So today I receive an unsolicited (spam) email from this so called survey company from another state. They say they are not brokers. Color me skeptical, but it smells like a broker to me.
So I respond with a polite,
"Thank you for contacting me, but please no more unsolicited emails, I don't need you and you don't need me" :bye:
Here is an excerpt
------------------------------------------------------
Dear Sir or Madam,
Good afternoon! I’m contacting you on behalf of US Surveyor. We are a national surveying firm located in Indiana. I’m looking for great, dependable firms in your area to help with the client requests we receive all over the state and join our affiliate program.
What’s an affiliate you ask? Basically, one of our clients will send us a request. We’ll send that request along with the specs (acreage, location, etc.) to you and you can bid on it. If you’re awarded the job, then you’ll complete it for that price and we will get you paid!
If you’re interested, you will find the affiliate form attached. I’d need that sent back along with a copy of W9, insurance and a couple of recent (within the last year or so) commercial ALTAs.
We’re not brokers
------------------------------------------------------
What are they then if not brokers?
The terrible thing about these companies is that they steal search engine space from real surveyors. The y drive up the costs for keywords and when someone wants to find a LOCAL SURVEYOR these jokers show up in the search over you and/or your company.
They are a large surveying company, that contracts with local surveyors to handle large, nationwide or regional clients.
I did a retracement survey (kind of) that they did, and their stuff check pretty good. I did not see anything that alarmed me at first glance.
I will add that the project I was working on was as a field crew for another local firm that needed help during a busy time, so I did not get into a lot of the analysis end of the survey, but I did find all of the monuments that the plat called for.
You must not do business around here, we don't bid for land surveying jobs, our BOR kinda frowns on that practice.