Elevation Certificate for LOMA

An Elevation Certificate is a FEMA form that documents key elevations of a building and its surrounding grade relative to the Base Flood Elevation. It is the primary technical document used to support many LOMA and LOMR-F requests.

Elevation Certificates must be prepared and certified by a licensed land surveyor, registered professional engineer, or registered architect authorized by state law to perform the required measurements. Local practice varies on which of those licenses is most common.

Fees typically range from about 400 to 1,200 dollars depending on the region, parcel access, and complexity. Coastal and rural properties tend to cost more; dense suburban lots closer to the surveyor's office tend to cost less.

Once a surveyor is scheduled, fieldwork usually takes one visit, and the signed certificate is generally delivered within one to three weeks. Scheduling availability is often the longest part of the process.

An older certificate may be usable if the property, grading, and BFE have not changed and the datum still matches the effective map. FEMA may still request an update if the EC was issued on a retired form or refers to superseded map data.

The property address, lot and block, latitude and longitude, map panel, effective date, BFE, and vertical datum all must match the request and the effective FIRM. Mismatches are one of the most common reasons for a request for additional information.

Yes. FEMA updates the Elevation Certificate form periodically, and older editions are eventually retired. Cases submitted on a retired form are usually returned for an updated certificate before substantive review continues.

LiDAR and contour data are useful for pre-screening, but FEMA generally requires a signed Elevation Certificate or equivalent sealed survey for most LOMA determinations involving structures. Lot-only requests on large parcels can sometimes rely on alternative elevation data.