If a developer is changing surveyors in a tract and the new surveyor has to tie into the tract, does that cost get eaten by the surveyor or passed onto the developer? (There is a good amount of work left and everyone has been paid.)
Seems to be some confusion around here...
It is the developer's choice to make the change. Hence, he should be liable for any extra effort required for the new surveyor to come up to speed on the project. No way would I volunteer to eat that expense when I might be shipped down the road any time, like he did the last guy.
yea you got it......
Technically the previous surveyor should be leaving enough monumentation for the subsequent surveyor to be able to start without enormous costs to the developer. Of course, this is often not the case.
Charge for the control.
I agree with Holy Cow. You also need to charge enough for the work you do so it will hold in court, if it were to go there. do you really want to tell the judge, "I did not do research outside the set points by surveyor 'A'"?
Don't give it away!
Hmmm, upstate NY; aren't you supposed to eat the "tie in" AND the "lots of work left"? This in exchange for the "lots more work" because they are rich and important and will have lots of projects going in the years to come?
That the question is asked is a pretty sad commentary on where we're at, but at the same time a good sign for the future. Change can come one decision at a time.
Communicate with others who are bidding (yes I said it because that's what is happening Larry) and let them know what you are doing. Communicating is not price fixing unless you are trying to set minimum fees or fees on a specific job. It is quite okay to tell a competitor that you had a verbal agreement for 20k and they got the job for 2k. Money is being left on the table and some practictioners just don't know it. Cutting way too much just to try and survive. Been that way for years but it doesn't have to stay that way.
Surveyors think that by hiding their price structure they can get an edge on the competition. In fact, strong business within a trade or profession is built on communication of common business practice.
Rant off.
> Technically the previous surveyor should be leaving enough monumentation for the subsequent surveyor to be able to start without enormous costs to the developer. Of course, this is often not the case.
>
> Charge for the control.
I Disagree. (I agree with "charge for the control" just disagree with the "technically" part) A new surveyor tying into someone else's control has to do enough checking to make sure it's right. Regardless of how well monumented it is. (It will take less work if he has good documentation and good monumentation, but it will take that extra work regardless)
If you were retracing a boundary survey, would you measure between everything you found and confirm their locations, or would you just find what monuments you can and stake out the missing ones without confirming the existing ones? Same thing here. The contractor wants to have someone else take over a job, he has to pay for that other firm to check and get up to speed.