That should probably be added to my business card to describe what it is that I do. Every day is different, it seems. Simple town lot, section breakdown, handholding of current and future clients, research, drafting, flood certs, more handholding of current and future clients, servicing vehicles and gear, ordering supplies, advising several counties on survey issues, reviewing surveys recently performed by others, juggling the dollars needed, billing the few overdue types, more handholding of current and future clients, staying current via BeerLeg and other sources, explaining why possession and boundary lines may differ, subdivision layout, benchmark establishment, writing easement and boundary descriptions, explaining why not everyone should attempt to write their own descriptions, donating time to worthy causes for good PR and community recognition, complicated town lots, easy rural tracts, sharpening weapons of vegetative destruction, providing mentoring services to those with less experience, trying to maintain an appearance of patience and professionalism, explaining why the middle of the road is not necessarily the middle of the road, proofreading and taking a much needed nap.
I am not an expert (fill in the blank). I am a generalist. I do not do one thing ten thousands times in a row. I do not know more about one little thing than everyone else in the universe. I do know more about more things than most everyone in the universe, just not necessarily anything they care to know about. Thousands of others are more skilled or knowledgeable about the intricacies of GNSS, Lidar, Autocad, maintenance of all types of survey gear and computers, specific history of rebar manufacturing, tree identification and cooking meals on car manifolds.
All I know is that when people want to know something, they contact me. If I'm not the best source of information on their subject I will gladly try to connect them with the best source that I know personally.
Well said!!
> That should probably be added to my business card to describe what it is that I do. Every day is different, it seems. Simple town lot, section breakdown, handholding of current and future clients, research, drafting, flood certs, more handholding of current and future clients, servicing vehicles and gear, ordering supplies, advising several counties on survey issues, reviewing surveys recently performed by others, juggling the dollars needed, billing the few overdue types, more handholding of current and future clients, staying current via BeerLeg and other sources, explaining why possession and boundary lines may differ, subdivision layout, benchmark establishment, writing easement and boundary descriptions, explaining why not everyone should attempt to write their own descriptions, donating time to worthy causes for good PR and community recognition, complicated town lots, easy rural tracts, sharpening weapons of vegetative destruction, providing mentoring services to those with less experience, trying to maintain an appearance of patience and professionalism, explaining why the middle of the road is not necessarily the middle of the road, proofreading and taking a much needed nap.
>
> I am not an expert (fill in the blank). I am a generalist. I do not do one thing ten thousands times in a row. I do not know more about one little thing than everyone else in the universe. I do know more about more things than most everyone in the universe, just not necessarily anything they care to know about. Thousands of others are more skilled or knowledgeable about the intricacies of GNSS, Lidar, Autocad, maintenance of all types of survey gear and computers, specific history of rebar manufacturing, tree identification and cooking meals on car manifolds.
>
> All I know is that when people want to know something, they contact me. If I'm not the best source of information on their subject I will gladly try to connect them with the best source that I know personally.
So based on your criteria, I must be an expert at drinking Miller Lite. 🙂
Seriously though, I agree with the sentiment. Just today I met first with a lawyer colleague who is very knowledgeable concerning boundary law and a pleasure to speak to. Then, I took a call from a client who could not understand why he couldn't cut a lot out of an area around his brand new house which happened to be inside a restrictive covenant area which specifically restricted the division of the parcel.
And then there's my favorite one ever. A call comes in from a realtor. Her question is: "How much shore frontage is there in an acre?" 😛
That's gonna be a really large card....
Jeff
HC - I love this......and wouldn't want it any other way!
I am becoming very knowledgible and skilled on how to tell someone that I will not do the survey that they are requesting.
But I do fall back once in awhile with a "I'll call you back" and then fail to do so.
These are the people who call with absolutely no idea why they need a survey.
I use to play the 10 or 20 ?s game with them but it is not fun anymore.
I know that this is a bad reflection on me as a business person and/or surveyors because they wil go around cussing about how the d#s& surveyor never called them back etc.
I had a doozy the other day when someone called wanting a line staked for a fence.
They were looking for another surveyor to do it because the surveyor who had recently done the boundary wanted a 4 hour minimum fee to revisit and stake the line.
I said that it would be by the hourly rate from office door and return and any office support as far as documentation and billing etc.
They started to see the wisdom of having the previous surveyor do the survey but kept insisting how easy it was since it was open and the survey had been done 9 months prior.
I then suggested tha they go to the hardware store and buy 2 sturdy stakes and a ball of construction line and do it themselves. But they kept saying that a surveying instrument was needed to do it.
So in the end, they stated they would call the previous surveyor.
They were just looking for a surveyor to assume liabilty for their fence building project at a very reduced rate.