Contour Survey

FEMA Elevation Certificates & LOMA

Lender says you need flood insurance? Building department wants an elevation certificate? Contour Survey measures the building against the flood map, certifies the elevations under PLS 9686, and files the Letter of Map Amendment when the numbers show you are above the flood.

(510) 543-2220 · certificates from $1,000 · send the address and we check the flood zone first

Contour Survey is a private, licensed surveying firm. We are not FEMA and are not affiliated with FEMA or any government agency. You can apply to FEMA for a Letter of Map Amendment yourself, and FEMA charges no fee to review it. Most requests need elevation data certified by a licensed surveyor or engineer, which is the part we provide. See FEMA's LOMA page.

Measured Elevations, Signed by a Licensed Surveyor

  • Signed and sealed by a California Professional Land Surveyor
  • Completed on FEMA Form FF-206-FY-22-152, with the required photographs
  • Elevations tied to a published benchmark on the flood map’s vertical datum
  • eLOMA submission as a licensed professional when the building qualifies
  • Construction-stage ECs for permits: construction drawings, building under construction, and finished construction
  • Sacramento region, Central Valley, Delta, and Bay Area
Point cloud of a developed site with buildings, parking, and trees, colored by elevation, scanned by Contour Survey
Flood Elevations

Flood Elevations

The building measured against the flood map, not guessed from it.

Lowest floor, adjacent grade, and machinery tied to a published benchmark on the FIRM datum, certified on the FEMA form.

FEMA ECLOMA / eLOMABenchmark tie

Why People Call Us for an Elevation Certificate

Almost every call starts with a letter from a lender, an insurer, or a building department.

Your lender requires flood insurance

The building is mapped in a Special Flood Hazard Area, so a federally backed mortgage comes with mandatory flood insurance. If the ground at the building is actually at or above the Base Flood Elevation, the certificate is the first step toward a LOMA that removes the requirement.

Your insurance agent asked for one

FEMA estimates your first floor height from its own data. A certificate gives the insurer measured elevations instead, and it may lower the premium. Ask your agent to run the numbers both ways.

Your building permit requires one

New buildings and substantial improvements in a mapped flood zone are checked against the local floodplain ordinance. Many building departments want a certificate when the floor is set and another at finished construction.

You are buying or selling

An escrow is a bad time to discover a flood zone problem. A certificate, or a LOMA already on file, answers the question for the buyer, the lender, and the insurer before the contingency period runs out.

You think the flood map is wrong

Flood maps are drawn at a scale that cannot see individual pads and raised foundations. When the building sits higher than the map suggests, a surveyed LOMA is how the map gets corrected for your property.

The map just changed

Levee work, new studies, and remaps move properties in and out of flood zones across the Sacramento Valley, the Delta, and the bay shore. A new map can mean a new insurance requirement, or a new chance to get out of one.

Elevation Certificate vs. LOMA

People often ask for a "FEMA certificate" or a "flood letter" and mean one of two different things. The Elevation Certificate is a measurement. It records the building's flood zone, the Base Flood Elevation, and the measured elevations of the lowest floor, the next higher floor, the ground around the building, and the lowest machinery. It does not change your flood zone. Insurers use it to rate the policy and building departments use it to check compliance.

A Letter of Map Amendment (LOMA) is FEMA's decision. When a building shown inside the Special Flood Hazard Area actually sits at or above the Base Flood Elevation, measured at the lowest adjacent grade (the lowest ground touching the structure), FEMA can amend the map for that property. With the LOMA in hand, the lender can remove the federal flood insurance requirement. FEMA charges no review fee for a LOMA. Licensed surveyors can submit qualifying requests through eLOMA, where a determination can come back within minutes.

The survey work for both is the same, so we do it once. You get the certificate either way, and if the lowest adjacent grade clears the Base Flood Elevation we tell you and prepare the LOMA. If the ground was raised with fill, the request is a LOMR-F instead, which is a different FEMA process with its own fee. We explain which applies before you spend anything on it.

