District of Columbia · Land Surveyor seal requirements
District of Columbia Land Surveyor seal requirements: size, wording, and the rule that sets them
As of
Land surveyors in District of Columbia seal under 17 DCMR § 1516 (Seals), administered by the District of Columbia Board of Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors. The seal reads “Professional Surveyor”. The rule states no diameter.
The "typically 1¾ inches" figure repeated for the District has no source in DC law; § 1516.4 states no dimension. DCRA, whose URLs still circulate for this board, ceased to exist on October 1, 2022 when it was split into the Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection and the Department of Buildings. Chapter 17-23 is not the engineering chapter.
District of Columbia Land Surveyor seal
- Seal rule
- 17 DCMR § 1516 (Seals)
- Legend
- “Professional Surveyor”
- Diameter
- The rule states no diameter.
- Expiration date
- Same rule as the engineer's seal, with "Professional Surveyor" as the profession words.(17 DCMR § 1516.4)
- Signature date
- Conditional: a computer-generated seal requires a handwritten signature adjacent to or across the seal and the date written below the stamp.(17 DCMR § 1516.9)
- City on seal
- The rule does not require a city on the seal.(17 DCMR § 1516.4)
- The surveyor's seal carries the words "Professional Surveyor", together with District of Columbia, the licensee's name and the license number.(17 DCMR § 1516.4)
- The seal and signature go on all final land surveys, reports, plats, drawings, plans and calculations presented to a client or any public agency.(17 DCMR § 1516.3)
District of Columbia land surveyor seal questions
Does a District of Columbia surveyor's seal say "Land Surveyor"?▾
The surveyor legend is "Professional Surveyor", not "Land Surveyor" — even though both the board and Chapter 17-15 are titled "Land Surveyors". (17 DCMR § 1516.4(d))
What legend goes on a District of Columbia land surveyor's seal?▾
"Professional Surveyor". 17 DCMR § 1516.4(d) gives the profession words as "Professional Engineer" or "Professional Surveyor", as appropriate, and "Land Surveyor" is not among them — even though the licensing body is the Board of Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors and Chapter 17-15 is titled for land surveyors. A third form, "P.L.S.#", turns up in the same chapter at § 1516.9, but only inside the transmittal note for an uncertified document. It is not a seal legend either. (17 DCMR § 1516.4(d); 17 DCMR § 1516.9)
Can a DC land surveyor send a plat electronically with the seal on it?▾
Not where the document does not require certification. 17 DCMR § 1516.9 requires the generated seal to be removed before such a document is transmitted electronically, and replaced with: "This document originally issued and sealed by (name of licensee), P.E.#_______/P.L.S.#____ on (date of sealing). This document should not be considered a certified document." The same section allows a computer-generated seal without a digital signature on final original drawings only where a handwritten signature is placed adjacent to or across the seal and the date is written below the stamp. (17 DCMR § 1516.9)
Can a DC land surveyor leave a draft plat unsealed?▾
Yes, but it cannot be left bare. 17 DCMR § 1516.5 allows a working, unfinished or in-progress document to go out with or without a seal and signature, and then requires it to contain a statement to the effect "PRELIMINARY, NOT FOR CONSTRUCTION, RECORDING PURPOSES, OR IMPLEMENTATION." For a plat the operative words are recording purposes: it is the statement, not the absence of a seal, that marks the draft as unfit to record. (17 DCMR § 1516.5)
Generate a District of Columbia Land Surveyor seal to this specification
Board approved
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