Early this year I got a call from someone who was in a bit of dispute but it did not go anywhere. Now about 2 weeks ago I got a call from the same guy and last week he drove an hour to come see me.?ÿ
The neighbor has had a survey done and by all apearances the survey looks to have been well performed and very thorough but now he wants to do a survey of his own. I don't think he will gain anything but a smaller bank account.
I am convinced that it is the typical situation of someone who never had a Survey done in all the time he lived there and just assumed where the lines and corners are. By his own admission he stated he never knew where some corners were. Well a few hours ago he called and told me to go to work. It seems he cannot let it go and after repeated attempts to tell him that there is a very good chance that I may substantially agree with the other survey I was not able to prevent him from spending a lot of money that I just don't feel is in his best interest, but it's his money and he is determined to spend it. He even agrees with me that I may closely match the other survey.?ÿ
Now I figured up the cost to do a complete resurvey and added enough to tie down enough points to and it is gonna be double the cost the most expensive 12 acre residential survey I have ever done.
There is good trout fishing nearby though so I will have to be sure to take my rod.
I??d want most of the money up front.
I always collect 50% upfront with the balance at completion and I never turn loose of my work product until paid in full with a proper well prepare contract and scope.
This is the first time I tried so hard to talk someone out of getting a survey and I failed.
The trying to talk him out of a survey will help you out in the end. We do the same thing, I don't know how many times I've told people "I've made my own client mad as many times as I've made them happy". If you find a problem with the adjoining survey the client will be pleasantly surprised and if you tell them you agree with that survey he might not be happy but he's been forewarned. I've never had a client hire another surveyor to check my work or not accept my findings, have always left on good terms.
I used to do the same thing in my younger days.
I've received many calls where other surveyors talked themselves out of a job.
Only a surveyor would do that.?ÿ Act like a real real business person.
Quote the job, obtain deposit or payment in full, conduct survey, present results.
End of story.
Really? You've never tried to self-diagnose something, maybe a car problem, and then had a mechanic tell you you're wrong and save you a bunch of money? I have and I've appreciated it every time, and went on to give those people repeat business.
I don't think being a successful business person and treating people how you'd like to be treated are necessarily mutually exclusive.
People call and want a survey because they dont agree with the neighbor's surveyor. I ALWAYS tell them to call a lawyer then get back with me. The issue is not a survey issue any longer, but a civil issue. It is about rights and the law and what you want, but 99.999% of the time, it isn't about the survey.?ÿ
I do my own auto mechanic work. Most of today's mechanics are only parts changers.
I did have one mechanic who gave me a helpful hint one time, a year later he cost me $400 for no reason.
I ended up fixing it myself for pennies.
All we can do is give our opinions to our clients.
When they want something we don't agree with doing, it is a matter of whether we can work this into our schedule or let another surveyor take the client and his money.
I recently had a client that was too insistent upon someone being there TODAY and I was not even close to being able to meet with him within 10 days.
Another surveyor rushed out there and swooped him up and about 10 days later sent him my drawing so he could figure the mess out.
Now, a year later, the client has had a third surveyor come into their life by marking a boundary that goes thru their building.
The second surveyor contacted me a month ago to inform me of what happened and I told him "I am so glad that you are the surveyor of record now, because they could not afford to let my schedule allow me to come out to help them I am sure that they can not afford me to be able to get them out of the jam you and they are in today".
And by "afford", I mean to find the time in my schedule to review the history of the boundary situation and the amount of money I would charge them to solve their problems.
When the client purchased the property, it was based upon a survey I had made 15yrs before for a neighbor and they have never paid anyone to survey their property.
The other surveyor had come out there on a pro bono situation and did not charge them anything.
Another example of getting what you paid for, "NOTHING".
0.02
I had a feeling you were going to respond this way and completely ignore the broader point.
The lawyer will tell them 'Sure, I can help you for 5 times as much as the survey cost'. At which point suddenly it's not such a big problem after all.
The broader point is that the OP posted a thread pointing out a business tactic completely opposite of what the OP usually preaches against.
Reminds me of one of my favorite quotes of all time.?ÿ
"What we have heya, is a failure to communicate. There is just no reaching, some people."
Had a guy that was helping with the concrete work on the slab for my shop beg me to come out and do a survey of his lot because of problems with his neighbor who had taken a bulldozer and bladed out the concrete guys' fence and raspberry patch, insisting that the property corners were all wrong and it was his land. This character was a full on nut job and I confess I agreed to the work with a bit of trepidation. I traversed around the block tieing down all the corners I can find, including the ones in dispute. All originals, all fit the plat within 0.1-0.2'. I report the corners in dispute are legit to both parties, there's nothing to see here. I move on. Now you think that would satisfy the nut job neighbor. No. Couple days later, ring-ring, nut job has gone out under the cover of darkness and pulled every last corner I'd flagged up, and then hires another survey outfit to come and put them all back. Right where they were to start with. You just can't fix stupid.
I don't agree with that at all and I kinda feel like it is our duty to be upfront and maybe even brutally honest with folks, tempered of course but brutally honest nonetheless. I do not feel like this guy is gonna gain anything by spending the money he is gonna spend but he wants the survey anyway so I have no matters of conscious to struggle with. In fact I placed much of the client comments in the contract so as to have it as part of the known facts.
If "acting like a real business person" requires me to stop providing advice or offering up a opinion and instead just doing the job and banking the money then I don't want to be that kind of business person.
The issue isn't the location of the property line. The issue is their property rights regarding their occupation and the staked deed line. In my state, at least, I am not qualified to give legal advice. It is like someone tripping over one of the survey stakes and breaking their leg...they don't need another surveyor, they need a doctor. (That is also something outside my area of qualification.)
I cannot tell if you are being sarcastic, obtuse or serious. I hope that you do know why someone that calls in that situation needs a lawyer more than yet another surveyor.
Now, there are a couple of outfits around here that I WOULD recommend having a second opinion on, since my experience with them is about 50-50, but that is a different story all together.?ÿ
I actually had this happen last month. A lawyer calls up and doesn't like the opposition's survey. I do the survey again, going back to source documents and comparing with the opposition survey. Sure enough close enough to not matter. What really made them happy was the non-survey drone footage that really highlighted the situation on the ground. That they liked. And they paid. But still, they didn't need another surveyor.
That is kind of my point. If I show up and find a different answer, there is still a fight brewing, and unless the owner is willing to fight that fight, there isn't much point to my additional survey. In all the following behind other guys for this reason over 20 years, I have had one or two where they substantially blew it...and both of those were essentially a guy surveying without a license from what I could tell. So, yes, sometimes it might be worth getting another surveyor, but it is like 1 in 1000.
We can only hope that the stupid/crazy tax produces change...unlikely, but hope springs eternal.
Not entirely true in the least. I normally rail against surveyors offering up cut rate discount prices and this was totally different as my price is much more.
I tried to talk the guy out of a survey because I truly feel that the benefit will very likely be far far less than the cost and there may be no benefit at all. Most people who call for a survey truly do in fact require a survey and rarely do I ever encounter someone who wants one but would probably be better off spending the money doing a bit of light grading amd placing some gravel down and the problem will solve itself.
