What Moran Engineering does

Moran Engineering, Inc. is a private professional land surveying firm headquartered at 1930 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, California. Founded by Everett Moran around 1970, the firm has operated continuously in the Berkeley/East Bay market for more than 50 years and currently employs approximately 10 people, including three Licensed Land Surveyors, a Land Surveyor in Training, three survey technicians, and two administrative staff. The firm was founded as a civil engineering and surveying practice; over time, land surveying has become the dominant service, with civil design work largely absent from current operations.

The firm's core offering is a suite of 11 land surveying services: boundary and topographic surveys, house location surveys, survey exhibits, boundary staking and recovery, construction staking and Letters of Certification, lot line adjustments and mergers, tract/parcel/condominium maps, ALTA surveys, story pole staking, easement and legal description work, and construction monitoring. Field work is performed using Trimble and Leica survey-grade equipment, and survey drawings are produced in AutoCAD. Customers include individual homeowners, commercial property owners, architects and engineers, public agencies, educational institutions, and religious organizations across the Bay Area, with a concentration in the East Bay.

The firm generates revenue on a project-based, quote-driven professional services model. Pricing is custom per project scope and is solicited through a "Request a Quote" form on the corporate website. Distribution is exclusively direct — no resellers, referral partners, or marketplace channels. The company is family-owned (Jim Moran, a Licensed Land Surveyor and likely family member of the founder, assumed operational leadership in 2020), with no external institutional investment, no subsidiaries, and no public listing. Notable institutional clients disclosed on the company website include UC Berkeley Capital Projects, Berkeley Unified School District, City of Oakland, City of Berkeley, Alameda County Public Works, Pier 70, and various Bay Area school districts and municipalities.

Name

Moran Engineering

Legal name

Moran Engineering, Inc.

Website

https://moraneng.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1970

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Moran Engineering, Inc. is a family-owned professional land surveying firm based in Berkeley, California, serving homeowners, commercial property owners, design professionals, and public agencies throughout the Bay Area with 50+ years of experience. Using Trimble and Leica equipment for field work and AutoCAD for mapping, the firm delivers boundary, topographic, ALTA, and construction-staking surveys.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Land Surveying Services

NAICS

Surveying and Mapping (except Geophysical) Services (541370), Surveying and Mapping (except Geophysical) Services (54137)

SIC

Services-Engineering Services (8711)

akta.pro primary industry

Construction Engineering & Constructability Consulting (BPAHAIAN)

Keywords

• Land surveying services
• Boundary surveys
• Topographic surveys
• ALTA surveys
• Construction staking

Headquarters

HQ city

Berkeley

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Surveying and Mapping Services: Professional land surveying services including boundary surveys, topographic surveys, construction staking, subdivision mapping, and ALTA surveys. Revenue is generated through project-based fees for surveying work for homeowners, commercial clients, design professionals, and public agencies.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels2 records

Core offering

Moran Engineering, Inc. provides professional land surveying and mapping services for homeowners, commercial property owners, design professionals, and public agencies throughout the Bay Area. Services include boundary and topographic surveys, house location surveys, ALTA surveys, construction staking and certification, tract/parcel/condominium mapping, lot line adjustments, boundary staking and recovery, easement and legal description preparation, story pole staking, and ongoing construction monitoring. Field data is collected with Trimble and Leica survey equipment and processed into survey drawings using AutoCAD software.

Product overview

Moran Engineering is a professional land surveying firm offering a comprehensive suite of surveying and mapping services. The company operates as a single-service business focused on land surveying rather than a platform architecture. Core services include boundary and topographic surveys, house location surveys, ALTA surveys, construction staking, subdivision mapping (tract/condominium maps), boundary staking and recovery, easement documentation, story pole staking, and construction monitoring. The company primarily serves homeowners, commercial property owners, design professionals, and public agencies throughout the Bay Area, using Trimble and Leica survey equipment with AutoCAD software for mapping.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Boundary & Topographic Survey / Building Permit Survey Comprehensive site maps showing fixed features across a property with the boundary superimposed, including existing onsite structures with finish floor elevations, near sides of adjacent structures, roof heights, fences, curbs, sidewalks, walls, hardscape, visible utility facilities, significant trees, and spot elevations with contours; typically used for planning and building permit submissions.
• House Location Survey / House Location Survey Plus Surveys showing the footprint of existing structures on a property with the property boundary superimposed; the Plus variant additionally includes elevations at the house and property corners.
• Survey Exhibit Maps showing existing features in relation to property lines to facilitate understanding of property line placement relative to fences, trees, walls, driveways, and walkways.
• Boundary Staking / Boundary Recovery Setting of permanent markers along property lines with required County filings (Corner Records or Record of Survey); recovery involves the search and recovery of previously set boundary markers.
• Construction Staking / Letter of Certification Setting of temporary markers to aid construction layout, accompanied by certification letters from a Licensed Land Surveyor confirming the construction matches approved site plans.
• Lot Line Adjustment / Lot Merger Process of adjusting or removing property lines, including mapping of existing site features, depiction of existing and proposed property configuration, and preparation of new legal descriptions.
• Tract Map / Parcel Map / Condominium Maps & Plans Subdivision mapping services for major subdivisions (5+ lots) and minor subdivisions (4 or fewer new parcels), including tentative and final map preparation.
• ALTA Survey American Land Title Association surveys required for commercial real estate transactions; comprehensive surveys certified to property owners, lenders, and insurers.
• Story Pole Staking Layout for story pole erectors and field measurement with certification for new construction as required by public agencies during the planning process.
• Easement / Legal Description Creation of legal descriptions and maps displaying easement boundaries for sewer, driveway, view, and other easement types.
• Monitoring Ongoing monitoring and reporting of slow changes caused by construction, land subsidence, or other factors.

Named customers9 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves3 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Direct peers

• BKF Engineers: California-headquartered engineering and surveying firm offering boundary surveys, ALTA surveys, construction staking, and subdivision mapping across the Bay Area — overlapping service portfolio and target clients including municipalities and developers.
• Towill, Inc. Northern California surveying, geomatics, and GIS firm providing boundary, topographic, construction, and ALTA surveys to public and private clients — comparable in core surveying services and California operating geography.
• Sandis Civil Engineers Surveyors Planners: Bay Area-based civil engineering, land surveying, and planning firm serving public agencies, educational institutions, and private developers — directly comparable in service scope (boundary, topographic, ALTA, subdivision) and regional client base.
• Wallace Group: California-based multidisciplinary firm offering land surveying, civil engineering, and construction services for public agencies and private developers — overlapping service mix with concentration in the Bay Area and Central Valley.
• MacKay & Somps: Northern California civil engineering and land surveying firm serving municipalities, developers, and commercial clients with boundary, topographic, ALTA, and subdivision mapping work — comparable in scale and service lines.
• Kier & Wright: California-based civil engineering and land surveying firm serving the Bay Area and Sacramento regions with boundary, topographic, ALTA, and construction staking services — directly comparable in service mix and geographic footprint to Moran Engineering.
• RJA Engineering & Surveying: California land surveying and civil engineering firm offering ALTA surveys, boundary surveys, topographic mapping, and construction staking for municipal and commercial clients — directly comparable in services and California focus.

Broad incumbents

• Psomas: Large Western U.S. engineering, surveying, and environmental services firm with a substantial land surveying practice serving municipal, institutional, and commercial clients across California — broader portfolio but direct overlap in core surveying services.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Moran Engineering