Uggghhhh- Not him again.....

Rankin_File, post: 421575, member: 101 wrote: ..Do you have a mental list of License Numbers you don't really relish seeing?

I can forward my Oklahoma list to you...but it would probably require a zip file....

Every Oklahoma-licensed Surveyor? (That's what Kent told me.)

Rankin_File, post: 421575, member: 101 wrote: the brass caps have to be probed/ scaped for

Any decent treasure finder type of metal detector would be valuable for that search. In our soil, my Radio Shack unit will find a bronze cap as much as a foot down, if there isn't too much junk to distract you.

Tom Adams, post: 421587, member: 7285 wrote: Every Oklahoma-licensed Surveyor? (That's what Kent told me.)

Not quite all of them...Although it does seem we have our share of snake-oil-salesman-style surveyors around here. Most are indigenous to specific areas so watching where you step can be predictable. There was a Senior/ Junior father and son team for a while in my neck of the woods that made a habit out of screwing up things in a royal fashion. The senior left us due to old age. Five years later his son left us with a sudden heart attack at an age just a little north of 40 years old. Too soon for anybody. And while my Christian upbringing keeps me from wishing ill upon others, there are a few folks that I can tell you whose services I definitely won't attend....

And there are a couple of larger surveying firms based in Oklahoma that regularly make a habit out of maintaining victims instead of clients. Luckily the Oklahoma Board kicked one of them around a bit and they seem to be frequenting the Austin, TX area where the State Board apparently condones their practice and one can set a pin almost anywhere they please.

In a small diabolical sense I get a little bit of joy knowing they're down there instead of up here. 😉

Bill93, post: 421589, member: 87 wrote: Any decent treasure finder type of metal detector would be valuable for that search. In our soil, my Radio Shack unit will find a bronze cap as much as a foot down, if there isn't too much junk to distract you.

We're not authorized to buy or rent a treasure hunter, so one of the guys brings his personal unit in. Some times it hits and sometimes, not so much- not sure why.

paden cash, post: 421590, member: 20 wrote: And while my Christian upbringing keeps me from wishing ill upon others, there are a few folks that I can tell you whose services I definitely won't attend.... 😉

Almost sounds like you want to quote Marshal Thibido: "The day they lay you away, what I'll do on your grave won't pass for flowers."

paden cash, post: 421590, member: 20 wrote: we have our share of snake-oil-salesman-style surveyors around here

I have had the "pleasure" of following two (both now deceased) "Land Surveyors" whom I absolutely hated to see as having been on the property. One NEVER put enough information on a plat to close it, and his measurements were almost never within any semblance of accuracy. The other fellows work was so atrocious that I NEVER followed one of his surveys that "worked". Bearings wrong, lines long or short, completely missed existing monuments, lines called for in the record actually skipped. I agree that I wouldn't hope someone to be gone, but I do wish they had stopped "surveying" many years before.
Andy

paden cash, post: 421590, member: 20 wrote: Although it does seem we have our share of snake-oil-salesman-style surveyors around here.

Buddy, you ain't alone, in "Florida World" a "Lot/Boundary/Mortgage" survey goes for around $175-$250, and they exceed Fl's Standards of Practice. Umm-hmmm 😉

A quote from an interview of Curt Brown in 1988:*

"To me the saddest chapter in the history of surveying was when 5,000 plus were grandfathered in the Civil Engineer's act and given the right to practice their ignorance of surveying on the general public. I have a number of horror stories written. While I have never killed anyone, I have read several obituaries with pleasure."

*"The Curt Brown Chronicles", pg. 36, Michael J. Pallamary, PLS, 2011, AuthorHouse.

Oh, yeah, there are some tag numbers that make me groan because I know it is going to be a mess. But, sometimes the worst ones get it right so you have to be careful with stereotypes. On top of that, two of the worst surveyors in this area were also know for setting the sturdiest monuments and 50 or 60 years later those caps are still rock solid in the ground.

Warren Smith, post: 421620, member: 9900 wrote: A quote from an interview of Curt Brown in 1988:*

"To me the saddest chapter in the history of surveying was when 5,000 plus were grandfathered in the Civil Engineer's act and given the right to practice their ignorance of surveying on the general public. I have a number of horror stories written. While I have never killed anyone, I have read several obituaries with pleasure."

*"The Curt Brown Chronicles", pg. 36, Michael J. Pallamary, PLS, 2011, AuthorHouse.