How We Measure It

A certificate is only as good as its benchmark. The flood map states the Base Flood Elevation on a specific vertical datum, and the building elevations have to be on that same datum or the comparison is meaningless. We tie the site to a published benchmark with GNSS and carry the elevations to the building with a Trimble S3 total station, so every number on the form traces back to a monument someone else can check.

At the building we measure what the form asks for: the top of the bottom floor (including a basement or crawlspace floor), the top of the next higher floor, the garage slab, the lowest and highest adjacent grade, the lowest machinery and equipment serving the building, and the number and size of any flood openings. We photograph each side of the building, as FEMA requires, and record the building diagram number that matches its construction.

The finished certificate is signed and sealed under PLS 9686. If you also need the building or pad certified for a permit, see pad certification and construction certification surveys. For a full site base map with contours, see topographic surveys.

What You Receive

A signed certificate you can forward, and the LOMA when the building qualifies.

Signed Elevation Certificate

The FEMA Elevation Certificate form, FF-206-FY-22-152, completed for your building, signed and sealed by a California Professional Land Surveyor, with the required photographs of each side of the building. Delivered as a PDF you can forward to your agent, lender, or building department.

Flood map findings

The FIRM panel, flood zone, Base Flood Elevation, and vertical datum used, so everyone reading the certificate starts from the same facts.

LOMA package, when it qualifies

If the lowest adjacent grade is at or above the Base Flood Elevation, the LOMA request with the elevation data FEMA needs, submitted by us. Qualifying single-structure requests go through eLOMA as a licensed professional.

Construction-stage certificates

For new construction and substantial improvements: certificates based on construction drawings, at building under construction, and at finished construction, coordinated with your builder and the inspection schedule.

Our Process

Flood map first, benchmark second, building third.

1

Address & Flood Map Check

Send the address and the reason you need the certificate: lender letter, insurance quote, building permit, or a LOMA. We pull the effective FIRM panel, flood zone, and Base Flood Elevation before quoting, and tell you up front if a LOMA looks possible.

2

Benchmark Tie

We tie the site to a published benchmark on the vertical datum the flood map uses, with GNSS and a total station. Every elevation on the certificate is measured from that tie, not estimated from a contour map.

3

Building Measurement

We measure the top of the bottom floor, the next higher floor, the garage slab, the lowest and highest adjacent grade, the lowest machinery and equipment, and the flood openings, and take the photographs the form requires.

4

Signed EC, and the LOMA if It Qualifies

You receive the completed, signed Elevation Certificate as a PDF. If the lowest adjacent grade is at or above the Base Flood Elevation, we prepare the LOMA request and submit it to FEMA, through eLOMA when the building meets its criteria.

Service Area

Contour Survey is based in Lotus, in El Dorado County, and takes elevation certificate and LOMA work within about three hours of Sacramento. That covers the Sacramento region and its levee basins, Yuba and Sutter counties, the San Joaquin Valley from Lodi to Fresno, the Delta, Solano and Napa counties, Marin and Sonoma, the East Bay shoreline, the Peninsula, the South Bay, and the Monterey Bay area. We work in California only. Your city's page below covers the local flood sources and rules.

Elevation Certificate & LOMA FAQ

Common questions from homeowners, buyers, builders, and insurance agents.

