ADU Surveys in Moraga, CA

We provide ADU surveys in Moraga, Contra Costa County, where the town's ministerial ADU application requires existing topography and proposed grading on every site plan.

ADU Surveys in Moraga: Local Conditions

Moraga is the quiet standout in Contra Costa's ADU paperwork: the town's ministerial ADU application requires existing topography and proposed grading on every site plan — at a contour interval no greater than 5 feet for parcels under ten acres — alongside dimensioned property boundaries, all structures with their heights, the heights of adjacent buildings on abutting sites, utilities, retaining walls with heights, and the location and width of creeks, watercourses, and drainage easements. Trees come with their own threshold: everything 5 inches and larger in trunk diameter (measured 3 feet above grade), or multi-trunk trees totaling 40 inches of perimeter. A cover-sheet data table tallies lot area, floor areas, lot coverage, and impervious percentage. In other words, before a Moraga ADU application is complete, someone has mapped the site — the only question is whether the data is measured or guessed.

The town's semi-rural terrain is why the requirement exists. Moraga's neighborhoods — Rheem Valley, Sanders Ranch, the Bollinger Canyon edges, older lots off Moraga Road — sit on rolling ground where backyard slopes, drainage swales, and oak canopy complicate what looks buildable from the kitchen window, and where the adjacent-building-heights requirement reflects real hillside privacy and view sensitivities. Our laser-scanned site survey delivers the full checklist in one mobilization: boundary from record research and monument evidence, contours well tighter than the 5-foot maximum, tree trunks with diameters, walls with heights, creek and drainage-easement locations, and the impervious-area quantities for the cover sheet.

Moraga issues building permits through Contra Costa County, whose slope-based geotechnical triggers apply on top, and the application carries an $1,800 deposit — reason enough to submit complete the first time. Deliverables are a stamped base map and layered DWG through the County Recorder in Martinez; see also our Moraga topographic surveys for terrain-led projects.

Full service details, process, and deliverables: ADU Surveys & Site Plans for Permit Applications · All surveying in Moraga: Moraga land surveying

What's Included

Scaled site plan base map matching city ADU checklists
Boundary verification — 4-ft setbacks measured from the true line, not the fence
Property corners staked for design and construction
1-foot contours and drainage data for sloped lots
Easement and utility locations from record research
CAD-ready DWG base file your designer builds on directly
Foundation form verification when the inspector requires it

Our Process

Checklist Review

We confirm your city's ADU submittal requirements — site plan content, survey triggers, slope and drainage items — so the survey is scoped to what plan check will actually ask for.

Boundary & Records Research

We research your deed, recorded maps, and easements, then locate existing monuments to establish where your property lines actually are.

Site Survey

One laser-scanned site visit captures structures, hardscape, trees, utilities, and terrain — spot elevations and contours included where the lot slopes or the city requires them.

Deliverables

You receive a stamped site plan base map and layered DWG file sized to your city's checklist, with property corners staked on the ground for your designer and builder.

ADU Surveys in Moraga: FAQ

Yes — the town's ADU application lists existing topography and proposed grading among the required site-plan elements for every application, at a contour interval no greater than 5 feet for typical residential parcels. Combined with the boundary dimensions, tree, creek, and retaining-wall requirements, a Moraga site plan is effectively a survey deliverable.

The application requires the heights of adjacent buildings on abutting sites — a reflection of the town's hillside privacy and massing sensitivities. Our laser scanner captures neighboring structures from our setups as a matter of course, so those heights are measured rather than estimated, without setting foot on the neighbor's property.

Trees with trunks 5 inches and larger measured 3 feet above grade, and multi-trunk trees with a combined perimeter of 40 inches — with species noted, and no historic tree removal permitted for an ADU. The scan captures trunk locations and diameters across the site in the same visit as everything else.

ADU Surveys Across the East Bay

Need ADU Surveys in Moraga?

Call (510) 543-2220 or request a quote — we'll scope your Moraga project and give you a fixed price.

Get a Quoteor(510) 543-2220

Meeting-first estimates • Response within 24 hours • Serious projects only

Call (510) 543-2220 Get a Quote