I just finished reading a 38 page dissertation from our Board on a CE whose tag I found. They cited him on 15 different breaches of conduct over an 8 year period. They had him relinquish his license until various provisions were satisfied. His license was granted in 1978 which allowed to him to survey.

Yes, they are out there.

Rankin_File, post: 421575, member: 101 wrote: Was out scrounging around for some corners on Friday. I'm looking for stuff out west. It's an area that is along the Noxon reservoir ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noxon_Rapids_Dam ) where parts of the highway were built by Washington Water Power in the 1950's in conjunction with the dam construction and it was turned over to the State highway commission after completion. So small segments are built by WWP and others by the hwy commission and is really piecemeal with lots of station equations and bearing equations. Monumentation is scant. in the WWP parts we find wooden station markers at varying offsets from apparent centerline, and very infrequently- a brass cap in concrete (these have no magnetic signature) at control points on the horizontal alignment....
I'd done some recon and had a pretty good feel for what I had for search positions - there is a lot of brush and duff in this area so the brass caps have to be probed/ scaped for...

There are no recorded COS's for the large private tract that abuts on the North- I find some private pins from a couple of subdivision lots on the South about were I expect them to be.

So I'm out poking around on the north side and come across a 5/8"rebar with an AC sticking about a foot out of the ground. It's close to station but about 10' too close to centerline.... then I read the name/number..... groan.... It's Mr. RassenFrassenHortenHootenConsarn Non-filing-no-longer-licensed/operating-in-this-state. I could of done without this complication...... it looks like he held the station marker as being on the right-of-way. There's no wood or ribbon around to get a feel for the age of this thing. I end up finding 3 more of his.... I guess I'll be making some additional phone calls....

Do you have a mental list of License Numbers you don't really relish seeing?

If it wasn't for them you'd have less to do;)

MightyMoe, post: 421645, member: 700 wrote: If it wasn't for them you'd have less to do;)

isn't that like hoping the County commissioners pass more subdivision regulations?

Andy Nold, post: 421614, member: 7 wrote: "The day they lay you away, what I'll do on your grave won't pass for flowers."

But, it could KILL the flowers!

I can think of two, both non-engineers by the way, who stunk up the place. One lost his survey license and the other moved to the old folks home. The comment about not closing hit the one guy straight on the head. He did a pretty fair sized subdivision with streets, cul-de-sacs, a few alleys and many oddly shaped lots. All lots had bearings and distances on all sides. They wouldn't close. Not even close. If you took the perimeter of the entire block and made your best guess at how to make it close, that would make the closure on the individual lots even worse. The other guy was very guilty of leaving key information off the plat such that it is impossible to decipher what was really intended.

Another one was totally unlicensed. He could make some nice looking tracts and they would close. They weren't ever where they should have been, but at least they would close. He did a lot of measuring from the apparent center line of streets lacking curb and gutter. He was good at making the client happy because the tract always came out right where they wanted it to be.

[USER=20]@paden cash[/USER]

I have one specific grave in mind for that treatment. Not a surveyor, however. A blowhard Texan who created fifty times more problems than any one person should be able to achieve in about 70 years. Haven't done it yet..............but......................it's simply a matter of time.

Rankin_File, post: 421649, member: 101 wrote: isn't that like hoping the County commissioners pass more subdivision regulations?

and hire more checkers

There's always those we dread to follow, but look at the bright side, it makes our job more interesting. Charge accordingly.

FL/GA PLS., post: 421617, member: 379 wrote: Buddy, you ain't alone, in "Florida World" a "Lot/Boundary/Mortgage" survey goes for around $175-$250, and they exceed Fl's Standards of Practice. Umm-hmmm 😉

That's a ridiculous price for any surveying product. There are a few surveyors here that will work for beer money. When a caller starts to complain about the estimate, I recommend one of them.

Several names in eastern Kentucky come to mind but there are 3 that stand out. 1 Died years ago, but good luck following anything he ever did, never close, never find markers and sometimes they are not even near where they should be. 2. Got in trouble. Board suspended him, he kept surveying, then when they got close to catching him, he had his son (not a pls) do surveys. think they both ended up in jail. 3 is retired, every time you call to ask about a survey he did, he either says "i don't do that anymore" and hangs up on you, or tells old clients he cant find their files because of a flood. by the way he live on top of a hill.