The issue is not how you would react. The issue is how everybody else reacts. Giving up on?ÿ avoiding the appearance?ÿ of conflicts of interest becasue of?ÿ the possibility that someone will see a conflict of interest when you are following the standard industry practice of actually being paid by a client is?ÿ strange. It's like a doctor intentionally committing malpractice becasue he might get sued anyway even when he does the best he can.
The quasi judicial function of a surveyor is why we are more than certified technicians. I know I wouldn't want any judge, no matter how competent, deciding his own case.?ÿ
?ÿ
Every State I am aware of requires a license to perform boundary surveying. Most prosecute unlicensed practice as a misdemeanor.
A better comparison would be to have a fee that is variable based on how well the survey benefits the client. The concern over whether you get paid due to the outcome is the reason we use contracts.
While out doing field work yesterday, a car stopped and the occupant asked if I could give them a quick Survey 101. He was a truck driver and had in his hand a xerox copy off a plat of a piece of property he'd recently purchased and wanted to know what the bearings and distances meant. Gave him a brief explanation that they're the measurements between corners that I as a surveyor would use to locate and validate their veracity. He just wanted to find them. Is that a boundary survey? If he broke out a total station and ran a traverse through his corners, could he be charged with a misdemeanor? I don't think so. Were he to offer his services to his neighbors or anyone else for that matter for compensation. Most definitely.
Your initial statement was about being able to survey your own land. The last post is more about what is or isnt surveying.
If you do things that fall under the definition in your State, they probably have a law that says you are subject to misdemeanor prosecution.
Every state does require a license, but most states define the practice of land surveying as performing a service, so it is legal to survey your own land if you are not licensed.
Can you trust yourself?
To check your own oil?
To clean your windshield?
To cook your own eggs?
Then, you should be able to objectively survey your own place.
N
Some days, a man has to decide which battles they want to take on.
For me, I will defend my survey to the end no matter if it is for a client or myself or a pro bono survey made for some charitable group.
I view this as I am defending the law and legal principals of boundary reconstruction and not the property or the man.
Was on the stand in a trial some 25?ñyrs ago and the local Assistant Attorney General was being a total ass with me and I stopped the proceedings by asking presiding the Judge "Your Honor, how is it possible for this man to hold 3 government seats and get paid for each from the State of Texas, City and County tax funds,. He is the current Assitant Attorney General, a city Municipal Court Judge and also a Justice of the Peace. As I understand, a person can only hole one public office at a time."
All that came out of that man was a bunch of blubbering tongue and lips as he was trying to grasp the situation.
Presiding Judge took a recess and came back and told him he had to sit this one out.
He had to recuse himself and let his sister who was his assistant to take over the rest of the trial, that did not go to the state's favor, the went down in flames.
The fact that the Assistant Attorney General's staff was made up of his immediate relatives, about 10?ñ people that outnumbered the Jury, was a topic that I did not want to mention and bring into and battle in court. I've also been taught to engage in one battle at a time.
Soon afterward, State Legislature made an amendment to the State Constitution to allow him to hold all those offices.
That was my finest hour in court..............
Can you trust yourself?
To check your own oil?
To clean your windshield?
To cook your own eggs?
Then, you should be able to objectively survey your own place.
N
Comparing boundary surveying to cleaning a windshield????
The value of a boundary survey is in the trust the public, and particularly your adjoiners, place in it. If only you trust it, it's just a piece of paper. As said above there is nothing wrong with surveying your own property for your own satisfaction, but that's very different from recording a survey, accusing your neighbor of a trespass, or defending your boundary in court.?ÿ
No one has to trust your ability to change your own oil besides yourself. No one thinks you have have a motivation to cook your own eggs incorrectly, and if you did, no one else is harmed.?ÿ
Not appreciating the public trust involved in boundary surveys is why many of us are grossly underpaid compared to the other professions. Surveyors seem to have some sort of inferiority complex that manifests itself in taking offence when others dont believe their work on their say so.
What is the point in producing a survey that doesn't justify the boundary deteminiantions you made? Everyone from apprasiors to the Supreme Court sees a need to justify their decisions. Why do surveyors think they are to be trusted with no justification.
What is the point recording a survey of your own property? What is the point of producing a survey that says, "corner set", without justification??ÿ
It's a matter of trust. Can you trust yourself...
It is a matter of trust, but no one cares if you can trust yourself. The question is can the public trust you.
This is not a question of ability.
If your land didnt touch any other land that might fly. It would be an expensive and risky defense at best.
