Just lost a job to subdivide 3 acres out of 250 acres. He gave a price of $3,000 including four meetings, descriptions, stakeout, and filing. This is for a client with high standards (two pages of standards) and a town that nitpicks and drags things out. They don't have to survey the whole 250 acres as the town is allowing most of it to just be plotted since the part being removed is right along the road and the rest is being donated to a land trust.
Some surveyors just don't want to make money I guess....
Its more like some Surveyors do not want other Surveyors to make money. "Yea I only made $100.00 on that job, but I kept X Surveyor from making $1000.00, however now everyone is going to want me to do jobs for that price."
I guess it depends on where you are located. Not knowing anymore than what you told me, that price does not sound to low for my area (Northern New Hampshire). Up here, the average person does not have the money to pay prices higher than that. Its just the way it is.
That's ridiculous. There is no reason for any jurisdiction to have such requirements to cause the price to be that expensive.
Uncannily similar to one I bid on this summer and lost.
As I'm new to running my own business, I only hope the bigger firms that drop these low numbers are pissing off the clients they make it up on.
My current remedy for the sour grapes: I'll be waiting when those long-term clients start looking for good work and consistent budgets, elsewhere.
I'll either be here or not.
Not having to survey the parent tract makes things a little easier. Not surveying enough of the parent tract to know where your 3 arces is a recipe for disaster.
How much could you possibly need to survey 3 acres? Some folks are saying it's too low. Others are saying it's not bad. What's your price?
Around here, it would take about a half a day or less to do the field work and three hours to draw it. Add on a couple of hours to set the corners. That's it.
Depends on exactly what you mean by subdivide. Around here your multiple agency application fees will be close if not more than 3,000 and you will be lucky to have your subdivision finished in 3 months, more realistically its 6+ months. I wouldn't touch any subdivision, even the simplest of ones for less than 5k. Most of our time isn't even spent surveying, its spent on paperwork, applications and meetings. Surveying is usually the easy part.
That's a great point is it coming out of the parent tract along a boundary line or in the middle of the tract. If along the boundary line is it a Senior or Juniors right tract?
Tommy..
Surveying in the northeast is more meeting and complying with regulations, than surveying. Based on the OP, that is really cheap.
Bingo.
Only $3,000 ?
The last time I got involved with a minor subdivision in Los Angeles County the CHECKING FEES were $4995.00. That's in addition to any other fees (Fish and Game Warden, application fees[??], etc.) And that doesn't include any surveying or meetings.
I, too, gave up doing subdivisions.
Tommy..
I understand that, hence my remark about government regulations.
I can name that tune in 3 notes
What a wild, wacky world in which we live!
I could go across the road and layoff a three-acre tract for a neighbor tomorrow morning and it would be deeded to his buddy by end of the business day. It wouldn't come anywhere close to being $3000. That might be more than he would be getting for the three acres.
On the other hand, if I were to go two or three counties to the north and east it would start to be like what you are describing with lengthy bureaucratic delays, fees and other BS that greatly diminish anyone's interest in selling off a small tract. So, if they don't want to sell it, no surveyor will get any business.
Tommy..
I'll make your response known to the powers that be ;-).
I do agree with you though, sometimes I just shake my head at what a town planner wants to see on the survey or sight plan.
In my neck of the woods you'd pay $15k just in review fees to the County... It's not possible to create a new lot here for less than $30k.
Tommy..
Around here, several of the counties (outside the cities) have NO planning. If someone wants to cut out an acre lot, I survey an acre lot and they get a deed drawn up. No government checkers. No bureaucratic reviews. No endless meetings.
That is just crazy. I can get a minor subdivision lot approved around here for approximately $1000, depending on the number of lots, plus surveying fees. The time frame is about 6 weeks, depending on when the client contacts me.
I cross the county line, and the cost triples, and the time frame goes to about 6 months.
The amount of red tape that has to dealt with is ridiculous in some municipalities.
> That is just crazy. I can get a minor subdivision lot approved around here for approximately $1000, depending on the number of lots, plus surveying fees. The time frame is about 6 weeks, depending on when the client contacts me.
>
> I cross the county line, and the cost triples, and the time frame goes to about 6 months.
>
> The amount of red tape that has to dealt with is ridiculous in some municipalities.
[sarcasm]
I never figured Haywood County would be so strict.[/sarcasm]
I submitted an application yesterday for a 2 lot short plat (we call a land division of between 2 and 9 lots a short plat, 10+ is a subdivision) 10 acre piece that we're going to split into two 5 acres lots...the application fee to the County was $9,065. This is just for the initial review of our proposal...and the County has 13 weeks to review it. Once they're done they'll give us our "Conditions of Approval" and at that point we get to proceed with the actual land division.
