A District of Columbia land surveyor seal must carry the words Professional Surveyor, not Land Surveyor, along with District of Columbia, your name and your license number. DCMR 17-1516.4 also lets the Board ask for more information, and section 1516 sets no size or shape. This page covers wording, devices, signing, sealed documents, electronic delivery, renewal and firms.
Engineer Seal Stamps compliance desk. Sources read September 2026: DCMR 17-1516.4 and guidance from District of Columbia Board of Professional Engineering staff. Updated 7 November 2026.
| Requirement | What the rule says | Source |
|---|---|---|
| When the seal is required | On land surveys, plats, reports, drawings, plans and calculations given to a client or a public agency; multi-sheet sets are sealed sheet by sheet. | DCMR 17-1516.3 and 17-1516.7 |
| Face content | Your name and license number, the words District of Columbia, plus any other item the Board requires. | DCMR 17-1516.4 |
| Title words | Professional Surveyor. The seal rule uses this phrase even though the license itself is titled Land Surveyor. | DCMR 17-1516.4 |
| Size and shape | No diameter, border or shape is set anywhere in the section. | DCMR 17-1516, full section |
| Devices | No instrument is prescribed. Computer generated seals are allowed, and whatever mark you use has to come through on copies. | DCMR 17-1516.6 and 17-1516.9 |
| Signature and date | Signed by hand beside or over the seal, with the date written underneath it. | DCMR 17-1516.9 |
| Preliminary work | Sealing is optional, but the sheet must be marked preliminary and not for construction, recording or implementation. | DCMR § 17-1516.5 |
| Digital signature | Unique to the signer, verifiable, under the signer's sole control, voided by any change, with the hardware, software and parameters listed. | DCMR 17-1516.10 |
| Renewal | Licenses run to August 31 of even-numbered years; renewal needs 12 hours of continuing education, one ethics course among them. | DCMR 17-1513 and 17-1526; DLCP Board of Professional Engineers page |
| Firm license | Surveying firms need none. Architecture, interior design and landscape architecture are the only fields the design firm license reaches. | D.C. Official Code 47-2853.64 and 47-2853.65 |
To compare the District of Columbia with every other jurisdiction, see our table of land surveyor seal requirements by state. The seal follows the license; the education routes and exams that lead to a D.C. license are compared in how to become a licensed land surveyor.
Why does the seal say Professional Surveyor when the license says Land Surveyor?
Because the wording required by DCMR 17-1516.4 is Professional Engineer or Professional Surveyor, whichever applies, and Land Surveyor never appears in it. Land Surveyor is only the license category name used by the Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection, and the seal follows the regulation rather than that name.
The practice statute, D.C. Official Code § 47-2853.111, speaks of land surveyors, and the Board also goes by Board of Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors. Neither changes the two words on the face. Professional Land Surveyor, PLS and LS are not phrases the regulation uses either.
What else must a District of Columbia surveyor seal show?
Three more items: the words District of Columbia, your name and your license number. DCMR 17-1516.4 then adds an open category, any other information the Board requests, which becomes part of the face once the Board asks for it.
The rule calls for the words District of Columbia, so spell the name out instead of using an abbreviation. Use your name exactly as the Board licensed you and copy the number from your license record.
Does the District set a size or shape for the seal?
No. Section 1516 has no diameter, no border rule, no lettering height and nothing requiring a round seal. What stands in for a dimension is DCMR 17-1516.6, which puts the seal and signature on originals so both show up on every copy made from them.
Plats are copied, scanned and recorded, so a seal too small to read on a copy undercuts that rule even though no measurement is broken. Pick a seal size that remains readable once copied.
Which devices meet the reproduction rule?
Any device whose mark comes through on copies. No instrument is named in the regulations, but DCMR 17-1516.9 expressly permits computer generated seals for final original drawings, and an inked rubber stamp satisfies the rules too.
Test a device the way the rule does: seal a sheet, copy or scan it, and read the result. If the seal or the signature does not come through, the document falls short of 17-1516.6 whatever device made it.
How must the signature and date be placed?
Beside the seal or over it, with the date written below. DCMR 17-1516.9 lets a computer generated seal appear on final original drawings when you sign by hand beside or over it and write the date below the stamp, unless the document is signed digitally instead.
