Engineering
What branches of engineering does TSE practice?   We are professional civil engineers.  Our civil engineering services include design of streets, roads, highways and bridges; water supply, treatment, storage, and distribution; sewage collection and treatment; storm water collection and treatment; site design including grading, parking, traffic flow, and drainage; solid waste disposal; recreational facilities; cemeteries; airports; and dams and reservoirs.

What geographical area do you serve?  
We are licensed to practice civil engineering in Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas and Arkansas.  However, given enough time, we can get licensed to practice civil engineering in all the 50 states.  

How long have you been in business?  
We started TSE in July of 1979 and have been continually operating since then.

Appraisal
What is an appraisal and why do I need one?  
Real estate appraisal is the process of valuing real property. The value usually sought is the property's market value.  Appraisals are needed real estate transactions occur frequently and changes in the market value can occur quickly. 

What type of appraisals do you make?
We specialize in all types of real estate appraisals ranging from residential, agriculture, industrial.  Property appraisals can be used to determine market value for land sales and purchases, settling estates, divorces, tax matters, property exchanges and sales.  

What cities and counties do you perform real estate appraisals?
We are licensed to perform appraisal work in Missouri, Oklahoma, and Kansas and available to assist cities in these states.  

How do you determine the value of my property?
Available comparable sales located in the vicinity of your property will indicate the market value.  Since every property is not exactly the same we make adjustments for location, size, time, conditions of sale and other differing factors.  

What can I expect to receive from the appraiser?
We are constantly studying the market and researching property values.  As a professional licensed appraiser a written report on a property value is always provided to our clients.  

Is my appraisal confidential?
All appraisal reports are confidential and provided only to the client.  

How long does it take to get my appraisal back?
Depending on the distance from our Joplin, MO and Claremore, OK offices it should normally take only four (4) business days.  

How much do you charge for an appraisal?
Usually the charge ranges from $350 to $400 for a residential appraisal.  The cost may vary according the time required to provide the best report possible.  

Surveying
How much does a survey cost?
This depends on the type of survey needed and where the property is located. There are a number of different types of surveys such as…..
    * Lot surveys (this is a survey in a platted subdivision)
    * Tract surveys (this is a survey that is generally outside the city limits and usually in a section, township and range)
    * Topographic surveys (topographic surveys measures the elevation difference either on a residential lot or a tract of land

How long does it take to complete a survey?
Depending on work load, a survey can be completed in 4 to 5 days.

How can I preserve the location of my property corners after the surveyor leaves?
After the surveyor leaves try marking your property corner with a t-post. A t-post will preserve the corner for a much longer time than a wooden stake that the surveyor sets.

What kind of marker does the surveyor set for the property corner?
If applicable a 18” long rebar is set flush with the ground. The rebar is usually ½” in diameter and has a plastic cap with the surveyor license number.

GIS Mapping
What is GIS, anyway? 
"Geographic Information Systems."  Think of it like Google Earth, only on steroids.  It's a living database of information, all tied to the world in one way or another.  Typically it contains demographic features, but often it can be used for geographic analysis, too.  GIS is also a wonderful tool for utility maintenance, asset inventory, crime studies, traffic analysis, emergency planning, and more.

How can it help me?
What's great about it, is it's entirely interactive.  Think of it this way: Instead of a giant map in your conference room with pushpins and marker-lines connecting the dots... you now have a zooming, scrolling map on your desktop computer, and on your mobile phone.  Forget pushpins and markers (or string!), because now you can add virtual pins, polygonal boundaries, addresses, phone numbers, photographs, PDFs, dates, times, maintenance logs, driving directions, zones, populations, and so much more.  It lets you dynamically query the world in a way you've never had before with paper.

It sounds expensive.  Can I afford it?
Actually, on the lowest end, it's absolutely free.  If you want, we'll point you in the right direction to download open source GIS software on your computer that you can begin using right now!  All GIS (like anything new) takes time and patience to learn.  We help facilitate that with customized training, tailored to your needs.  Or, if you want enterprise-level software, and you have a larger budget, we can help you set up and deploy it within your firm with any training to get your staff up and running soon. Pricing for GIS can literally be free, or you can spend as little as a few hundred dollars receiving training from us, or you could spend $20,000 for an enterprise deployment.  The choice is yours!

What type of hardware do I need?
Not much needs to change if you've already got a newer computer in the office.  If your PC is less than five years old, you're in good shape.  The only other thing you may want to consider is mobile GPS, which can be a wise investment for anywhere between $1,000 to $10,000.  Having GIS in the field is a blessing at times, and a mobile GPS data collector can serve it up with varying degrees of pricing within that price range.