Is a client responsible for a poorly priced survey?

A client I have worked with for years called me up the other day and asked me to "dig up and mark" the corners on a piece of vacant commercial property he owns.?ÿ?ÿI was?ÿemailed?ÿa pdf copy of an ALTA that was performed for my client when he purchased the property eight years ago.

The file was a raster developed pdf (as opposed to vector developed) and the reproductive quality lacked.?ÿ In essence I couldn't read about half of the pertinent data.?ÿ The title block indicated it had been prepared by one of the larger local firms for my client so I asked his permission to call the surveying firm and see if I could get a legible copy of something.?ÿ My client gave me his blessing.

I called and explained my needs.?ÿ Given today's business climate I really didn't expect the first person that answered the phone to immediately email me a CAD file.?ÿ I gave them the job number and was told someone would call me back.?ÿ Cool.

This property is within a circa 1980 recorded plat that is wrought with errors both?ÿin the math and on the ground.?ÿ It's a tricky place to work with lots that don't close by 4 or 5 feet and bearings that can be off by a few degrees.?ÿ It's indeed a mess and?ÿmy agreement with the client was to "find and mark" the corners shown on his 2010 survey.

Not long after I called the?ÿsurveyor that had signed the 2010 survey called me back.?ÿ He was mildly interested in "why I needed" the information.?ÿ I told him I wasn't really sure as to what the client was going to eventually do with the property but there was evidence on site of some fence construction getting started and I assumed that was what instigated the client needing the corners "kicked up".?ÿ I also told him I was aware of the nature of the?ÿdifferences in the plat and the physical location of a lot of the corners.

The surveyor made the remark (about the client), "He owes us a lot of money for that survey".?ÿ I found that hard to believe since this client has an exemplary pay history with me over a fifteen year period.?ÿ When I questioned his statement he back-peddled and expounded a bit.

What had apparently happened was the surveyor had quoted a price for the ALTA in 2010 with the assumption it would be a "cut and dried" sort of exercise since the plat was fairly recent.?ÿ He stuck with his quoted price for the work and better explained they had?ÿ"lost a lot of money on that job",?ÿblaming the amount of work required to work through?ÿthe mess that exists with the area.?ÿ I told him I would definitely understand if he didn't want to part with any information, but he went ahead and provided me with a legible copy of the 2010 survey and I thanked him.

He made several negative innuendos about the client and they all seemed to center around the fact the property and plat were "really screwed up".?ÿ It was evident he still held some hard feelings over?ÿthe deal.?ÿ I found it a little unsettling a surveyor would imply the client had something to do with a poorly priced job and the conditions found at the site.?ÿ?ÿ I can tell you this particular client knows very little about the nature of surveying.?ÿ I've?ÿworked for him almost twenty years and I'm still not sure he understands there are iron pins in the ground by those lath!?ÿ He's a real estate mover and shaker and leaves the details up to others.

I could?ÿhave said a lot of things, but I just thanked?ÿthe surveyor?ÿfor providing the information.?ÿ One of the last things he said in our conversation was, "I wonder why he didn't call US to remark the corners?"?ÿ

Yeah.?ÿ I wonder... ??ÿ

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