It's really irrelevant WHY they want the form notarized (there's too little info about the project here to tell why), although most publicly funded projects require the sort of thing that John has described.
As it comes to happen, I use my notary stamp almost as much as I use my LS stamps.
Payrolls, lien forms and a host of other documents require signatures be notarized.
It's part of contracts and payments, nothing more, nothing less. And frankly, any bank or law office has a notary on staff.....if you are a bank customer, I'm sure they will notarize your signature as a courtesy. Even if they don't, usually the fee is minimal (this site has a list of fees by state, the high is $10, but the average is about $2.50)
http://www.punny.org/money/maximum-notary-fees-by-state-dont-get-ripped-off-by-big-fat-notary-guys/
What I don't understand is the lack of awareness about common standard business practices by some who post here, along with a mule-headed stubbornness about simple legal requirements. No one is questioning your honesty (or even your manhood) when they ask to have your signature notarized, it's just a standard business practice.
Release of Claim
We have to get a notorized release of claim to process all final payments. We transmit them back and forth as PDF files by e-mail.
:good: :good:
Being requested/required to perform just another level of BS is an attack on my manhood! LOL It's just a stupid requirement thought up by our lawyer friends to protect someone other than you!
Maybe it is just as painless as it is pointless...
> What I don't understand is the lack of awareness about common standard business practices by some who post here, along with a mule-headed stubbornness about simple legal requirements. No one is questioning your honesty (or even your manhood) when they ask to have your signature notarized, it's just a standard business practice.
I think that might be a little unfair. It sounds to me like he hasn't been asked to sign something like this before. If he isn't asked to sign something like this on a regular practice, how can it be "standard business practice"? The client could have told him up front that they were going to request this at the onset, and/or made it part of the contract deliverables. But what bothers me is that they ask him to sign something and send it to them and then come back and say they want more. How often are you/we going to play a game of giving someone exactly what they ask for and keep coming back and saying that it was wrong? It's like getting your drawings redlined by a client or a county office, making the exact corrections that they ask for to appease them and have them come back with more redlines. It has to stop somewhere.
Reason No. 568....
....why I love this place:
Because anything will annoy someone 😀
(Even something as innocuous as a government agency spending public funds trying to make sure all the subcontractors have been paid prior to releasing the general contractor from their obligations)
As someone who, in the past year, has gone from staking out half acre lots to putting out proposals for 1.75 million dollars worth of monitoring - what's standard to one may not be standard to another.
YES, very common. Part of doing business these days. Many of my clients are already notaries, so they do it for me if I need it.
A notary seal is not the same as a surveyor's seal. But I know, it seems odd that ours somehow "isn't good enough". I got over that. Not worth the stress to worry about.
> > What I don't understand is the lack of awareness about common standard business practices by some who post here, along with a mule-headed stubbornness about simple legal requirements. No one is questioning your honesty (or even your manhood) when they ask to have your signature notarized, it's just a standard business practice.
>
> I think that might be a little unfair. It sounds to me like he hasn't been asked to sign something like this before. If he isn't asked to sign something like this on a regular practice, how can it be "standard business practice"? The client could have told him up front that they were going to request this at the onset, and/or made it part of the contract deliverables. But what bothers me is that they ask him to sign something and send it to them and then come back and say they want more. How often are you/we going to play a game of giving someone exactly what they ask for and keep coming back and saying that it was wrong? It's like getting your drawings redlined by a client or a county office, making the exact corrections that they ask for to appease them and have them come back with more redlines. It has to stop somewhere.
Well, I'd counter by saying it's dangerous to take on work which has requirements you aren't familiar with. True, your average boundary survey job doesn't have this requirement, but once you are in the realm of public funding, once you decide to take on this type of work, any surveyor (or other professional) has to make themselves aware of all the ins and outs....it's a very different world than surveying residential or commercial property.
Again, I don't have first hand knowledge, but most of our contracts spell this out....you just have to know where to look (it's usually in all the boiler plate).
