If he remembered where the line was, why did he call you?
1. Were you at any fault? Time, quality, etc.?
2. Did you suggest they visit an attorney to quiet the title?
They should have gotten a survey way way back when.
One of my standards is: I don't care if the client is right. I don't care if a disputing neighbor is right.
My ONLY concern is to be sure that I am right.
Works most of the time with recalcitrant clients and neighbors.
B-)
:good:
Never done a refund for a finished survey.
One time I had a real PITA client. I had finally had it with him. I called him in to the office, handed him all the data I had so far, told him to get someone else to do the work AND ZEROED out a $4500 bill. Never felt so go as when he went out the door! Never regretted it either.
JEFLS, post: 325171, member: 1771 wrote: Thanks for all your opinions..
I have no intention of giving him his money back ($2,000).He & I have a written contract, that includes scope of service and fee.
This was a 4,800+- sf., residential boundary survey based on deeds and a recorded plat going back 1826.
My client's deed was the last parcel out, and had bounding calls only. No distances. He lived on the land since a little boy,
and remembered where the line always was.
I suspect that he has a good case for adverse possession, based on long use, but not on the basis of deed distances.
So, thanks again.
As a follow up to the original post,
All is well. The client & I had a good sit down talk. The neighbor had hired a surveyor, and an attorney and my client was frustrated. He thought that a land surveyor could solve all boundary problems. It seems that he was discouraged because the problem had taken so long to resolve.
Long story short...
A boundary line agreement was made, the plan was recorded in the registry of deeds, and nobody was "happy".
So again, "Thank you for all your opinions".
Early on is the time to explain to a client that the survey alone will not do everything they wish to accomplish. The simplest case of this is the landowner who is positive the jerk next door is using his land. Talk to the client (potential at this time) and ask if he is prepared to take the steps that may be required to actually get the jerk to stop using his land once survey flags appear. Most jerks could care less what a few pretty flags are suggesting. It will take more than a fly swatter to stop a belligerent bull.
Once did I return $'s to a client. But she was a little whacky, the property line wasn't going to be where she wanted it, not within 15' so I abandoned the project and sent her deposit back.
We require 1/2 up front and I was happy to send it back to her.
I once had an irate adjoiner accuse me of misrepresenting the line in favor of the person paying my bill. After a very heated discussion, I told him that I didn't care one bit where the line fell, whether it was right down the fence or through the middle of the client's house. It didn't affect me in the least, I simply had to mark it properly. After that he calmed down and we actually had a pretty friendly conversation.