Kentucky · Land Surveyor seal requirements
Kentucky Land Surveyor seal requirements: size, wording, and the rule that sets them
As of
Land surveyors in Kentucky seal under KRS 322.340; 201 KAR 18:104 (Seals and signatures); 201 KAR 18:150 § 11 (Standards of practice), administered by the State Board of Licensure for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors. The seal reads “Licensed Professional Land Surveyor”. The Board states a minimum of 1¼ inches and a maximum of 1½ inches for the surveying seal or stamp — a narrower and smaller range than the engineering seal. The Board's published sample is a square stamp rather than a circle, so the figure is the dimension across the stamp rather than a diameter.
The design of the Kentucky engineer's and land surveyor's seal is not printed in the code. 201 KAR 18:104 § 5 says only that stamps and seals "shall be similar in design and conform to the size restrictions established in Approved Stamps and Seals, 1999," and § 6 incorporates that document by reference, inspectable or obtainable only at the Board's office at 160 Democrat Drive, Frankfort. It is not published online. Everything stated here about the engineer's and surveyor's seal layout therefore comes from the statutory legend in KRS 322.340(1) and from the two sample seals the Board itself publishes on its Approved Stamps and Seals page, not from the incorporated document. The Board's legal name in KRS 322.230 is the State Board of Licensure for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors; 201 KAR 18:104 § 6(2) calls it the Kentucky Board of Licensure for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors, its own site opens with "Kentucky State Board of Licensure for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors", and the site header brands it "Kentucky Board of Engineers & Land Surveyors" — three renderings of one board. Both seal regulations are stable: neither 201 KAR 18:104 nor 201 KAR 19:265 has a proposed version pending, though 201 KAR 18:104 carries a seven-year expiration date of February 14, 2027 and will lapse then unless the Board recertifies or amends it. 201 KAR 18:150 does have an amendment pending under 2025 RS HB 6; it leaves § 11(1) untouched and changes § 11(2) only by adding the height of sixteen point type in inches. Architects are a separate matter: 201 KAR 19:265 prescribes the architect's seal in full but contains no electronic or digital seal provision, and although KRS 323.095(2) and KRS 323.210(5) empower the Kentucky Board of Architects to adopt one, no regulation in 201 KAR ch. 19 does so as of August 2026 — so Kentucky architects, unlike Kentucky engineers and surveyors, have no published rule authorizing a digital seal.
Kentucky Land Surveyor seal
- Seal rule
- KRS 322.340; 201 KAR 18:104 (Seals and signatures); 201 KAR 18:150 § 11 (Standards of practice)
- Legend
- “Licensed Professional Land Surveyor”
- Diameter
- The Board states a minimum of 1¼ inches and a maximum of 1½ inches for the surveying seal or stamp — a narrower and smaller range than the engineering seal. The Board's published sample is a square stamp rather than a circle, so the figure is the dimension across the stamp rather than a diameter.
- Expiration date
- The statutory contents are the name, the license number and the words "Licensed Professional Land Surveyor"; no expiry date is called for on or beside the stamp.(KRS 322.340(1); 201 KAR 18:104; KRS 322.340(6)(a))
- Signature date
- A plat of survey shall be signed, sealed, and dated by the surveyor, and the plat of a boundary survey shall show a dated signature with the seal.(201 KAR 18:150 § 11(1), § 10(5)(q); KRS 322.340(3))
- City on seal
- The rule does not require a city on the seal.(KRS 322.340(1); 201 KAR 18:104 § 5)
- Each professional land surveyor shall, upon licensure, obtain a seal or stamp of the design authorized by the board, bearing his or her name, license number, and the words "Licensed Professional Land Surveyor".(KRS 322.340(1))
- The Board's published sample surveyor stamp is square with a hatched border: "STATE of KENTUCKY" across the top, the surveyor's name and license number inside a dotted inner box, and "LICENSED PROFESSIONAL LAND SURVEYOR" on three lines below it.(Board, Approved Stamps and Seals (Professional Land Surveyor Sample Seal))
- A plat of survey shall be signed, sealed, and dated by the professional land surveyor under whose direct supervision the survey was performed.(201 KAR 18:150 § 11(1))
- A plat of a boundary survey shall show a dated signature and the seal of the professional land surveyor under whose direct supervision the boundary survey was performed.(201 KAR 18:150 § 10(5)(q))
- Every survey plat and physical description submitted to a client or any public or governmental agency shall display the certification by the professional land surveyor under whose supervision the plat or description was prepared.(KRS 322.340(5))
- Working drawings or unfinished plats of not yet completed boundary surveys shall be prominently marked or stamped in at least sixteen (16) point type or its equivalent, as follows: Preliminary - Not For Recording or Land Transfer.(201 KAR 18:150 § 11(2))
- At least one copy of a document presented to a client or to a public or governmental entity shall bear the licensee's original seal or stamp, original signature and date; other copies may carry a facsimile applied manually or by a computer and printer or plotter.(201 KAR 18:104 § 2(1), (2))
- A digital signature may replace an original seal, signature and date on the same six conditions that apply to engineers, including conversion of the electronic document to a read-only format before transmission.(201 KAR 18:104 § 3)
Kentucky land surveyor seal questions
Is a Kentucky land surveyor's stamp round?▾
The Board's published sample is square. It is a hatched square border with "STATE of KENTUCKY" across the top, the surveyor's name and license number in a dotted inner box, and "LICENSED / PROFESSIONAL / LAND SURVEYOR" on three lines beneath — no annulus and no concentric circles. The 1¼-to-1½-inch size the Board states for the surveying seal or stamp is therefore a dimension across a square stamp rather than a diameter, so a round seal ordered to that figure is not the shape the Board's own sample shows. (Board, Approved Stamps and Seals; 201 KAR 18:104 §§ 5, 6)
Where is the Kentucky land surveyor seal design published?▾
Not online, and not in the regulation. 201 KAR 18:104 § 5 says only that the stamps and seals used by a licensee "shall be similar in design and conform to the size restrictions established in Approved Stamps and Seals, 1999", and § 6 incorporates that document by reference, stating that it may be inspected, copied or obtained at the Board's office at 160 Democrat Drive, Frankfort, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The regulation itself states no diameter, no shape and no layout; everything a surveyor can read remotely is the statutory legend and the sample the Board publishes. (201 KAR 18:104 §§ 5, 6)
Does a Kentucky land surveyor's seal need the word "Licensed"?▾
Yes — it is part of the statutory legend, not an optional prefix. KRS 322.340(1) requires each professional land surveyor to obtain a seal or stamp bearing his or her name, license number, and the words "Licensed Professional Land Surveyor", so a stamp reading only "Professional Land Surveyor", or "P.L.S.", falls short of the statute. On the Board's sample the three words run together on three lines beneath the name box, unlike the engineer sample, where "LICENSED" is separated off into the inner circle. (KRS 322.340(1); Board, Approved Stamps and Seals)
How must a Kentucky land surveyor mark an unfinished plat?▾
With prescribed words at a prescribed size. 201 KAR 18:150 § 11(2) requires working drawings or unfinished plats of not yet completed boundary surveys to be prominently marked or stamped in at least sixteen (16) point type or its equivalent, as follows: Preliminary - Not For Recording or Land Transfer. The type size is part of the rule, and the amendment pending under 2025 RS HB 6 leaves the wording alone and only adds the height of sixteen point type in inches. (201 KAR 18:150 § 11(2))
Generate a Kentucky Land Surveyor seal to this specification
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