ALTA survey proposal scopes, drafted from the request and the lender's list for your project surveyor.

A request may be one line from a buyer's broker, a title officer's order form, or a package from a lender's counsel with survey requirements attached. Your project surveyor reads all of it, works out which edition and which Table A items apply, finds what is missing, and writes something the firm can quote.

In the test, AI takes copies of those same papers and drafts the scope sheet: the standard and edition requested, every Table A item by number with any qualification, negotiated items under item 21, certified parties, title evidence on hand, access and entry notes, utility locate notes, deliverables and a list of fields to confirm. Where two documents disagree, the sheet shows both. The fee field stays blank, nothing is sent, and your reviewer compares each draft with what you quoted.

The party ordering is often not the party relying. ALTA and NSPS's 2026 FAQ warns that a buyer or seller commonly orders the survey while the lender and title insurer are its real consumers, so requirements can move even after first delivery, and it advises a written contract naming the scope, the Table A items with any qualifications, and the certified parties. Section 2 of the standard asks for written authorization to proceed from whoever pays, holds the insurer free of survey costs unless it agrees otherwise in writing, and leaves any needed permission to enter the site, adjoining land or offsite easements with the client. Some requests are not ALTA/NSPS surveys at all: a University of Texas System quote request in 2019 asked for a Category 1A land title survey under the Texas manual of practice, with its own certificate form attached. The sheet separates who asked, who pays, who relies and who arranges entry, and names the standard each request actually used.

Two lenders, two lists. Fannie Mae's Multifamily Guide, section 305.02 in the version effective October 26, 2026, says an acceptable as-built survey should carry items 1, 2, 3, 4, 6(a) and (b), 7(a), 8, 9, 10, 13, 16, 18 and 20, lets item 1 drop on a lot and block description and item 10 where there are no party walls, and looks for a date within 360 days before the security instrument is recorded. One life insurance lender's published 2026 list adds 7(b)(1), 7(c) and 17, and writes four items of its own under 21: required against actual parking, finished floor elevations in a flood plain, observed utilities, and wetland delineation markers. Neither list asks for item 11. Numbers can also mislead, because the FAQ records that the old item 20 slot for negotiated extras moved to 21, so a checklist from before 2026 asking for 20(a) needs a person to read what it meant. Negotiated wording and added items each need a plat note under Section 6.D.ii(g). The draft sets every list beside the request and leaves the differences open.

Several items are empty until someone supplies a fact. Gross land area can take other areas the client specifies. Building height under 7(c) is measured where the client says, or the surveyor identifies the point used. Item 10 covers only the party walls the client designates. Item 12 needs the agency's own requirements from the client, with HUD surveys and leases on Bureau of Land Management land as the standard's examples. Imagery under item 15 needs a written agreement on source, date and licensing first. On 11(b), the FAQ has both sides settle who orders the private locate and who pays, and the wording can name 811 or a Level B investigation instead. The sheet lists each open item next to the fact it is waiting on.

Some requests are bigger than they read. Item 18 looks like a routine box, but the FAQ cautions about offsite easements that run a long way, and about parking or access easements across an entire mall, where few people on the order have pictured the work involved. Section 2 asks that marinas, campgrounds, mobile home parks, leases, mineral interests and other interests short of fee be scoped in writing with client, lender and insurer before work starts. A water boundary brings its own plat note under Section 6.B.vi. An engineering design survey goes under item 21 no matter what items 5 and 11 say. Each flag goes to your surveyor, along with any certified party beyond the client, lender and insurer, since the FAQ observes that more certified parties may mean more liability and suggests listing them in the contract.

State law and the contract sit on top. Section 3.B makes the surveyor follow the more stringent of the standard and any state or local rule, and the FAQ notes that some states require monuments, so item 1 is settled before anyone checks it. California's Business and Professions Code section 8759 calls for a written contract before a land surveyor starts: the services, the basis of compensation, names and license number, how added services are handled, how either side ends it, and any professional liability coverage, with public agencies among the exemptions. Section 8 of the standard allows hard copies on durable material or a digital image under the contract, and one on-call scope from Lake County, Florida, names the exact drawing software version it wants. Your reviewer will look first for a Table A item the draft missed or invented, and for any field only a licensed surveyor should fill. None of this is legal or surveying advice.

With your reviewer's yes, new survey requests go through the same drafting for about 30 days.

Your project surveyor reviews every draft, fills the fee field and sends the proposal the way your office does today. The sheet never reaches a client on its own.

Your reviewer keeps scoring against the written criteria. Whether anything comes next is a fresh decision, priced on its own.