getting paid??

Call the new owners and tell them the previous owner hired you to survey that property and stiffed you on the bill, and you are going to file a lien against it.

The laws differ by state. Here you can file a lien but you must have a written contract. I've had to sue one person who wouldn't pay....It was a total pain and took forever but I did get the money. It was like $6,000 so it was worth suing for in my opinion....

I also want to add, I don't mind having my survey bill taken out of closing (assuming closing is soon, and the bill is never contingent on closing), but I never agree to it without knowing who the closing attorney is, because I see to it that they receive my invoice.

It is the duty of the closing agent to pay everyone that has presented an invoice to them.

They have to answer to state regulations and can lose their privilege to do so.

I've had to threaten some of these agents with lawsuit and their probable fate with some form of karma, to get them to be responsible.

The filing of a mechanic's lien will definitely get noticed by the current owners mortgage company, especially when you sent them notice of the lien.

I only deliver my hard copies to the closing agent.

A few times I have had the misfortune that the realtor changed the closing agent after delivery and my invoice was not present at closing.

I went directly to the seller and they eagerly paid after our conversation about fraud, theft of services and that my next call was going to be to the DA's office.

good luck

Small claims court can be effective. However, getting a judgement and getting the money are two very different things. I had to switch one case to being a limited liability suit and was then able to foreclose on the property. I was one day away from having an onsite auction to sell the land when the money plus all of my expenses were suddenly covered in full.

Different places, different laws.

Do not be a sucker. Sometimes you must force yourself to stop being Mr. Nice Guy.

Double check the laws in Teas about filing a mechanics lien. I was involved in a discussion this morning where the conversation was on this topic, and a land surveyor I trust made the statement that the Texas law had been changed to make it where surveyors practices no longer qualified under the terms of a mechanic's lien. By his statements, small claims court, or district court were the ways that surveyors in Texas would need to properly pursue claims of nonpayment now.

For some kinds of jobs it's okay to bill and wait for payment. Like when you are sub'ing to another professional who has a reputation to protect. But when you are working for a landowner who will likely never purchase land surveying services again in their lifetime it should be retainer, balance on delivery. Or just accept getting screwed now and then.

thanks for the replies - i've thought of most of these ideas.
i do always get paid when it's thru a closing agent/title company.
where i get lost is when somebody from out of town calls. one time i was called by a person in st louis for a job in the next county here in tx. the jerk said half payment was on its way and i sent the origs off and never got half or whole anything. if i get too many more referrals from title companies for out of towners, i'm going to tell all of my connections that i DO NOT want my number given to any out of towner.... or anybody who poses a question that has the words: just or only in it. what i was wondering is if it was fair to put a lien on the property with a new owner who was not responsible for the payment. from above, i'm guessing it is ok. as soon as i get some free time, i'm going to pay a lot of these people a visit and ask why i was not paid. another thing is when you do a package deal to plat a property and then do a survey on the resulting platted lot adding all the improvements. i did one of those and said i'd do the whole thing for XX$ and the survey would be included once the house is built. that was back in march and no house is even being built yet. that is a cop there that i did that plat for. im going to go by his house and hand him a bill that has the house portion taken out. i need to let him know i dont want to wait a few years for the house to be built. but like one guy said, i'm going to have to stop being mr nice surveyor who charges a little less and gets it in a little quicker - that's a downhill slide into working nonstop, never catching up, and never making much money. as it is now, it's only me that is doing everything and im getting burnt out.

This is why it is so important to be best friends with the title people. If they have my survey drawing but not an invoice they routinely call me and ask if I have been paid. If not, I send them a pdf of the invoice and they take it out of closing.