It is the National Flood Insurance Program form, FEMA Form FF-206-FY-22-152, that records a building’s location, flood zone, and the elevations that matter for flood risk: the lowest floor, the next higher floor, the adjacent grade, and the lowest machinery. It is certified by a licensed land surveyor, engineer, or architect and accompanied by photographs. Insurers, lenders, building departments, and FEMA itself use it.
Only through a Letter of Map Amendment. The certificate on its own does not change your flood zone. But if the survey shows the lowest ground touching the building is at or above the Base Flood Elevation, FEMA can issue a LOMA removing the structure from the Special Flood Hazard Area, and the lender can then drop the federal insurance requirement. We tell you whether the numbers support a LOMA as soon as the field data is reduced.
A Letter of Map Amendment is FEMA’s official determination that a property or building shown inside the Special Flood Hazard Area is actually at or above the Base Flood Elevation. FEMA charges no review fee for a LOMA. On a paper or standard online request, FEMA sends a completeness notice within 30 days and a determination within 60 days of having all the data. Our fee covers the survey and preparing the submission.
eLOMA is FEMA’s online tool that lets licensed land surveyors and professional engineers submit qualifying LOMA requests directly. When a request meets the eLOMA criteria, FEMA’s determination can come back within minutes instead of the normal review period. Not every property qualifies, and eLOMA does not handle fill-based requests (LOMR-F); we tell you which path applies.
It can. Under FEMA’s rating method the certificate is optional. FEMA estimates first floor height from its own data, and a certificate with measured elevations may lower the premium. Whether it helps depends on the building, so ask your insurance agent to run it. If the building turns out to be above the Base Flood Elevation, a LOMA is usually worth more than a rate change.
A completed, certified certificate does not expire. A new one is needed if the building is physically changed in a way that affects the certified data, for example an addition, a raised floor, or relocated equipment. A certificate on an older edition of the form can still be valid, so check with the seller or the local floodplain manager before ordering a new one when you are buying a home.
Communities in the NFIP enforce floodplain rules on new buildings and substantial improvements in mapped flood zones, and many require an elevation certificate before and after construction. Typically that means a certificate when the floor is formed or framed, so the elevation can be checked before it is too late to fix, and a finished-construction certificate before final inspection. We coordinate both visits with your builder.
Elevation certificates start at $1,000. The final price depends on how far the nearest usable benchmark is, the building type, travel, and whether a LOMA follows. Send the address and we confirm the flood zone, the price, and the field date in writing before any work starts. Most single-family certificates take one site visit.
Contour Survey is based in Lotus, in El Dorado County, and takes elevation certificate and LOMA work across Northern California within about three hours of Sacramento: the Sacramento region, Yuba and Sutter counties, the San Joaquin Valley, the Delta, Solano and Napa counties, Marin and Sonoma, the East Bay, the Peninsula, the South Bay, and the Monterey Bay area. We work in California only.

Related Services

Topographic Surveys

Survey-grade topographic mapping for East Bay and Bay Area properties, captured with a Trimble terrestrial laser scanner (TLS).

Learn More

Pad Certification

PLS-stamped building pad, rough grade, and final grade certifications across Northern California.

Learn More

Elevation Certificates Across Northern California

Local conditions, permitting, and county recording differ city to city — see how we handle elevation certificates where your project is:

SacramentoWest SacramentoElk GroveRancho CordovaRosevilleFolsomLincolnDavisWoodlandCitrus HeightsGaltRio VistaYuba CityMarysvillePlumas LakeLive OakGridleyOrovilleChicoColusaWillowsRed BluffReddingStocktonLodiMantecaLathropTracyModestoTurlockPattersonMercedLos BanosFresnoAntiochPittsburgOakleyBrentwoodDiscovery BayMartinezBeniciaVallejoAmerican CanyonNapaFairfieldSuisun CityVacavilleDixonPetalumaNovatoSan RafaelCorte MaderaLarkspurMill ValleySausalitoSan AnselmoSanta RosaSonomaHealdsburgGuernevilleAlamedaOaklandRichmondSan LeandroHaywardUnion CityNewarkFremontSan JoseSanta ClaraSunnyvalePalo AltoRedwood CityFoster CitySan MateoSanta CruzWatsonvilleSalinasGilroyMorgan HillHollisterAuburnPlacervilleGrass ValleyTruckeeSouth Lake Tahoe
Call (510) 543-2220Get a Quote

Send Us the Address

Elevation certificates start at $1,000. We check the flood map, tell you whether a LOMA looks possible, and confirm the price and field date before any work starts. (510) 543-2220 · info@contour-survey.com

Get a Quoteor(510) 543-2220

Homeowners welcome • Flood map checked before you pay • Response within 24 hours