> ... When the time came to deliver his plat he said he called to just touch base and didint give the go ahead ......he ended up getting cancer and could not do what he wanted ....
Just more anecdotal evidence of why we should get a written contract and a retainer! Non-deadbeat clients never object.
Agreed Norman...but this happened twice in the run of two weeks and never happened before or after...except for the odd deadbeat and they seem to be few and far between in the past few years....
Flagging up a 2" pipe that is sticking 2 feet up isn't exactly giving up the secrets of surveying.
Perambulating the property with the property owner and flagging up the things he shows you may help establish trust, which can lead to him ignoring the fact that your estimate is a bit higher than the other guys. Sometimes.
If I went out to recon a site just for a bid I would never have time to work on the jobs that I am already contracted to perform. Not to mention a good portion of people calling for a survey quote are just looking for the lowest price. I don't want to work fr those people anyway. There is so much online data available to get an idea of what a sight looks like. I would rather spend my time looking at the legal descriptions of the parcel and adjoiners to get an idea of what it may take to retrace it. I don't need to drive to the site to find out if it is wooded, swamp, hills or farm field. I don't go out blind looking for monuments either. When I have the job I compile my research first in order to aid in my search efforts. Anything else is a waste of time. Are you going to research the site to look for corners without knowing if you will be hired? If so, you have a lot of time on your hands or are not charging nearly enough for what you do. (or maybe you are)
Flagging up corners may also give your client a false sense that what you flagged is actually the corner. How do you know that the pipe you stumbled across is his lot corner without doing a survey? I guarantee that if he doesn't hire you (or anyone else) after you flagged it up that he is going to tell people that a surveyor marked the corner. In Wisconsin, what you just did constitutes a survey. Good luck when you get hauled in to court because the guy built his garage based on the pipe that you erroneously flagged up for him.
Not me. I got into this once. Reconned a job and flagged some stuff I found just walking the apparent lines. The property owner called and said "never mind, somebody has marked the lines and we're good to go". I tried to explain that the flagging they saw was my preliminary recon. They still canceled.
I still wonder if I could get hooked into some BS lawsuit behind that one by some form of estopple.
What Jevad said. You're asking for trouble. With all the on-line sources available nowadays, you can get a pretty good feel for what you're up against. The most I would do is a drive-by.
Why give the client anything for free? If the client took advantage of you, I am going to make it harder for HIM. The next surveyor... it is his problem. Sometimes making a statement will get around and you will not get hosed the next time.
This makes a good point for contracts and down payments...
I do not start a job till I get a check including recon.
> Not me. I got into this once. Reconned a job and flagged some stuff I found just walking the apparent lines. The property owner called and said "never mind, somebody has marked the lines and we're good to go". I tried to explain that the flagging they saw was my preliminary recon. They still canceled.
> I still wonder if I could get hooked into some BS lawsuit behind that one by some form of estopple.
That's one of the best ones I've heard in a while.:-)
Ralph
> Flagging up corners may also give your client a false sense that what you flagged is actually the corner. How do you know that the pipe you stumbled across is his lot corner without doing a survey? I guarantee that if he doesn't hire you (or anyone else) after you flagged it up that he is going to tell people that a surveyor marked the corner. In Wisconsin, what you just did constitutes a survey. Good luck when you get hauled in to court because the guy built his garage based on the pipe that you erroneously flagged up for him.
First off, is that really what the law says? I don't practice in Wisconsin, but seems to me there are certain minimum standards.
Is it not true that every survey must have a written description and a map produced?
Administrative Code, AE 7.05 (Maps): "A map must be drawn for every property survey"
Merely flagging up pins cannot be defined as a "survey". After all, any competant surveyor would let the client know ahead of time that "flagging up" does not equal "boundary survey".
WI A-E 7.02 Property Survey, definition:
In this chapter, "property survey" means any land surveying which includes as one of its principal purposes describing, monumenting, locating the boundary lines of or mapping one or more parcels of land. The term includes the restoration, perpetuation or reestablishment of a U.S. public survey corner.
My point is that you are asking for trouble. My state is currently updating state statutes that relate to land surveying and surveyors. We have a problem with some surveyors performing "surveys" that don't comply with minimum standards. They do the work for a cut rate. The land owner thinks he is getting a deal. In actuality, the surveyor didn't do his job, did not do service to the customer or his profession. For instance, flagging the corners and not preparing a survey. In WI, anything that falls into the definition above requires you to comply with the minimum standards for a survey. One of those requirements is to prepare and file a survey map. Not complying with the minimum standards for a property survey does not give you license to perform sub-par work and then use the same as an excuse that it isn't a survey so you aren't required to.
