I doing some recon in tract and found an iron pipe and stake that looked like it was set by a surveyor. The homeowners comes out and questions me about what I'm doing and says he set the "iron pipes" not iron pins, and that he was a surveyor in Pennsylvania and did a survey from the two stakes set on a line across the culd-de-sac. How did you set them "with surveying equipment" I asked are you licensed in NY, he said no that's why I set iron pipes not pins and he said don't use them the are not certified. After all the BS going on with the guns laws in NY, I could not even talk anymore to this guy and turned to leave. As I was leaving he said the neighbor around the corner wanted me to check his lot stakes and they even didn't close at all, but I don't have a baseline out here. I walked even faster to get away and not hear anymore. :excruciating:
Reminds me of the time we found a couple points. We asked the guy if they were any good. He says, "Hell. I know they're right. I set 'em."
😐
It sounds to me like you missed a very good opportunity to gather evidence.
Why did the guy do his own "surveying"? What monuments across the street did he use and why? Does he know of any other monuments/corners/lines? What has his neighbor (or others) told him? Who in the neighborhod would know more about the lines/corners/monuments? etc. etc. etc.
Yes, some of the evidence (or all of it) may be worthless, but unless you travel down the road with pot-holes, you will never know where it might lead. Heck, it may have even lead to more work!
:good:
Eh?
"After all the BS going on with the guns laws in NY, I could not even talk anymore to this guy and turned to leave."
What? What does this mean?
I think if I were in your situation I would have thanked the guy for telling me, and told him I could not rely on them as survey monuments, and that I may need to dig around a bit to see if I could locate the original corners ... To me, a property owner making their own measurements and setting their own pipes isn't illegal, it's just a common annoyance. At least the guy was honest with you and even told you to disregard them.
This story reminds me of a project from the mid-70's. I was working for a fellow in northeast NJ. We were surveying a home on a small suburban lot in an area where all we could find was 4 monuments - 4" square concrete monuments, the type set for subdivision control in this area - that fit the deed shape perfectly. They were not called for on the filed map, and the called for monuments were not found either, which was not all that uncommen, as the monuments are bonded at the approval of the subdivision and were often not set. We found nothing else for hundreds of feet each side of the site. There was no possession either.
We jumped on the 4 monuments, located the house, driveway and garage and were packing up when the owner showed up with the question "How did we do?"
Boss asks "What do you mean, how did you do?"
Turned out he was a crane operator in NYC, and had the union guys stake it where he said it should go. If there is one thing any NYC union surveyor can do, it is stake a 90 degree box!
We got the dip needle, shovel and tape out and looked even further and eventually scratched up some points to satisfy the subdivision and show the "monuments" were wrong by several feet if I recall. I'm sure they are still there, and, no, my boss did not stake the lot, as it was not required.
Which leads me to my real question. I may have posted this before:
HOW can a homeowner do his own surveying, and not trample on the rights of his neighbor?
Granted, in some areas things are truly vague, and there are some licensed "surveyors" who should not be, and the rare, diligent, educated homeowner might do a correct job, but
is that not why WE are licensed?
Ken
HOW can a homeowner do his own surveying, and not trample on the rights of his neighbor?
Only by restricting their activities within their property and avoiding any outside tract boundary's. They have every right to survey within their lines, not along it or outside of it.
jud
Yup, I know a guy who sets his pins every spring. Then you hear the clang of the horseshoes.
HOW can a homeowner do his own surveying, and not trample on the rights of his neighbor?
Why would he care about that?
If I've learned anything in 20 years, it's that "Nobody's land ever gets smaller". In fact, it very often gets bigger.
As far as I know property owners can do their own surveying, even their exterior boundaries. It may not be smart but they can do it.
I guess in theory is the risk is they will slander someone's title by setting their pins over into the neighbor's property. If the neighbor objects and investigates they make bring a suit against the amateur surveyor.
guy set his own fence corner post
Many years ago, I did a survey for a guy and tied to a fence corner post that was supposed to be 100 feet West from a visible steel stake found on a fenceline where the section line crossed a state highway right-of-way. Solid point, used before, commonly accepted and all that. His distance measured something odd - something like 108.XX feet or so. I set a pin at the deed distance of 100.00 feet and then the landowner came out and questioned why I set my pin at less than 100 feet. I went through the motions of "why", and he was incredulous. He absolutley knew that the fence corner was right because he had set it himself. I asked him how he did that, and he said that he went to (insert name of famous Wbox store) and bought a fifty-foot garden hose and stretched it twice to get 100 feet. (insert red flag icon) He looked indignant at that point, knowing full well that a garden hose was as good a thing to measure with as my fancy machine with buttons :totalstation: when looking at a piece of glass.:stakeout: oooooookaaaaaay !!!:pinch:
I ended up advising him to get a deed of correction, and he worked out a deal with the adjacent landowner. No problem. Just another case of a pesky surveyor putting a pin in the ground off "the line."
guy set his own fence corner post
Did you offer to calibrate his hose while you were there?
Dave
jesus don't type that stuff while I'm drinking coffee!
