Thinking about Summer Construction?

Does the warm spring days make anyone else think about summer construction?  At Hogan Land Services, we can almost smell it in the air.

Summer is the perfect time to build, grade, and improve your property- and we can help ensure your property is ready for those steps!

Before starting any project, it is important to know if you need any permits for your plans.  For example, building a small tool shed, or a children's play structure? You may not need a permit!

But did you know a permit is required for an improvement such as replacing a water heater?

Whether your summer construction or improvement plans are big or small, it is important to know you plans will be executed properly, safely, and up to code standards.   If your project needs engineering, or you just don't want to handle the permitting process, give us a call!

See you on our next view from the field!

Hogan Land Services Team

#hoganls

Rapid Parcel Analysis

At Hogan Land Services, we get very excited about our clients that have creative ideas about maximizing their property potential.  Examples range from obtaining a use permit to farm their land, to adding secondary units for extra living space.

You may be wondering, "How do I know if I can do these improvements to my own property?"  Well the answer is easier than you think.  Its all about knowing your full property potential.... and we offer a lens to see it through.  Oh, did we mention it is FREE??

Thats right, our Rapid Parcel Analysis is a free service we offer in order for you to have a view into your property zoning, permit history, septic, record maps, utilities, and potential flood zones.

All you need to do is contact our office and provide your property address, and within 48 hours, we will send you our packet with a write up of our findings.

If this sounds too good to be true, call our office and give it a try!  Our belief is that knowledge is power, and we want our clients as educated as possible about their land.  Property is a large investment, and its important to know the ways your can improve it.

See you on our next view from the field!

Hogan Land Services Team

#hoganls

Staff Feature: HLS Engineering Dept. Manager

Now that Daylight Savings has officially sprung everyone into the warmer season mindset, we decided to shake up our Blog post this week!  As you know, we usually post about what we are up to and feature our work in action.  This week we are sharing a behind the scenes feature on our very own Engineering Department Manager, Daniel Byrne.

Daniel is an essential part of the HLS team, and was recently nominated as one of the North Bay Busienss Journal's 40 under 40!  We are very happy to have Daniel recognized for his accomplishments and future potential.

Given his ever-busy schedule as the Engineering Department Manager and father of two youngsters, Daniel shared with us some of his personal interests and favorite memories at HLS.


Did you always want to be an Engineer?
Daniel:  No, growing up I wanted to be a Firefighter, Pro-athele, or a mail man.


What are your hobbies and interests?
Daniel: Mountain biking, motorcycling, anything outdoors and active.


What do you consider you greatest professional accomplishment?
Daniel: In March of 2012 I received my license as a Registered Civil Engineer, and joined my mentor, Ken Carr in the club of first attempt exam passers.


What is your favorite thing about working for Hogan Land Services?
Daniel: That we have stayed true to our original purpose of helping people achieve their dreams.


What is the best advice you have ever received?
Daniel: "I have not failed.  I have just found 10,000 ways that won't work" - Thomas Edison


We hope you enjoyed our "shake-up" this week on our Engineering Department Manager, Daniel Byrne

See you on our next view from the field!

Hogan Land Services Team

#hoganls

Top Ways to Improve Your Property Value - Part 4

When searching for a house to purchase, many people create a "must-have" list.  These items can range from wanting a pool, to an open space floor plan, acreage, etc...  As many homeowners know, there are usually compromises that must be made for your dream home to fit with reality.  And for many, this includes the yard or property boundaries being smaller than they dreamed.

Many times those "compromises" turn into honey-do or annual projects lists.  But here's one improvement you may not have realized was possible.  With the right tools, you can adjust your property boundaries for a desired topographic configuration to your parcel.  Your neighbors property might have a perfect piece that would add value to your property without taking away from the value of his, or vice-versa!

The process begins with a conversation.  Talk to your neighbor and see if it's something they are interested in.  The next step to initiate this type of project would be to call a professional Land Surveyor, and determine what your existing, and reconfigured future boundary lines would look like. Certain requirements must be met, but the process can be inexpensive and cost effective.  

If this sounds like an item on that honey-do or annual project list, give us a call and learn how our professional Land Surveyors can help improve the value of your property.

See you on our next view from the field!

Hogan Land Services Team

#hoganls

Top Ways to Improve Your Property Value - Part 3

This week's post is Part 3 of our reoccurring theme, "Top Ways to Improve Your Property Value".   Today we will be looking into projects or enhancements you can do to increase your property's value throughout the years.  Adding entitlements to your property is a great way to give your particular parcel its highest and best value.  An entitlement is a legal agreement with a governing municipality to allow a certain building type to occur on the site.

