Me: Hello, Carl speaking
Caller (from a Northern Virginia Area Code): Hello, I need a survey done in ____________ County (sort of nearby). I have too much land. I mean I don't really know how much land I have, but I have too much land on my deed for the mortgage company to handle all of it in one mortgage, so I need to have you come out and set four rods in the ground... well, I've actually already done that for you... so all I really need for you to do is to come out and set your GPS equipment up over those pins and draw me a sketch to show the people at the courthouse so that they can change their tax maps so I can get my loan. How much for you to that?
Me: (I had a feeling that this guy is looking for an ultra-cheap surveyor) Well sir, since I don't own a GPS setup, I'd have to get one (I was trying to be a little light-hearted since he had said all the above basically all in one breath) and that can cost a bit.... but really, I've never worked in __________ county and I'm not sure that it's quite as simple as you've relayed to me so far. Certain things that you've said would simply not fly with the Code of Virginia (things like you have to tie the new boundary to the outside boundary, size of monuments, etc.)
Caller: oh, ok, well can you do it some other way?
Me: Well yes, I do my surveying with a conventional setup, although it is a robotically driven instrument. But, back to the issue at hand... I guess there's no one practicing in that county, and I don't work in that area, you might try calling someone in _____________ or ______________ as I'm sure that they go there and can help you through their planning procedures...
Caller: Yeah, ok, thanks a bunch (said quickly).
Oh well... I hope he finds what he needs. I didn't even get a chance to "educate" him, as he was trying to get off the phone so fast. Granted, the county he's trying to work in probably has the barest, lightest of planning/division requirements, but I'm pretty sure that there are still certain minimums that must be met.
Carl
Carl
This has become such a standard survey out here, a mortgage survey, they are an exception to the zoning and subdivision regulations.
A landowner needs to build a house and has say 120 acres, the bank won't lend him money for that size of property, he needs to cut out 2, 4, 5 acres around his house for mortgage purposes only.
One state has a process, the other state I work in has nothing. One you file a Certificate of Survey plat and the other just the deed. If the landowner defaults on his loan the bank gets the small legal and house.
