Government employees moonlighting used to be common.?ÿ ?ÿOwning their equipment doesn't ?ÿmean they are not moonlighting.?ÿ If someone receives a government paycheck, health insurance and retirement they sure as hell shouldn't be competing with surveyors who depend on their business to provide those same things for their family.
Not blaming anyone, well, maybe the title company lawyers and realtors, but that a personal issue, not coming from the mouth of a Licensed surveyor, which I am not yet. And not all encompassing, but unfortunately more true than I think people are willing to admit or recognize, esp outside of the field.
@flga-2-2 At my rate that's a good half day. We record nearly every survey we do, leaving me less than two hours for the job (research and travel included). I don't leave the office for less than about 3k, and that's for a quick shot for my good clients. Charge more, bank more.
@jph?ÿ
NC doesn't require a survey for every sale and our board does not differentiate between a boundary survey and a mortgage survey. Meaning, you can call it a mortgage survey and charge $800 or whatever, but it better meet the minimum standards which includes a Grid tie and accuracy statement and resetting missing corners.
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@murphy Amen. I provide a quote that covers my estimated time to cover all of the NCBELS requirements for the given property. I do not have a set price like some. I also require 1/2 my total fee as a retainer. I??m sure my prices and my retainer requirement weed out a few customers hoping to roll their survey costs into their mortgage and pay me at closing. But I??m not interested in doing business with those people. I??m also not interested in doing a half a$$ job or under cutting other local surveyors. My field work is good, my maps are good, and I deliver on time or ahead of schedule. That??s why I charge what I charge. If you want to pay less, get a poor looking map, and excuses as to why the work has not been done, there are a couple of guys out there that will be glad to work with you. I??m not one of them.?ÿ
A $5k survey for $1k is a milestone if you have been doing $5k surveys for $500.
A $5k survey for $3k is a milestone if you have been doing $5k surveys for $1000.
As far as I can tell, every survey costs $5k before profit.
But try those Craigslist ads for $3k surveys and see if the phone rings.
@murphy also, if the lot is in a residential subdivision then a tie to the subdivision control is sufficient. However if I am working in an old subdivision that does not have SPC on its monuments I will go ahead and tie those to the grid in case I need them in the future.
@bushaxe?ÿ
We have NEVER even seen a subdivision with SPC, let alone worked in one.
Are we really headed towards the following:?ÿ A tract in XXDGGHJ described as Beginning at SPC 19,485,194.348 northing and 84,346,753.341 easting; thence............ to SPC 19,485,394.348 etc. etc. etc.
This is a matter of our entire industry doing a piss poor job of promoting ourselves. Those clients that cannot afford you can still afford a DUI attorney, a realtor, and a new roof when the time comes.?ÿ
@holy-cow Not every corner. But all surveys have to be ties to the grid by law.
@bushaxe?ÿ
I get that is a NC requirement.?ÿ The only benefit that I can see is that it makes the the County Mapping Department believe that coordinates are superior to all other information assembled by land surveyors.?ÿ As they have no real concept of how fuzzy those coordinates are in fact, they will lead the charge to make coordinates the replacement for traditional descriptions.
Attended a continuing education program on Thursday where the first four hours focused on 50 ways to mess up our measurements.?ÿ Our data is nowhere close to meeting the accuracy such coordinates infer to the ignorant people who grab them and hold them to be true.?ÿ We can create a certain traverse around a tract and go around it 20 times with 20 slightly different results.?ÿ Trying to explain that to a layman merely makes us look like sloppy fools.?ÿ In our hearts we all know it is true, but we dare not tell anyone else.
It hard to imagine?ÿ a parcel that would cost so little to survey that actually needs a survey.?ÿ
In many places someone who is living in a $300,000 house could easily be below the poverty line, in other places they would be in the top 1%. The value of the house you live in is a poor measure of the ability to pay.?ÿ
@nate-the-surveyor it's those E350 vans full of progeny that count
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That E-350 gets a new transmission real soon.
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@holy-cow You are absolutely correct. I don??t know how many times I have had to explain the Order of Importance of Conflicting Elements and how far down the list coordinates fall.
I have never had a client that inferred superior accuracy from a grid tie or a coordinate pair.?ÿ If they even ask what it is, their eyes fog over the moment I say SPCS.?ÿ The grid tie is to help the retracing surveyor and it works remarkably well.?ÿ I'm sure there's some doofus out there who would hold the coordinate and slide a six inch #4 rebar next to the existing 2" iron pipe that the coordinates guided them to, but I've not met him yet.
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It is partly our fault for not having the resolve to charge what we know we should be charging.?ÿ Another part is that no one has any clue what we do.?ÿ There just aren't that many surveyors and you never see the few that exist.?ÿ Realtors don't help either when they tell clients it'll cost $300.?ÿ If you get a real estate agent that insists on a ballpark figure, triple your normal estimate just so they get used to hearing big numbers (this is much more effective in person if you can give them a little treat and a pat on the head immediately afterwards).?ÿ Mortgage surveys should be banned, they are total and complete BS put in place by extremely sophisticated assessors of risk who have no shame in their pursuit of more and more and more money for nothing.?ÿ?ÿ
@murphy?ÿ
is a Mortgage Survey even actually a " Survey"??ÿ Can the Boards/Statutes enforce the use of the word Survey in the context of practicing land surveying without a license?
