If you are developing land, you have probably heard the term “Table A” thrown around during loan closings. It sounds technical. It is not that complicated once someone breaks it down.
Table A is a list of optional items you can add to an ALTA survey. Each item adds a specific piece of information to your survey and your title report. Some items are almost always required. Others only matter for certain types of land. Picking the right ones can save you money, time, and headaches later. Picking the wrong ones can leave gaps that surface at the worst possible moment, mid-construction or mid-closing.
Here is what developers need to know before they check any boxes.
Which Table A Items Lenders Actually Require
Table A is optional by name, but in practice, your lender often makes the decision for you.
Most banks and credit unions financing commercial projects will require a core set of items before they release funds. These usually include zoning information, flood zone data, and utility locations. Lenders want to know the land can support the project and that nothing hidden could threaten their investment.
Here is the part developers miss. The lender’s minimum list is not always the right list for you. A lender cares about protecting the loan. You care about protecting the project.
Before your survey order goes out, ask your lender for their exact Table A requirements in writing. Then compare that list against what you actually need to know about the site. If there is a gap, that is your chance to add items now, while the surveyor is already in the field, instead of paying for a second visit later.
How Your Table A Selections Affect Your Title Insurance Premium
This part rarely gets explained clearly, and it should.
Title insurance companies use your ALTA survey to decide which exceptions to remove from your policy. An exception is a gap in coverage. It means the insurer will not pay out if a problem tied to that gap shows up later.
When your survey includes the right Table A items, the surveyor can confirm things like boundary lines, easements, and encroachments directly. That confirmation gives the title company confidence to drop certain exceptions from your policy. Fewer exceptions mean stronger coverage.
Skip the right items, and the title company has less to work with. They may keep broader exceptions in place just to protect themselves. You end up paying for a policy that covers less than it could have, for the same premium.
Talk to your title officer before you finalize your Table A list. Ask which items would let them remove specific exceptions. That single conversation can change what your policy actually protects.
Table A Items That Matter Most for Farmland and Oil and Gas Parcels
North Dakota land is not one size fits all. A parcel near the Bakken oil fields carries different risks than a quarter section of farmland near Fargo.
For oil and gas adjacent parcels, pay close attention to items covering offsite easements and rights of way. Mineral rights are often severed from surface rights, meaning someone else may own what is underground even though you own the surface. Table A does not have a dedicated mineral rights item, but easement and access items often reveal related conflicts, like an existing pipeline right of way or a shared access road tied to mineral extraction.
For farmland being converted to development, wetlands coverage deserves attention. North Dakota has a high concentration of prairie potholes and seasonal wetlands that are not always obvious by looking at the land. A survey item confirming wetland boundaries can prevent a costly discovery after you have already broken ground.
If your project touches either category, do not treat these items as optional extras. Treat them as risk management.
Zoning Classification and Why It Gets Complicated in Rural Counties
Zoning sounds simple in a city. Pull up the zoning map, confirm the classification, done.
Rural counties do not always work that way. Some townships have informal zoning, outdated maps, or classifications that have not been updated in decades. Getting a clean, certifiable zoning classification for your Table A item can take longer than developers expect.
This matters because your surveyor cannot certify information the county cannot confirm. If the local zoning office gives vague or conflicting answers, that delay pushes back your entire survey timeline, and possibly your closing date.
Start the zoning classification request early, separately from the rest of your survey order. Call the county planning office yourself, or have your surveyor start that outreach in week one, not week three. Rural counties often need extra lead time to pull records or confirm classifications by hand.
What Happens If You Skip an Item and Need It Later
Every developer wants to keep survey costs down. That instinct makes sense right up until the moment you realize you need an item you skipped.
Adding a Table A item after the survey is complete usually means a change order. That means the surveyor has to return to the site, gather new field data, and update the drawing. Depending on the item, this can add days or weeks to your timeline, along with an added cost that is often higher than if you had included the item from the start.
The bigger risk is timing. If the missing item surfaces during closing, your entire transaction can stall while the change order gets completed. Lenders and title companies do not pause deadlines just because a survey needs an update.
Before you finalize your Table A list, walk through your project timeline. Financing, permitting, construction, all of it. Ask which pieces of information each stage will require. If there is any chance you will need an item down the road, it almost always costs less to include it now than to add it later.
Before You Sign Off on Your Table A List
Table A is not a form you fill out quickly to check a box. It is a planning tool. The items you choose shape your title coverage, your project timeline, and how prepared you are for what is actually happening on the ground, above it and below it.
Talk to your surveyor early. Talk to your title officer early. The right Table A list costs a little more thought upfront and saves a lot of trouble later.
