Lady wants a survey, says they are not sure about the location of their lot lines (5 acre mountain subdivision). So I ask a few questions, sort of explain what I'd need to do (she has a plot plan so I probably don't need to research the plat according to her). We finally get to the "What does it cost?" part. So I tell her I'd need to draft and file a Record of Survey plat, do research, plus do the field work. This all takes time and I have a minimum $1000 fee which I'm sure my time and hourly rates would exceed for her survey.
Ya'll know what comes next, right? She will need to think about it, didn't expect it to cost more than $200. I get several of these type calls every year. I don't get insulted anymore but Geezz!, $200 to survey a lot, I can't drive out there, set up, tear down and return for that, let alone draft a plat and do the required research. I'm about to just put it right on the website, $1000 minimum for any survey work. Save me the calls.
I get that sometimes, too. I don't know where they arrive at the $200 figure, but a lot of people think that's all it should cost. And it seems like the cheapest work I do always gets the most complaints about the fee.
Happens all the time. But, every once in a while one will fool you and agree to have it done and actually pay you. Have one on the list like that right now. The entire property, including the house, is probably worth less than $10,000 and the survey will be around $1000.
There are times when I feel really bad, though. Someone is bullying a weak person in hopes they will spend the money to get a survey done as part of trying to stop the bullying. I've seen something like that too many times.
I point my finger squarely at real estate agents for the myth of the $200 survey. They hire the low-baller lot surveyor once to do a $200 survey on a four cornered lot in a new subdivision, and suddenly, every subsequent survey, regardless of the circumstances, should "only cost about $200"
I got a similar call yesterday. The lady got mad when I told her my price for a typical residential survey. Asked me why I was twice the price of the other surveyor's fee she had, then wouldn't let me answer. I'm glad I didn't get that one.
I get calls like this for Elevation Certificates. The owners seem to think that I just have to look on a couple of maps and/or websites, then fill out the form and stamp it. They don't realize that some of these take a full day (or more) of field survey time, especially if the land isn't near a benchmark.
I know in once instance I got a call from an owner who was in the process of purchasing a house and learned that they had to get flood insurance for their land. They called and asked me for a quote (which was about $1200). They said that it seemed kind of high (they were expecting the $200 price). I told them that if they got a few of their neighbors to join in on the survey, I could do EC on all of those parcels for a better deal than just on one of them. And if they "pooled together" they could probably get it for around $400 each. It didn't happen, but it was worth a try.
Maybe the bright side is the expected price has doubled from $100 to $200. Accepted inflation I suppose.
