I had to leave home at 4:30 am to attend a safety meeting that is half in Spanish ( that I do not speak). So I began perusing the local Craigslist and beerlegs on my iPhone (so there may be some grammatical errors in this post.) and ran across the ad below. Look close ..sign 15-20 surveys per day and you can be anywhere so long as you can set up a home office and make 90k. Has anyone ever followed these guys? Maybe I should take my 2 licenses to Mexico or Costa Rica where I can stretch that 90k click a digital seal and signature on 20 plats a day and chill out. This is part of the reason surveying profession is going to hell in a hand basket.
Exacta Texas Surveyors, Inc is looking for one superstar RPLS to oversee field crews, drafting, and our entire Texas operation. Most of the survey work is performed in the greater Austin and Houston metropolitan areas, so access to those geographical locations is a plus. Our specialty is residential title and boundary surveys for real estate transactions.
From the start, this RPLS will step into a supervisory role overseeing 8 field crews, 2 drafters, and at least 225 residential surveys per month; however, as soon as the season picks up, this RPLS should have no problem overseeing and signing 15 -- 20 surveys per day. The RPLS is in constant contact with all crews and drafters through video chat and phone. Location of the RPLS is not critical as we can set up a home office in their home with a cable internet connection or set up a one person satellite office in order to perform the work from a quiet and focused place.
Please do not apply if you are not currently licensed in the State of Texas to perform land surveys.
Ideal candidate will be someone incredibly familiar with title and boundary surveys for real estate transactions, someone who is incredibly familiar with CAD, someone with great computer acumen, someone with amazing organizational skills, someone with the ability to lead a team, someone who likes to work ahead, someone who works well under deadline pressure, someone who understands that every survey is due immediately in the real estate business (so someone who will work until the deadlines are met), and someone who works well with others and sincerely desires to make the world a better place for our clients, one survey at a time.
Assuming that this employee can oversee and lead the Texas team, meet all of our deadlines and personally be in responsible charge of 15 surveys per day, Exacta is offering the ideal candidate a starting salary of at least $90,000 per year. There are set bonuses associated with going above and beyond gross revenue & survey volume and/ or profitability.
Company pays 51% of the employee portion of Health Insurance if purchased through the employer based plan. Company offers a 401-K after the first year of employment. There are 6 paid major holidays per year and 5 PTO days are earned for every 6 months worked. After 4 years, employees earn 6 PTO days for every six months worked.
Candidates must agree to a background check and MVR in order to be considered for employment. Safe driving is a condition of employment.
I can't speak for Exacta, because I don't know how they operate, but I always thought "contract crew" or "paid per job" arrangements with distant communication sound like a great way to lose your license. One major mistake & complaint, and it would be hard to explain how you are adequately "supervising" 8 crews all over a large state from a remote location.
But no worries, if you lose your license, the corporation will cut you loose and entice some other guy to rubber stamp their drawings for 90K a year.
> ... and personally be in responsible charge of 15 surveys per day
Yeah right. Well, unless of course the Texas definition of "responsible charge" is far different than most other states.
Some parts say 15-20 jobs per day ...
When I do the math, based on the numbers they throw out.
15 jobs X 235 working days per year = 3525 jobs/year.
$90,000 salary / 3525 jobs = ~$25 per job you sign.
Make that 20 jobs per day, the higher end of the spectrum, and the number drops to ~$19 per job.
Can a licensed surveyor really be in responsible charge, overseeing and verifying the accuracy of all aspects of a job (research, fieldwork, decision making, drafting, etc.) of a survey for $19-25 per job?
Welcome to the new modern day surveying sweat shop.
