Hiring for a land surveying firm: recruit, pay, train and keep survey staff, and run the business

Our research found no ranking of which surveying role is hardest to fill right now.

What the published numbers do give you is the shape of the hiring market: how many people work in each occupation, how fast each is projected to grow, and how many openings appear each year.

BLS's Employment Projections program counts surveyors at about 52,000 jobs in 2025, a figure that includes the self-employed; 71% of those jobs were in architectural, engineering and related services.

The same program counts surveying and mapping technicians at about 58,800 jobs in 2025, with 60% in architectural, engineering and related services.

Over 2025–35, BLS projects surveyor employment to grow 6 percent — faster than average — with about 3,100 openings a year, many from replacing workers who retire or change occupations.

BLS projects technician employment to grow 6 percent too, with about 6,900 openings a year.

Replacement demand is the part you feel as an employer.

A party chief retiring or a licensed surveyor moving on is an opening someone has to fill — by training into the role, moving over from another firm or being hired in from outside.

The projections above count how many such openings appear each year.

The industry hiring alongside you is mostly small establishments.

Census County Business Patterns 2023 counted 7,288 establishments in NAICS 541370 (Surveying and Mapping (except Geophysical) Services), employing 58,087 people — and CBP counts establishments (locations), not companies.

Most survey establishments are small: 4,248 of the 7,288 had fewer than 5 employees in 2023, and another 1,570 had 5 to 9.

Practically, that is two hiring problems at once: crew seats backed by a large published workforce, and licensed-surveyor seats that depend on people already deep in the pipeline.

BLS notes entry-level surveyors often work under a licensed surveyor for several years before qualifying for a license — so a licensed hire is a plan you start ahead of the vacancy, not the week it opens.

See what candidates see on the jobs board: land surveyor jobs and survey technician jobs.

Each seat on a survey roster is hired differently.

The notes below are the federal data and the general licensing framework; the exact licensure rules are each state's own, so confirm requirements with the state licensing board before you write one into a posting.

Licensed surveyor (PLS, PS, RPLS — your state's own title).

BLS says surveyors typically need a bachelor's degree and must be licensed before they can certify legal documents and provide surveying services to the public.

Ask for the license your state issues for the work, and verify it with the state board rather than taking a resume's word for it.

Where a strong candidate is licensed in another state, do not assume the license transfers — confirm that state board's process for out-of-state licensees before you count the seat as licensed.

The license sits at the end of a pipeline: BLS notes some surveyors start as surveying technicians and become licensed after many years of experience, with requirements varying by state.

Surveyor-in-training (LSIT / SIT).

An in-training hire is a licensure investment.

The in-training step and its rules are the state board's, and the route to the license runs through years of qualifying work.

Party chief.

The party chief runs the crew day to day.

BLS publishes no separate wage or employment series for the title — our research maps it to the surveying and mapping technician occupation, the closest federal line for it.

Hire for field judgment and crew leadership, and keep the licensure line clear.

Under the NCEES Model Law, which states adapt, unlicensed employees may do surveying work only when it includes no final surveying decisions and is done under the responsible charge of, and verified by, a licensee.

The same model defines responsible charge as direct control and personal supervision of surveying work; your state board's own definition governs.

Crew: rod person, instrument operator, survey technician.

BLS lists a high school diploma plus moderate-term on-the-job training as the typical preparation for surveying and mapping technicians.

Say the physical demands plainly in the posting.

BLS's description of technician fieldwork is a good checklist: standing for long periods, walking considerable distances over harsh terrain, climbing hills with heavy packs of equipment, in all types of weather, sometimes with temporary relocation near a survey site.

BLS also notes employers may prefer technician candidates who hold a valid driver's license.

Survey CAD technician.

There is no survey-drafting occupation in the federal data we checked; the architectural and civil drafter occupation (SOC 17-3011) is the closest line, and BLS describes civil drafters preparing topographic maps used in construction and civil engineering projects such as highways, bridges and dams.

Drafter demand is flatter than field demand: BLS projects overall drafter employment to grow 1 percent from 2025 to 2035, with architectural and civil drafters at 104,100 jobs in 2025 and a projected 109,500 in 2035.

