Ill start by saying I get along great with my neighbors, but after seeing my truck enough as asking what I do the response is continuing to be "hey you should show me where my property corners are"
My initial thought is probably to avoid all together, but would it really hurt to just beep around and show them where something COULD be. By no means will I say anything is certain.?ÿ
*side note, I live in a small platted subdivision from 1980's*
This could end poorly for you. If you aren't licensed you may set yourself up for a misdemeanor. If you are licensed this could be a liability, employment or regulatory (and maybe all three) bomb.
Freebies are never quite free...
@thebionicman i am not currently licensed, sounds like opening a can of worms I don't want opened..
There's always that chance that at some point your neighbor has an issue with their property lines, maybe with another neighbor and your neighbor spouts they 'had it surveyed' (they don't know the difference) and your name enters into it and suddenly you get dragged in as their 'expert witness' in a conflict. Just tell them you like them too much.
Just because I'm paranoid, doesn't mean they aren't out to get me.
Rule #1 "never survey for friends or relatives"
You might agree to loan them your pin finder and shovel. You might even give them a few pointers on how to use them and general areas to search. But I advise against actually doing the work.?ÿ
I tell people that ask me for such things that they look like the kind of person that would already know where the pins were if they were there.?ÿ ?ÿ ?ÿ
I just got a call from a neighbor down the street that is a friend as well.?ÿ He wanted me to look at his survey to see if his fence was actually on his property and the survey is hand drawn from the 80's.?ÿ I am licensed in NJ but not in PA. I told him as much and that I couldn't render an opinion without surveying the property and am precluded from doing that without a PA license.?ÿ I then made a call to a licensed PA surveyor that I often use as a sub for Engineering projects my firm handles, and, he gave my friend a big price break because of our working history.?ÿ That was my easy out, and, as much as I love what I do, 40 a week of it is enough for me.
I'm licensed and the old guy in the neighborhood. I've surveyed all the neighbors lots for them for free. It's paid off in spades. They plow my driveway, have done concrete work for me, and one gave me a complete set of tires for my pickup.
I prefer not to poop too close to the house, but I've been known to.
It all started 30 years ago when I bought the place.?ÿ I had to find my pins.?ÿ In doing so I discovered four houses close by that the fences didn't fit by about 10' (the width of a platted but non-existent alley).?ÿ I never said anything.?ÿ But when one went up for sale I seized the opportunity to talk to the neighbor.?ÿ While the house was undergoing renovation he moved the fence and also moved his other fence.?ÿ One fence was missing south of there and the last guy could care less.
A little ninja move on my part, but I did my part to help my neighbors.?ÿ Given the opportunity again I probably would not mess with it.?ÿ I just got lucky.
When licensed I've mag located pins for friends and neighbors, 15 minutes of my time and made it clear I wasn't warrantying their property corners, just helping them on their own voyage of discovery of their bounds.?ÿ Usually the pins are exactly where expected and if not or missing I'll suggest they buy a survey if the fence is a few feet off and it bothers them.
Didn't feel I was taking a liability risk and never had a friend or neighbor call me on the carpet?ÿ and actually got a few small ROS survey jobs where they *were* bothered by their neighbor's encroachments.
Yeah, I think you could let them run around with your locator for 30 minutes or something and maybe that would satisfy them.
I was speaking figuratively. It's been my experience that friends and neighbors tend to be all peaches and cream when they want a survey favor and then when a problem is inadvertently exposed, it becomes my fault because everything was fine until I came along.?ÿ
Just because I'm paranoid, doesn't mean they aren't out to get me.
When I first started, this would come up, and I simply explained that I was not a licensed surveyor and they needed to call the office as I could not provide the work on my own.
Later, after being licensed, it doesn't come up. But, I have done small things for friends and family. I do not see an issue with it.
Nope. Fact witnesses get subpoenas. Expert witnesses get hired. You cannot be compelled to issue an opinion.
Fellow called yesterday to see about getting a survey done.?ÿ Told me the neighbor had his done sometime back and the neighbor had showed him three corners of the four.?ÿ The fourth is the primary corner the fellow needs to know to satisfy the city for putting up a fence.?ÿ The neighbor had sort of kicked around near a tree and said "It's about here somewhere."?ÿ Later in our conversation the caller explained how the neighbor had watched the surveyor do the job.?ÿ The surveyor had used "one of those rolling wheel measuring thingies".?ÿ I assured the caller that I had never heard of a surveyor using such a device for a legitimate survey.?ÿ I did explain that the County Appraiser's office has been known to use such a device for approximate measurements and they absolutely would never set any kind of marker, as was claimed by the neighbor.
To top it off this is a metes and bounds type description, being one of several eating up about 10 acres inside the city limits and surrounded by additions to the city.?ÿ The commencing point is about 600 feet thataway and 400 some odd feet thisotherway.
Heres my locator...this is how it worx.....friends and family plan = no good deed goes unpunished?ÿ
Was flagged down by some neighbors standing in the road as I was headed to feed some cattle the other day.?ÿ This is a case of sister and brother in their 70s still fighting over worthless little chunks of land left behind by their parents.?ÿ "My idiot brother says that house is barely on our property and isn't forty feet from the property line."?ÿ Silly me invites them to stroll down the street to the spot in question.?ÿ I point to an obvious change in the sidewalk on one side of their street with their house on the other side of said street.?ÿ Then I explain how that is in line with their property line across the street, which is about two feet from the side of the house which they are planning to demolish.?ÿ I went on to explain that the next 80 feet to the west of that is a platted street that has never been vacated.?ÿ Vacate the street and you can gain your extra forty feet.?ÿ "Your idiot brother told you the truth, this time. See that gate leading to the cropland behind these lots.?ÿ That's how Ol' Russell got into his field for 65 years."?ÿ A light bulb lit up as she said, "I always wondered why he was driving across our yard."