Perhaps the contractor never forwarded the entire contract, as the actual work was such a small part of the project. And, if the boiler plate is anything like the ones we see, the requirement for a notary is right there on the form. But again, I can only speak from what we see here all the time.
But the main thing I got from this thread (not necessarily the original poster) was the attitude of "hell no, I'm not gonna do that", without regard to what the purpose is.
> You should NEVER certify to ANYTHING that is outside of your areas of expertise. Most State regs prohibit that and you are taking on liability in an area you know nothing about.
Let's not forget that the idea of a notary is to insure that the person who signs the form is the person he claims to be....nothing more, nothing less. It has nothing to do with a certification on the surveyor's part.
But, one should be aware thatb tehre is a proper time to be signing a waiver, asnd generally, it is not until you have the check in your hands, or you know that it is coming for certain. Once you sign the waiver, if soemthing goes wrong on the project and the contractor's payments are held up, yours will be too, and you will have very little recourse. (Contract, contract, contract....)
And, let's not even get into what type of lien waiver it was (I think there are four types.....).
> Again, I don't have first hand knowledge, but most of our contracts spell this out....you just have to know where to look (it's usually in all the boiler plate).
Well, maybe it was in the contract and the contract was so massive, that it was not something you might find easily. If it was part of the contract, then no complaining and that's a different story.
> But the main thing I got from this thread (not necessarily the original poster) was the attitude of "hell no, I'm not gonna do that", without regard to what the purpose is.
>
Okay. I didn't get that from the original poster either. that is why I thought your response was a bit harsh.
> Let's not forget that the idea of a notary is to insure that the person who signs the form is the person he claims to be....nothing more, nothing less. It has nothing to do with a certification on the surveyor's part.
I am not arguing with having a notary sign it. My feel was that they kept asking for more, and possibly should have asked for the notary up front. Not everyone has a notary on staff, and not everyone knows exactly where to go to get one nor that is what was expected.
> But, one should be aware thatb tehre is a proper time to be signing a waiver, asnd generally, it is not until you have the check in your hands, or you know that it is coming for certain. Once you sign the waiver, if soemthing goes wrong on the project and the contractor's payments are held up, yours will be too, and you will have very little recourse. (Contract, contract, contract....)
>
> And, let's not even get into what type of lien waiver it was (I think there are four types.....).
What's with all the typos? that is unlike you. You must be responding in a hurry? (Not that I mind the typos, just wondering.)
What Jim said. Their requirement, their cost. Don't inconvenience me with the time and cost to go get it done for you.
A lien release gives up your lien rights but not your contract rights.
Typically releases prior to payment are conditional, if I get paid then I release the lien.
Releases probably have to follow the statutory form.
Don you crack me up 😉
Mechanic's Liens and releases have been around since at least the 19th century. Here they are found in the state constitution as a fundamental right of improvers to be paid.
> YES, very common. Part of doing business these days. Many of my clients are already notaries, so they do it for me if I need it.
>
> A notary seal is not the same as a surveyor's seal. But I know, it seems odd that ours somehow "isn't good enough". I got over that. Not worth the stress to worry about.
I don't think that it's that our surveyor's seal isn't good enough. I think that the requirement is to get an uninterested third party to verify the signature.
It makes sense to have an uninterested party witness. So do the rules really allow the notary to be an employee of one of the parties?
that is one reason I won't notarize my own signature, although, up to a few years ago we could!
You have to question the "appearance of a conflict" if your employee is witnessing your signature..
But in reality, the notary is only witnessing the signature, and verifying your ID, either through documents or personal knowledge, and that it's not under duress. How can there be a conflict?
So, for another question. Is it a signature under duress if your money is being held hostage??
> A lien release gives up your lien rights but not your contract rights.
Yes, but without the lien right you may not have any other way of enforcing payment. The court upheld my claim -- now technically valued at about $8k, counting interest -- but without a lien I can't collect a nickel. The guy is judgment-proof.
Yeah I was rushed......lots of work here, not a lot of time to post.
Even my notarizing duties are increasing.......;-)
