying\u2019s Kristin Darrah developed an interest in becoming a land surveyor. After meeting some neighbors who worked in the field, she changed her major from environmental studies to surveying technology. \u201cI had never even heard of land surveying,\u201d said […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":89,"featured_media":37456,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-building-trades"],"yoast_head":"\r\nDarrah Land Surveying Provides Important Information To Homeowners And Developers - Glens Falls Business Journal<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2024\/06\/darrah-land-surveying-provides-important-information-to-homeowners-and-developers\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Darrah Land Surveying Provides Important Information To Homeowners And Developers - Glens Falls Business Journal\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Christine Graf It was while attending Paul Smith\u2019s College in the Adirondacks that Darrah Land Surveying\u2019s Kristin Darrah developed an interest in becoming a land surveyor. After meeting some neighbors who worked in the field, she changed her major from environmental studies to surveying technology. \u201cI had never even heard of land surveying,\u201d said […]\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2024\/06\/darrah-land-surveying-provides-important-information-to-homeowners-and-developers\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Glens Falls Business Journal\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-06-17T15:26:58+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/109\/2024\/06\/darrahlandsurveying-h.png\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"717\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jake Van Ness\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jake Van Ness\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2024\/06\/darrah-land-surveying-provides-important-information-to-homeowners-and-developers\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2024\/06\/darrah-land-surveying-provides-important-information-to-homeowners-and-developers\/\",\"name\":\"Darrah Land Surveying Provides Important Information To Homeowners And Developers - Glens Falls Business Journal\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2024\/06\/darrah-land-surveying-provides-important-information-to-homeowners-and-developers\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2024\/06\/darrah-land-surveying-provides-important-information-to-homeowners-and-developers\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/109\/2024\/06\/darrahlandsurveying-h.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-06-17T15:26:58+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/#\/schema\/person\/a11ec438b5f0e57f1156754ba3931b86\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2024\/06\/darrah-land-surveying-provides-important-information-to-homeowners-and-developers\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2024\/06\/darrah-land-surveying-provides-important-information-to-homeowners-and-developers\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2024\/06\/darrah-land-surveying-provides-important-information-to-homeowners-and-developers\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/109\/2024\/06\/darrahlandsurveying-h.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/109\/2024\/06\/darrahlandsurveying-h.png\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":717,\"caption\":\"Kristin Darrah, owner of Darrah Land Surveying, became interested in the profession while attending Paul Smith\u2019s College in the Adirondacks.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2024\/06\/darrah-land-surveying-provides-important-information-to-homeowners-and-developers\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Darrah Land Surveying Provides Important Information To Homeowners And Developers\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/\",\"name\":\"Glens Falls Business Journal\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/#\/schema\/person\/a11ec438b5f0e57f1156754ba3931b86\",\"name\":\"Jake Van Ness\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0d74f7533bd2ebb3908a187893d5eafbf1ee7752b11715c976372134cbea918d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0d74f7533bd2ebb3908a187893d5eafbf1ee7752b11715c976372134cbea918d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jake Van Ness\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/author\/jakev\/\"}]}<\/script>\r\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Darrah Land Surveying Provides Important Information To Homeowners And Developers - Glens Falls Business Journal","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2024\/06\/darrah-land-surveying-provides-important-information-to-homeowners-and-developers\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Darrah Land Surveying Provides Important Information To Homeowners And Developers - Glens Falls Business Journal","og_description":"By Christine Graf It was while attending Paul Smith\u2019s College in the Adirondacks that Darrah Land Surveying\u2019s Kristin Darrah developed an interest in becoming a land surveyor. After meeting some neighbors who worked in the field, she changed her major from environmental studies to surveying technology. \u201cI had never even heard of land surveying,\u201d said […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2024\/06\/darrah-land-surveying-provides-important-information-to-homeowners-and-developers\/","og_site_name":"Glens Falls Business Journal","article_published_time":"2024-06-17T15:26:58+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":717,"url":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/109\/2024\/06\/darrahlandsurveying-h.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Jake Van Ness","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jake Van Ness","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2024\/06\/darrah-land-surveying-provides-important-information-to-homeowners-and-developers\/","url":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2024\/06\/darrah-land-surveying-provides-important-information-to-homeowners-and-developers\/","name":"Darrah Land Surveying Provides Important Information To Homeowners And Developers - Glens Falls Business Journal","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2024\/06\/darrah-land-surveying-provides-important-information-to-homeowners-and-developers\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2024\/06\/darrah-land-surveying-provides-important-information-to-homeowners-and-developers\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/109\/2024\/06\/darrahlandsurveying-h.png","datePublished":"2024-06-17T15:26:58+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/#\/schema\/person\/a11ec438b5f0e57f1156754ba3931b86"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2024\/06\/darrah-land-surveying-provides-important-information-to-homeowners-and-developers\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2024\/06\/darrah-land-surveying-provides-important-information-to-homeowners-and-developers\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2024\/06\/darrah-land-surveying-provides-important-information-to-homeowners-and-developers\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/109\/2024\/06\/darrahlandsurveying-h.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/109\/2024\/06\/darrahlandsurveying-h.png","width":1000,"height":717,"caption":"Kristin Darrah, owner of Darrah Land Surveying, became interested in the profession while attending Paul Smith\u2019s College in the Adirondacks."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2024\/06\/darrah-land-surveying-provides-important-information-to-homeowners-and-developers\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Darrah Land Surveying Provides Important Information To Homeowners And Developers"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/","name":"Glens Falls Business Journal","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/#\/schema\/person\/a11ec438b5f0e57f1156754ba3931b86","name":"Jake Van Ness","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0d74f7533bd2ebb3908a187893d5eafbf1ee7752b11715c976372134cbea918d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0d74f7533bd2ebb3908a187893d5eafbf1ee7752b11715c976372134cbea918d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jake Van Ness"},"url":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/author\/jakev\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/89"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37455"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37455\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37457,"href":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37455\/revisions\/37457"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}