Exacta surveying per TBPLS roster
Well, the records of the Texas Board of Professional Land Surveying indicate that the firm listed as Exacta Surveying of Texas in their roster has a mailing address of:
250 West Oak Loop
Cedar Creek TX 78612
and that the one Texas registrant associated with Exacta Surveying is:
Rachel Lynn Hansen (RPLS 6358), whose mailing address is:
250 West Oak Look
Cedar Creek TX 78612
A photo of the address:
Exacta surveying per TBPLS roster
The phone number is listed to Exacta in Florida, they also have the same webpage in Maryland.
http://www.homeadvisor.com/rated.ExactaLandSurveyors.12966920.html
Sounds like this guy was not too happy.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/exacta-land-surveyors-austin
This is a big real estate and land surveying company with office all over Texas and all over the country. They must be doing something right, but my experience was terrible.
I put in a request on line for a residential survey and nobody called me back. I called the next day to speak with someone and after a few questions, the representative said someone would call me back in an hour or so. Two hours later I called back and talked to someone else.
That person asked questions about the property, address, size of lot, any existing buildings, etc. (we needed a form survey for a lot on which we were able to provide the original, current survey - it's a flat lot with no vegetation or obstacles, and with the iron pins mentioned on the original survey already exposed and painted fluorescent orange for visibility). Then the person quoted me a 3 day turnaround for a drawing and a $350 price - just like the website advertises. He took my credit card number and I thought we were done.
Two hours later I get an email (not a call) saying that the price will be $500 plus tax and that they won't be able to do the survey in the originally promised timeframe. Now it's 3-5 days, not 2-3 days and the price has gone up over 40%!
I called back to discuss this - they said my site was a "difficult site". But they hadn't seen it in two hours time and it's still flat, with a survey already in hand and the benchmarks exposed. They go on about how they did another survey in the area that was a difficult site and so the price would be $500. What a scam. I found someone else - it blows my schedule by a few days, but at least it seems like the person has more of a sense of professionalism than I found to be the case with exacta.
I wouldn't recommend this company to a friend. Not by a mile.
Ideal candidate ready and willing to play Russian roulette with their license, 15-20 times a day.
Just because I'm paranoid, doesn't mean they aren't out to get me.
> good category choice.
To be clear, the original category was "general non surveying" which I thought was appropriate.
Exacta Surveying is hiring crew chiefs (in the Chicago area)for $10 an hour plus $25 per survey you complete. :-S
This operation is showing up with more frequency on the board. My Mid December post "[msg=236979]Repeat Topic On The Board[/msg]" provides an index of prior posts. I believe we will more advertisements of this type. Other Professionals in the state referenced by the add need to forward the information to their board. Also request a determination by the board that supervision requirements are fulfilled.
I guess I don't see the problem. I'm guessing I could sign and stamp a 100 plats in an hour easy. Matter of fact, get a stamp made of your signature and just let a secretary do it.
I like how in the ad they say incredibly so many times.
This ad almost seems like a joke but I'm guessing its not.
Exacta surveying per TBPLS roster
I can't even look at a job for less than $500.00! Plats certainly have an entirely different meaning in Texas. Add a zero and that would be at the extreme low end of the most straightforward plat around here. And then double our cost for the agency fees.
They have ran similar ads in Virginia. All there contact info is always in Florida. I am yet to run into one of their "surveys" in a record room. I believe they are probably really out there giving the profession a bad rap, but so far ads are all I've seen.
Kent
Ouch! 🙂 She's screwed for life around here now! 🙂
Kent
> Ouch! 🙂 She's screwed for life around here now! 🙂
She might be trying to do things right for all we know.:-/ Given the add that started this thread the wonderful folks at Exacta may not be enthralled with the production of their current employee. Might be interesting for a Texas PS to contact her and ask for more details regarding the add. You might find out the lady is about to be blindsided.:excruciating:
Looks like she worked for SAM, Inc
I worked with her at SAM, Inc. for 16 months, before she was licensed (out of my 11 1/2 years there). I always believed her initials stood for Run Like Hell. She is an intelligent woman, but she was trained by a fenceline surveyor. I had typed a lengthy story here, but decided to leave it at that.
Also running an ad in the FL panhandle region...
Exacta Ad for FL Panhandle Region on Craigslist
I can explain it to you, but I can't understand it for you...