It seems here lately we get several clients requesting boundary surveys only to have them call back and say we didn't show "x" or "y" and that they needed that for what they were doing with the survey(I'm not talking about we "missed" something required by a boundary survey, I'm talking about "extra"). This could be simply the distance from the well to the septic tank, or location and size of the drain field (not the mound the drain field is in, just found that out today), elevations on the centerline of the road and/or driveway etc. We work in so many counties, and these counties keep changing (on what seems like a daily basis) their requirements that I would need to staff someone full time to simply keep up with them. Government at its finest! Anyhow, is anyone else dealing with this? I got told today I was cheating someone out of money b/c we had to go back and get the elevations of the centerline of the road in front of their house. I tried telling them, elevations are not a requirement of a boundary survey, which is what they ordered, which is what they were told to order by said county official! I had one the other day where the county told this lady that the surveyor didn't fill out the elevation cert. correctly b/c we hadn't put the height of the road in the comments section?! FEMA doesn't even require that! Ugh! Anyhow, trying to keep from pulling my hair out...
Sounds like they needed a topographic survey and boundary. We have a few cites in my area that require the height of the road, each City or town is different and you only know what they want till you do a few in that area. We usually ask them why the need a survey, selling, buying, refinancing, trouble with the neighbor, building permit. Most of the time they know they need a survey just not what kind of survey. We get alot of phone calls for an elevation survey, which after talking to them they need an elevation certificate.
We had one city tell us we had to show the base flood elevation for the new proposed FEMA maps, after going a few rounds they decided the current FEMA map would be just fine.
My fine local municipality requires "a survey, prepared and signed by a licensed surveyor" for a number of various permits. But nowhere in God's Green Earth is there any kind of published standard. I just have to let the client submit the drawing and let a whole short-bus full of drooling idiots tell me what they think they saw once on a survey somewhere. The last one (and I do mean LAST) I did was for a fence permit. The ordinance and permit requirements only addresses horizontal distances, but one idiot kicked it back for "elevations"...spouting something about sight distances. After I explained their fool permit only required horizontal sight triangles and we really weren't working with any sort of design speed or FHWA requirements on a residential lot they backed off...
It's like giving silly putty to a two year old. They will put their fingers all over it, eventually drool on it, stick it in their mouth and then cry. I've started turning them down and recommending my worst enemy to the clients for permit drawings.
So that's why I keep getting weird calls from Oklahoma where I don't have a license??!!o.O
It is impossible to outguess the eventual needs of reviewers we aren't told about. More work equals more dollars in my book. It's not my job to be a mind reader especially when I have no idea whose mind I'm supposed to be reading.
Holy Cow, post: 334795, member: 50 wrote: So that's why I keep getting weird calls from Oklahoma where I don't have a license??!!o.O
It is impossible to outguess the eventual needs of reviewers we aren't told about. More work equals more dollars in my book. It's not my job to be a mind reader especially when I have no idea whose mind I'm supposed to be reading.
Yes, BUT, I wonder how many of my clients will call me back thinking I took them for an extra $200 here or $400 there. It puts the client in a bind b/c they are part of the end user/result yet don't know what they are asking for, and like you said, I can't be a mind reader...
The best you can do is stick your nose directly into the middle of their business during the initial contact with them. Many people react negatively to your intense interest in what they view as their very personal affairs. Hard to figure out where that balance point is when you are dealing with people you do not know in the first place.
I try to often ask, "what do you think you need this survey for"? Right up front.
Just because a jurisdiction dreams up a new policy or requirement does not mean that they promptly notify every possible consultant who might someday be expected to know about said policy or requirement. Even worse is where two or more jurisdictions have identical policies that are being interpreted differently by their internal bureaucrats.
A simple example involves a liquor store that is currently available for sale. It is located along one of the main streets through the city that also happens to be part of a US highway. For longer than I have existed on this Earth, the liquor store has had two curb cuts plus there is access from a side street. The city signed an agreement with the DOT that whenever the property changes hands all curb cuts on the highway side must be removed and the only access being the side street. Until then it is grandfathered. Did the real estate agent showing the property to prospective buyers have any way of knowing this major limitation existed? Only if he/she had been involved with a similar property somewhere else along that same route. If called upon to do an ALTA survey, how would the surveyor know to mark the two curb cuts as being eliminated upon sale of the property?
Holy Cow, post: 334841, member: 50 wrote: ....If called upon to do an ALTA survey, how would the surveyor know to mark the two curb cuts as being eliminated upon sale of the property?
Unless it showed up in a title search, the surveyor wouldn't know about it.
You right though, there's a whole world of sharp corners out there just waiting to snag somebody....
paden cash, post: 334844, member: 20 wrote: Unless it showed up in a title search, the surveyor wouldn't know about it.
You right though, there's a whole world of sharp corners out there just waiting to snag somebody....
That are our own fault...for voting for this mess...