ADU Surveys

3D sketch of houses with one highlighted in blue.

California requires cities to allow at least an 800 square foot accessory dwelling unit on most residential lots, with no minimum lot size and setbacks as small as 4 feet from the side and rear property lines. Those numbers sound simple until you're standing on your actual property. Where exactly is 4 feet from your property line, especially if the last survey of your lot was decades old, or never happened at all? That's the part we handle.

What we provide

Topographic survey of existing grades, structures, walls, and utilities on your lot
Record property lines resolved and plotted, so your setbacks are measured from where the line actually is, not where an old fence happens to sit
CAD (DWG) and PDF base maps formatted for your city's ADU submittal
Property line staking before construction starts
Setback and height certifications at inspection
As-built survey at completion

Why the property line matters more than people expect

The 4-foot setback is a state minimum, but it only protects you if the line it's measured from is correct. We've seen lots where an existing fence, wall, or hedge sits several feet off the actual recorded boundary, sometimes for both neighbors. Building an ADU to a fence line instead of the true property line can put your foundation in the wrong place, which is an expensive problem to catch during inspection instead of before you break ground.

A few things worth knowing going in

There's no minimum lot size requirement for an ADU under state law, so a lot being small or oddly shaped doesn't automatically disqualify it. Garage conversions and same-footprint replacements are generally not subject to the standard setback rules, since the structure is already where it's going to stay. Beyond the state minimums, your city can still apply its own height limits, design standards, and, in coastal areas like Dana Point, a Coastal Development Permit requirement on top of the ADU approval itself.

Where this applies

We handle ADU surveys throughout Orange County, including Dana Point, Laguna Beach, Laguna Niguel, San Clemente, and San Juan Capistrano. If your property is in the Coastal Zone, we can tell you early whether your ADU project will also need coastal permitting, so you're not caught off guard partway through design.

Call (949) 541-7004 or send us your site address.