Drone surveyor.

Flying under the FAA's Small UAS Rule (14 CFR Part 107) requires an FAA Remote Pilot Certificate — an aviation credential on top of the surveying skills, not a surveying license.

Keep the credential current on your roster's behalf.

Under 14 CFR 107.65, a remote pilot may not exercise Part 107 privileges unless they have, within the previous 24 calendar months, passed the initial knowledge test or completed recurrent training.

Part 61 certificate holders with a current flight review can instead complete the Part 107 training.

On the jobs board these seats have their own listing pages: party chief, rod person, survey CAD technician and drone surveyor.

The practical channel list for a survey firm is short: referrals from your own crews, surveying schools and programs, career changers and veterans moving into the field, recruiters and staffing firms, contract and temporary crews for capacity, and job boards — including this one.

Licensure pipeline data helps you time the licensed end of that list.

NCEES reported that FS and PS exam volumes in fiscal 2025 reached a 15-year high.

In fiscal 2025 (October 2024 through September 2025), 1,433 first-time takers sat the NCEES FS exam with a 63% pass rate, and 1,188 first-time takers sat the PS exam with a 60% pass rate.

Each pass is a person moving toward licensure — someone your firm may hire years from now — so sponsoring an in-training hire toward licensure adds licensed capacity to the profession instead of bidding for someone else's.

If you work with a recruiter or staffing firm, the EEOC's rules follow the work: most employers with at least 15 employees (20 for age discrimination) are covered by EEOC laws, and most employment agencies are covered too.

A recruiter cannot screen candidates on protected traits for you.

Contract and temporary crews are the other capacity valve: they cover a busy season or a distant project, and they let you see a crew's work before either side commits to something permanent.

When you are ready to list an opening, post it on SurveyorHires, which splits listings by survey role.

The published anchors are BLS's Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) for May 2025, national, all industries.

They are occupation-wide figures, not what any one firm must pay.

Surveyors (SOC 17-1022) earned a national median of $36.27 an hour ($75,440 a year), with the 25th percentile at $58,170 and the 75th at $98,130.

Two labels matter on that line.

OEWS counts payroll (wage-and-salary) workers — 50,830 surveyors in May 2025 — and the occupation includes licensed and unlicensed surveyors, so no separate licensed-PLS wage exists in the data.

Surveying and mapping technicians (SOC 17-3031) earned a national median of $26.08 an hour ($54,240 a year), with the 25th to 75th percentiles between $21.84 and $32.07 an hour.

That technician series is also the closest published line for the crew titles: BLS has no separate code for party chief, instrument operator or rod person, so do not treat the $26.08 median as a party-chief wage.

For an industry view, May 2025 OEWS shows — within architectural, engineering and related services (NAICS 541300, the row that includes survey firms) — surveyors at a $73,320 median and technicians at a $50,340 median, slightly below their all-industry medians.

For CAD, architectural and civil drafters (SOC 17-3011) earned a national median of $31.80 an hour ($66,150 a year) — a stand-in that also covers architectural drafters, not a survey-specific wage.

Pay-setting also brushes against federal labor rules.

In its 2023 Davis-Bacon rule preamble, DOL said licensed surveyors “may in some cases” be learned professionals — excluded from the definition of “laborers or mechanics.”

That conclusion, DOL cautioned, can vary where state licensing does not customarily require a prolonged course of specialized intellectual instruction.

Crew members are the other side of the same preamble.

Survey crew members who do primarily physical or manual work for contractors or subcontractors on a Davis-Bacon Act or Related Acts covered project may be laborers or mechanics owed prevailing wages.

The preamble's setting matters: on the site of the work, immediately before or during construction, in direct support of construction crews.

DOL's view is that unlicensed survey crew members generally are not learned professionals, even when a licensed surveyor supervises the work.

Whether Davis-Bacon covers a particular crew member is a question of fact based on actual duties: DOL weighs the relative importance of a worker's different duties, including but not solely the time spent on them.