Leave clear space around the seal on your title block for both marks. The rule governs placement only, so the arrangement is yours as long as seal, signature and date read together.
Which survey documents must be sealed?
Any land survey, report, plat, drawing, plan or calculation you deliver to a client or to a public agency. Under DCMR 17-1516.3, sealing and signing those documents certifies that you did the work yourself or that it was done under your control.
A delivery to a private client triggers the duty as surely as an agency filing. Calculations sit on the same list as plats, so the numbers behind a survey count as sealed work too.
How are multi-sheet sets and preliminary plats handled?
Every sheet is sealed. Under DCMR 17-1516.7, the title page of a multi-sheet document is sealed and signed by all who took part in or answer for the work, and each drawing by the licensee responsible for that particular sheet.
Unfinished work may carry the seal or not, but § 17-1516.5 requires a statement that labels it PRELIMINARY and says it is not for construction, recording purposes or implementation. Put that legend on in-progress plats before they leave the office.
How do you send a survey file that is not a certified document?
Take the seal off and put a note where the signature and date would go. DCMR 17-1516.9 has the generated seal stripped from an electronic document that needs no certification before it is sent, with a line naming the licensee who originally issued and sealed it.
That line states your professional land surveyor number and the day you sealed the document, and says the file should not be considered a certified document. Keep a standard version of the note ready for routine transmittals.
What must a digital signature meet in the District?
Five conditions under DCMR 17-1516.10. The signature has to be unique to you, verifiable as to its source and under your sole control, and tied to the document so that any change to the data voids it; you also list the hardware, software and parameters used.
Those conditions govern documents signed digitally. A computer generated seal with a handwritten signature and a written date, under 17-1516.9, is the other route to a sealed final drawing.
What do renewal and a lapsed license mean for the seal?
DLCP states that land surveyor licenses run to August 31 of even-numbered years, and each renewal needs 12 hours of continuing education with an ethics course among them. Section 1516 itself does not address sealing with a lapsed license.
Expiration and renewal sit in DCMR 17-1513, inactive status in § 17-1514, reinstatement of an expired license in § 17-1515, and continuing education from § 17-1526. Those provisions govern your license status; the seal rules are silent on lapse.
Who regulates District surveyors, and are survey firms licensed?
That job belongs to a body inside the Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection: the District of Columbia Board of Professional Engineering, which D.C. Official Code § 47-2853.06(e) created to regulate engineers and surveyors alike. No surveying firm license exists in the District.
Under §§ 47-2853.64 and 47-2853.65, the professional design firm license is limited to architecture, interior design and landscape architecture. Engineers share this Board and chapter; see our page on the District professional engineer seal. For other District seals, see the D.C. architect seal, the D.C. landscape architect stamp and the District of Columbia notary seal.
Frequently asked questions
Can one seal serve both an engineer license and a surveyor license?
No. DCMR 17-1516.4 calls for Professional Engineer or Professional Surveyor as appropriate, so a single face carries one of the two titles. If you hold both District licenses, each needs a seal lettered for it.
How does Board licensure relate to the Office of the Surveyor?
They are kept in separate places. The Board grants the license, while the Office of the Surveyor within the Department of Buildings keeps the District's land records, issues plats and keeps its own list of the District's registered land surveyors. Under D.C. Official Code §§ 1-1319 and 1-1320, a registered land surveyor may mark lot lines and prepare plats for a proprietor, alongside the Surveyor.
Do I need a seal the day I am licensed?
The rule on obtaining one is permissive. Under DCMR § 17-1516.2, an applicant who is newly licensed may obtain a seal, and the duty to use it arises under § 17-1516.3 once you present surveys, plats and the other listed documents to a client or public agency.
Can I seal survey work someone else prepared?
Only if it was under your complete direction and control. Section 17-1516.8 limits the seal and signature to work of that kind, consistent with the 17-1516.3 certification that you did the work yourself or it was done under your control.
Does a license renewal mean ordering a new seal?
The seal content set by rule does not change at renewal. DCMR 17-1516.4 puts your license number on the face but no expiration date, so the items stay the same from one renewal to the next unless the Board requests other information.
Order a seal lettered Professional Surveyor, with District of Columbia spelled out, from our District of Columbia stamps and seals.