There are a few ways you can add entitlements to your property.  An example is adding a pond or a well onto your land.  With these types of entitlements, project coordination is typically required with multiple agencies.  For example, the California Regional Water Board will most likely be involved, along with the local permitting agency to ensure regulations are upheld.  Other entitlements can be in the form of special zoning or land-use improvements.

Although coordination and management of a project with multiple agencies sounds daunting, it is something the pro's at Hogan Land Services do on a daily basis.

If you have an existing feature on your property such as a pond or stream, contact us to find out if we can help you add entitlements, and increase your property value!

See you on our next view from the field!

Hogan Land Services Team

#hoganls

Our Favorite Field Shots of 2014

Did you catch our photo from last week's blog post?  If you missed it, you can view it here.  This week we want to share some of our favorite landscape shots from 2014 that our surveyors have snapped while they are in the field. 

“It is one of the joys of my profession, that my “office” extends to such amazing places.  I am lucky to experience so many wonderful places and witness moments as shown in photos such as these; that convey only a glimmer of the magic and joy that I get from “working” in such places.” - HLS Surveyor.

 From lush forests, to views stretching out to the San Francisco bay, our team is excited to share these photos with you!  We can't wait to see what views 2015 will bring.

                                         

See you on our next view from the field!

Hogan Land Services Team

#hoganls

Groundwater & Wet Weather Testing Window

Happy 2015!  With a new year, the window for Sonoma County's Groundwater and Wet Weather Percolation testing has opened for a limited time.  As many of you know, 2014 was a record dry year for California.  The impact of the low rainfall can be seen throughout the state.  The lack of rain these last few years caused the 2013/14 window for Wet Weather Percolation and Groundwater testing to last a mere few weeks, creating a disadvantage to many pre-construction projects.

Luckily Sonoma County has been saturated with a few storms over the last few weeks, and the window for Wet Weather Percolation and Groundwater testing looks promising for 2015. The testing window for Percolation has just opened for Petaluma, Sonoma, Santa Rosa, Sebastopol, Guerneville and Cloverdale.  If you have been needing a Wet Weather test, please call us to get on the schedule!   The window for Groundwater testing can be conducted 10 days after rainfall of .8 inches within a 48 hour window for the specific geographic location.  We monitor the rainfall daily in our office, therefore our staff will be able to respond quickly and effectively if your project opens for Groundwater Testing. We don't want anyone to miss out on this opportunity.  Once the testing window closes the next possibility will be in 2016.  So make sure you don't miss out! See you on our next view from the field! Hogan Land Services Team #hoganls

Top Ways to Improve Your Property Value - Part 2

Time for another installment of "Top Ways to Improve Your Property Value".  In this segment we are reviewing a topic that is difficult for many homeowners to manage on their own.   And in many cases, property and homeowners may not even know a problem exists on their land.

Un-permited work whether done by you, or the previous homeowner can lead to violations against your property, decreasing value until the work is remedied!  This can be in the form of grading or earth movement, un-permited barns or accessory dwelling units, to a deck add-on or sunroom that did not go through the County regulations and process.

While some of these items may look like they increase your property value, unattended violations negatively impact your assets and even the re-sale value of your home.

Hogan Land Services has dealt with many violation resolution projects, and we know they come in all shapes, sizes and circumstances.  

If you are a new homeowner, and are unsure about some work done on your property, give us a call and we can review County records and reports to determine if the work was done legally or not.  If the latter is true, we can help develop and plan and process to get your violation corrected and legalized to County standards.  Even if the violation has not been reported yet, it is important to address the issue and work through solutions to have the work legalized.

The team at Hogan Land Services is determined to come up with creative, cost-effective solutions for all of your property needs.  We know that resolving a violation that you may not have even had a part of is frustrating, and thats why we are here to help!  Even if you are not ready to go through the entire legalization process, knowledge is power - and the experts at Hogan Land Services want you to know everything about your property.

  

See you on our next view from the field!

Hogan Land Services Team

#hoganls

Top Ways to Improve Your Property Value - Part 1

Real estate is often our most valuable asset, and nothing feels better than crossing projects off the home improvement list.  Aside from the honey-do items, what about the assets that your property has, but didn't know could be improved?  That's where we come in.

Over the next few months we will be posting Hogan Land Services' "Top Ways to Improve Your Property Value" and provide tips and tricks for understanding more about your property, and what you can do about it.

This week our post features how to find out what you can do with your existing property.  Can  you build a second unit on your parcel?  Is there potential for commercial use?  Is it zoned for agricultural use?  Did you know you there are ways to change your zoning?

These questions have readily available answers, and once you have the information on what you can do; then you can determine what you want to do!

The land service professionals at Hogan Land Services will explain to you all the allowable uses for your property, and help modify it to maximize value.  If you've been curious about the assets your property may contain, give us a call!

See you on our next view from the field!

Hogan Land Services Team

#hoganls