While we were working with the architect and builder we had
the lot surveyed and staked out. We needed to have this done in order to know
where the house sat on the property. Most towns have setback requirements where
your house has to be so many feet away from property lines and streets. We
needed to know where ours were.
We drove by our house the night that the surveyor had been
out. As part of the process, the surveyor put stakes in the ground with small strips
of orange surveyor tape nailed to the tops. We were surprised when we found
that first bound was right next to the neighbor’s driveway. Fully three feet
closer than where we thought our line went. But the other property line was
even more of a surprise. Along the back of the property was a stand about 50
feet long of over grown forsythias which we thought was our property line. When
we drove by, we saw that the property stake was easily ten feet behind the
bushes. In the middle of the neighbor’s side yard. Our jaws dropped. We thought
oh crap, we’re going to upset our neighbor’s before we even move in. Not
believing what we saw, we drove around the block, and yup, the stake was still
in the same spot. We drove off thinking this will not be good. Our neighbor’s
yard is not where they thought it was. And there stood those stakes with the
little orange flags standing their ground like some medieval army ready to go
to war.
Great. Our neighbors are going to hate us. And we haven’t
even moved in. Wait until they find out we’re going to be digging it all up.
