Is anyone familar with this business?
Pro's Con's?
They offer elevation certificates on their web page, according to the online chat person, a elevation certificate for a house in Dade County, Fla will cost you $125.
Is this for real?
> Is anyone familar with this business?
>
> Pro's Con's?
>
> They offer elevation certificates on their web page, according to the online chat person, a elevation certificate for a house in Dade County, Fla will cost you $125.
>
> Is this for real?
There are some places in Florida I have seen them go as low as $85.
I think they are using RTN GPS to establish elevation on site. Then do a quick level loop around the house. Take a couple of pictures and they are in and out in under an hour. Spend maybe an hour max filling out the EC then there you go. Being in a dense population with lots of flood zones probably helps too if you can go from one to the next fairly quickly. Now the quality and accuracy of those I cant speak to.
That just seems like a really low fee. I have to question the quality of the work.
Are they licensed in the state and have an LS on staff?
> That just seems like a really low fee. I have to question the quality of the work.
>
> Are they licensed in the state and have an LS on staff?
I imagine that they contract it out to some local surveyor that they have worked out a deal with. Can't really speak to the quality. I have never seen one go at that price filled out. I think if surveyors really stopped to think about the liability that goes along with an Elevation Certificate they might rethink their prices. A small error could cost quite a bit of money. I heard of one surveyor that misstated the zone a coastal condo unit was in on an elevation certificate. It likewise was misrated at a much lower rate than it should have been. When it was discovered, FEMA wanted all of the money for all the years it was misrated (and probably then some). Surveyor got sued and had to settle and I think it might have been for more than 6 figures. I hope he didn't do that one for $125.00.
There are advertisements as low as $75 in the Tampa Bay area. If someone feels that's what their service is worth, then that IS what their service is worth. Data, however obtained, must be able to stand up to any challenge and I have yet to see any RTK be constantly reliable as conventional level runs.
Don's a busy man according to DPBR...
https://www.myfloridalicense.com/wl11.asp?mode=1&SID=&brd=&typ=
I don't know anything other than what DPBR and DOACS websites reply when I search for licensee's with that last name.
Yeah I just looked him up, alot of registered businesses although I didn't see any for Surveying or engineering.
Do you Florida guys have to regisiter your business with the board to advertise and perform services for surveying & engineering?
He's advertising on his website the he supplies elevation certificates, I would think if your offering services that require and engineer or surveyor that you would need to have these people on staff and have your business registered with the board.
Now I am speaking for what I know here in Virginia and North Carolina, I am not at all familar with Florida.
Please correct me if I am wrong.
I understand that, thats just an awfully low fee for the liability exposure.
[sarcasm]what a great business model, charge a reasonable fee for an elevation certificate and have this company do the work for $125.[/sarcasm] I charge more than 6 times that rate. In fact, I charge double what others in this area charge. My estimate is 4 hours of field, 2 hours filling out form and 1 hr of travel to site and back. That is a reasonable estimate to do one properly.
Our average charge for and EC here is $600.
How do most of you gentleman run a benchmark top your site. Do you level loop from a known BM or use RTN from benchmarks? Just curious....
typically I run a static session from known points or a 2 hour OPUS session. I do not like the repeatability of the NCRTN elevations along the coast. Elevations can vary by 2 tenths or more along the coast but inland seem to be much better, usually less than a tenth.
I don't do any surveying work for $125. I charge in excess of $800 - $900 for an EC. You get a boundary survey and your EC filled out so that, if you cannot get out of the flood hazzard zone, you at least come out of it with corners and a nice map. I use static gps from a know Ref Mark and spot averything including the first floor and basement floor. I do complete jobs for a reasonable rate. It's the only way I know how to work.
> Is anyone familar with this business?
>
> Pro's Con's?
>
> They offer elevation certificates on their web page, according to the online chat person, a elevation certificate for a house in Dade County, Fla will cost you $125.
>
> Is this for real?
What is Surveying listed under?
> > Is anyone familar with this business?
> >
> > Pro's Con's?
> >
> > They offer elevation certificates on their web page, according to the online chat person, a elevation certificate for a house in Dade County, Fla will cost you $125.
> >
> > Is this for real?
>
> What is Surveying listed under?
>
>
A few years back the surveyors switched to the Department of Agriculture. They were used to dealing with fruits and nuts.
You can look up surveyors at this site: https://csapp.800helpfla.com/cspublicapp/businesssearch/businesssearch.aspx
Matt, if you are preparing a boundary survey with an EC, then you are only charging some of that fee for the EC. Subtract the cost of a boundary survey and tell us what you are actually charging. Its like saying you sold a car for $10,000 but have to give away one for free to do it. The marketing side may work for you and sounds like a nice idea but when evaluating costs you need to break it down to have a good picture.
Engineering works for flood insurance.
This certification is to be signed and sealed by a land surveyor, engineer, or architect authorized by law to certify elevation
information. I certify that the information on this Certificate represents my best efforts to interpret the data available.
I understand that any false statement may be punishable by fine or imprisonment under 18 U.S. Code, Section 1001.