OT: Elevation Certificate

Has anyone had to go through getting one? My parents need one to prove they aren't in the flood plain and avoid the $1000+ a year they spend on flood insurance. If our house is still standing after 1977 it'll be there for a long time. Anyway I was wondering if any of you have some advice on what I can do to hep them. Local surveyors said they won't do an elevation cert. All we need is a P.E. or licensed surveyor to sign it. I can shoot the elevation with my GPS units from work and have sub-foot accuracy. TIA.

We had to have it done last year,they remapped and said we were in a flood plain,just a way to get more people to pay ins. to cover the idiots that actually are in a flood plain and build anyway.We had to have a survey done and send into the Gov.cost us $750.00,in the meantime we had to get flood insurance to the tune of $3500.00,our property is 90+ feet above the creek that runs through our property but their map showed it going through my barn and part of the house.We got a elevation certificate and sent it in and they had to reimburse us the total amount.We got a form from the Feds.that said we were not in a flood plain at this time,subject to change in the future.The whole town south of us is 65 feet lower in elevation,they would all be under water before it got to us! That's our Government at work for you.

Did you have a surveyor come out to your property?

The banks around here use maps provided by the Army Corps of Engineers. Never heard of a surveyor being needed, just look at the map to see if the buildings are in the flood plain. In any case, the link below should get you started. The county should also have the maps for you to look at, they deal with that stuff when laying out new roads and such.

https://www.fema.gov/national-flood-insurance-program-flood-hazard-mapping

We have the maps. The map is showing that one corner of their house is in the flood plain. Its maybe a 2' of the corner. But if we can get a certified elevation level we can file for
flood insurance exemption.

We have the same problem - after the redrawing of the flood plain in this area a number of years ago our whole property is "in the blue". We wanted to add onto our house and had a surveyor who is a licensed professional engineer come and verify that the ground around the house is actually above the flood plain elevation. This is all we needed to get the building permit but she also gave us all the signed documentation required to send into to FEMA to get what is called a "letter of map amendment" or LOMA. This is still being processed by the feds so I'm not sure what will come of it now. As you said, the documentation requires the services and signature of licensed surveyor - a "do it yourself" deal won't cut it. This doesn't come cheap, in our case it was around $500.

For what it's worth, our house and farmyard has been here since 1903 so if it floats away we'd better have the ark ready to move into!

Part of my property is in flood zone A. Part of it floods every now and then with heavy rains along a creek.
By our state laws if any part of your property is in a flood zone you need a elevation survey even if your house is on a part of your land that is not in a flood zone.
LSU puts out the map the state; insurance; banks use. It's pretty accurate at least for my property.

Went threw it a few years ago when my daughter moved a mobile home on the property.
Got several quotes in the $600 to $800 range because they needed to come out at least twice.
Once to mark grade and then again once the home was installed to make sure it was high enough.
Some wanted to shoot a grade from the corner stone 3 miles up the road.
Some would bring out a GPS machine and then download info back at the shop to tell grade.

By FEMA 2012 rules every thing that is built new in a flood zone is suppose to be elevated above the flood grade.
I found a retired surveyor to do it for $500.
He had a machine that worked off GPS so he just set up in the yard and the machine told him instantly what grade he was at.

No way is a surveyor signing anything unless he actually does the work.