Because coverage turns on the duties, confirm any Davis-Bacon question with the DOL's Wage and Hour Division or counsel before you build a wage assumption into a payroll system.

Training starts before the first day.

The physical honesty you put in the posting — the terrain, the packs, the weather, the travel — needs to be the first-week conversation too.

A new hire's first week should match the ad — make that check an explicit part of your onboarding, not an accident.

Safety gear is part of the deal.

OSHA's construction PPE rule requires employers — on construction work covered by Part 1926 — to ensure all PPE is of safe design and selected to properly fit each affected employee.

Under the same rule, employers must pay for replacement PPE (unless it was lost or intentionally damaged) but need not pay for everyday clothing or weather gear such as winter coats, rain gear, ordinary sunglasses and sunscreen.

For the licensed end of the roster, think in years.

BLS notes entry-level surveyors often work under a licensed surveyor for several years before qualifying for a license, and that some surveyors start as technicians and become licensed after many years of experience, with requirements varying by state.

Sponsoring a surveyor-in-training toward licensure — covering exam and application costs, protecting qualifying field time, and assigning work a licensee can verify — is how a firm grows a licensed seat instead of bidding for one.

Voluntary credentials can structure that training.

The Certified Survey Technician program, sponsored by NSPS and administered by the CST Board, is a national certification with four levels in two tracks — field and office — earned by proctored exam.

It is a certification for survey technicians, not a surveying license — and our research found no state rule crediting it.

Retention is mostly craft, not data: pay reviews anchored to the published BLS series for each occupation, a written travel and per diem policy, a safety program that covers road and utility work, well-maintained equipment, and schedules crews can plan a life around.

Ask leavers what actually moved them, and keep the answers with the file — the pattern in a handful of exit conversations will tell you more about your firm than any benchmark, because our research found no published turnover figure for surveying.

The business you are building or selling is, on the published record, a small-firm industry.

Census SUSB 2022 counted 6,927 firms in NAICS 541370 (Surveying and Mapping (except Geophysical) Services) with 54,801 employees and about $8.88 billion in receipts.

4,034 of those firms — about 58% — had annual receipts under $500,000, and 5,272 (about 76%) had receipts under $1 million.

At the other end, only 47 firms had receipts of $100 million or more, but they operated 209 establishments with 5,997 employees.

Calculated from the same Census row, survey firms averaged about $162,000 in receipts per employee in 2022, and payroll equalled about 42.5% of receipts — our arithmetic on the published totals, not a margin and not a benchmark for any one firm.

Among establishments, S corporations are the most common legal form: 4,930 of the 7,288 NAICS 541370 establishments in CBP 2023, ahead of C corporations (989), sole proprietorships (915) and partnerships (448).

Firm licensure is the first gate.

Under the NCEES Model Law, which states adapt, a firm that practices or offers to practice surveying must obtain a certificate of authorization from the board — the model text excepts work done for the firm itself or for a parent or subsidiary.

The firm must also designate a licensee as its managing agent — a role one licensee can hold for only one firm, and under the model text not open to occasional or part-time consultants unless they are an officer or owner.

Each state's firm-registration rule is its own, so confirm what your state requires — and who must hold the license — with the state licensing board before you form the entity, expand across a state line or restructure ownership.

If you sell, a sale of assets where goodwill or going-concern value could attach — and where the buyer's basis in the assets is determined only by the amount paid — means both seller and buyer report it to the IRS on Form 8594.

On the buy-side, the SBA lists changes of ownership among the permitted uses of a 7(a) loan, capped at $5 million.

If you close instead, the IRS expects a final return for the year of closing, final wages paid, final federal employment-tax deposits made, and a Form W-2 for each employee's final-year wages.

What a practice is worth is a separate question: our research found no primary-source valuation multiple for survey firms, so treat any rule of thumb you see online with caution and get a professional appraisal when a real transaction is on the table.

Employer and owner information, not legal, tax or licensing advice. Licensure, firm registration, classification and business-structure questions turn on your state's rules — confirm them with the state licensing board, the DOL, the IRS, a CPA or counsel.