Elevation Certificates in San Mateo, CA

FEMA elevation certificates and flood zone surveys for the City of San Mateo in San Mateo County, including the North Shoreview and North Central neighborhoods.

Elevation certificates from $1,000 · (510) 543-2220

Elevation Certificates in San Mateo: Local Conditions

San Mateo just went through one of the bigger map changes on the Peninsula. The city's FEMA Flood Zone History page explains that San Mateo has been a regular NFIP community since 1981, and that a FEMA flood study put areas north of Highway 92 into a Special Flood Hazard Area on a FIRM that took effect in 2001, making flood insurance mandatory for mortgaged properties there. In 2018 the city formed the North Shoreview Assessment District to help pay for levee and pump station work. The completed improvements included pump station upgrades at Coyote Point and Poplar Avenue and raising a 1,300-foot levee segment between San Mateo and Burlingame. FEMA then issued a Letter of Map Revision, effective October 11, 2024, that removed about 1,600 addresses from flood zones, moving significant portions of North Shoreview and North Central from Zone AE to Zone X.

Two other dates matter. San Mateo Creek received levee wall work in several phases between 2001 and 2004. And FEMA performed a coastal study in 2018 that became effective April 5, 2019, which is the current basis for bay-edge flood zones. If you are in one of the newly mapped Zone X areas, the federal flood insurance mandate no longer applies, although a lender can still require coverage. If you are still inside an AE zone elsewhere in the city, the usual tools apply: an elevation certificate for rating and permits, and a letter of map amendment if the ground at your building is above the BFE.

For a San Mateo flood elevation certificate we tie a benchmark on the FIRM's vertical datum using GNSS, then measure the lowest adjacent grade, lowest floor, garage, crawlspace, and machinery and utilities with a Trimble S3 total station. We take FEMA-required photographs and deliver a signed FEMA Form FF-206-FY-22-152. For a house just inside a mapped AE boundary, the survey often settles whether a LOMA is worth filing, and we can submit eligible requests through eLOMA. San Mateo work is scheduled as a mobilization from Lotus. See our FEMA elevation certificate service, the Foster City and Redwood City pages, and our San Mateo area page.

Full service details, process, and deliverables: FEMA Elevation Certificates & LOMA · All surveying in San Mateo: San Mateo land surveying

What's Included

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

Our Process

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.

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.

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.

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.

Elevation Certificates in San Mateo: FAQ

FEMA's Letter of Map Revision effective October 11, 2024 moved significant portions of North Shoreview and North Central from Zone AE to Zone X, removing about 1,600 addresses from flood zones, according to the City of San Mateo. Check your address on the current map; lenders can still require insurance.

The city lists pump station improvements at Coyote Point and Poplar Avenue and raising a 1,300-foot levee segment between San Mateo and Burlingame, funded in part by the North Shoreview Assessment District formed in 2018.

In Zone X it is optional. In a remaining AE zone it supports insurance rating and is used for permits on new or substantially improved buildings, and the same data can support a LOMA if your structure is above the Base Flood Elevation.

Need Elevation Certificates in San Mateo?

Elevation certificates start at $1,000. Call (510) 543-2220 with the San Mateo address and we'll check the flood map and give you a fixed price.

Get a Quoteor(510) 543-2220

Private licensed surveyor, not affiliated with FEMA • Homeowners welcome • Response within 24 hours

Call (510) 543-2220 Get a Quote