Client's question after I provided a quote to locate existing corner monuments of 5 lots in a subdivision and mark them with guard stakes to help prospective purchasers visualize the lots (I didn't do the original subdivision):
"If someone removes the stakes, will I have to pay to replace them?"
Me: "I can't guarantee that someone won't remove the stakes, so the answer is YES, at my regular crew rates.
Maybe I should have quoted steel pipe (4"x6'?) set in concrete. For about 25 corners, that would have taken a while and cost a bit.
That is why I started attaching a wire flag to all monuments (monument flush to ground or below grade) and either driving a 6.5ft red tpost 2±ft min deep by the monuments or driving a red electric fence post by the monument (3/8" x 48" with anchor flange)
The guard stakes may leave, but the monuments remain, usually. No reason he can't replace guard stakes himself.
Mind sharing with me the location of the last 100 steel fence posts you set? I need about that many for a new fence. The price at the local farm store is astronomical compared to a few years ago.
When I am suspicious that the monuments are going to be pulled, my favorite thing is to cut tpost in half, drive them till the top is about 1ft subsurface and then set my rebar with a cap.
They pull the rebar and never know the tpost is still there.
Your are right about the cost of tpost. My budget is about $250± at a time. I get the red ones as everyone else is buying the green ones that are 75% or less than the red. The red ones show up better in rural areas and I drive them leaving them lower than most people want their top wire. Of course, I record their locations.
To get 100, they are scattered all over Cass and Marion Counties in Texas on various jobs. Knowing my clients, you would get more buckshot than tpost.
B-)
fiberglass fence posts, (I prefer the T-Post style) typically cost the same or less than metal. They don't interfere with the metal locater either.
It takes a heck of an effort to get out, and are light to carry into the hills and brush.