Elevation Certificates in West Sacramento, CA

Contour Survey prepares FEMA elevation certificates in West Sacramento, Yolo County, for owners, lenders, insurance agents and builders working behind the levees that ring the city.

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

Elevation Certificates in West Sacramento: Local Conditions

The City of West Sacramento says it plainly: surrounded by levees on all sides, it is more vulnerable to flooding than most urban areas in the country, and the main threat is the Sacramento River if a levee breaches, overtops or erodes. The river separates the city from Sacramento and divides Yolo and Sacramento counties. Southport makes up about half of the city's land area, and most of its newer neighborhoods were built in the 1990s and 2000s housing booms. The flood history goes back further. Yolo County moved its county seat to Woodland in 1862 after the town of Washington, now part of West Sacramento, flooded.

The West Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency runs the West Sacramento Levee Improvements Program on about 50 miles of levee, with a goal of at least 200-year protection for the whole city. Its studies found through-seepage and underseepage, low levee height, slope stability and geometry problems, and erosion. The City's target is reliable flood protection by 2040. Local rules also go past the federal minimum. Ordinance 21-3, adopted March 3, 2021, requires mechanical equipment such as HVAC units and pumps to sit at least one foot above the base flood elevation. Ordinance 26-1, adopted April 15, 2026, adds a one-foot freeboard requirement for manufactured homes. The City discourages building in the Special Flood Hazard Area and keeps any elevation certificates from that work as public records. It reports that no new construction or substantial improvement needing an EC has happened in the SFHA since its first Community Rating System application in September 2010.

Since the City has few or no ECs on file, most owners here need a new survey. Ask for one when a lender or agent wants the building's real elevations, when you plan to place a manufactured home, or when you are checking HVAC and other equipment against the one-foot rule. We tie the survey to a benchmark on the FIRM's vertical datum, measure lowest adjacent grade, the lowest floor and any machinery, photograph the building, and certify the EC. If the ground at the structure is at or above the BFE, we can prepare a letter of map amendment and submit it through eLOMA when it qualifies. Read more on our elevation certificate service page, compare Sacramento and Davis, or visit our West Sacramento area page.

Full service details, process, and deliverables: FEMA Elevation Certificates & LOMA · All surveying in West Sacramento: West Sacramento 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 West Sacramento: FAQ

Yes. Since Ordinance 21-3 in March 2021, the City requires mechanical items such as HVAC units and pumps to be at least one foot above the base flood elevation. The elevation certificate records the height of that equipment, so the survey shows whether a new or relocated unit meets the rule.

Probably not. The City keeps ECs for buildings built or substantially improved in the Special Flood Hazard Area, but it reports none of that work since September 2010 and discourages building in the SFHA. For most homes a new survey is the only way to get one.

Levee work changes FEMA maps only when the map itself is revised, and that follows certification and FEMA review, not the end of construction. Until then your current FIRM zone controls insurance and lender requirements. An elevation certificate shows where your building sits relative to the BFE today, and that stays useful whatever happens to the map.

Need Elevation Certificates in West Sacramento?

Elevation certificates start at $1,000. Call (510) 543-2220 with the West Sacramento 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

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