Why, that would make a good title or heading for the report:
Kent McMillan, post: 373311, member: 3 wrote: THIS report is a summary of the history and an overview of the evidence upon which the Surveyor's opinion was based.
Dan B. Robison, post: 373324, member: 34 wrote: Why, that would make a good title or heading for the report:
The general formula I like to follow is to give a sort of executive summary of conclusions regarding any particularly important matters in the first or second section of the report and then get into the narrative. Here's the linking sentence from a recent report that kicks a longer narrative off:
"I have prepared Map No. 16-899A representing various findings of my resurvey. This report accompanies that map and offers some discussion and explanation of various matters presented upon it. In the following sections, I review the history of the original surveys in the vicinity of the James Allen Survey No. 2 shown upon the sketch appearing on the following page, and the evidence upon which I based my determination of the various lines of the Allen Survey."
Most surveying problems require a recital of the history of events that produced the situation as found and a sort of Cliff Notes summary of the solution or recommendations. I think underlining particularly important points is almost always in order to be sure that the reader understands their importance or, at least, that the surveyor thinks they are important. The additional advantage of the surveyor's report is that it acts as an memo to oneself for some time in the future when the job has gotten cold in recollection.
Kent McMillan, post: 373327, member: 3 wrote: The general formula I like to follow is to give a sort of executive summary of conclusions regarding any particularly important matters in the first or second section of the report and then get into the narrative. Here's the linking sentence from a recent report that kicks a longer narrative off:
"I have prepared Map No. 16-899A representing various findings of my resurvey. This report accompanies that map and offers some discussion and explanation of various matters presented upon it. In the following sections, I review the history of the original surveys in the vicinity of the James Allen Survey No. 2 shown upon the sketch appearing on the following page, and the evidence upon which I based my determination of the various lines of the Allen Survey."
Most surveying problems require a recital of the history of events that produced the situation as found and a sort of Cliff Notes summary of the solution or recommendations. I think underlining particularly important points is almost always in order to be sure that the reader understands their importance or, at least, that the surveyor thinks they are important. The additional advantage of the surveyor's report is that it acts as an memo to oneself for some time in the future when the job has gotten cold in recollection.
In this day when field notes have gotten so brief....sometimes almost non existent.... I write summaries like this for myself and put them away in the file with the notes for the job. This way in years if needed I can read what exactly I did and why I did it. Otherwise I'd have no idea how I got where I did.
But I've never written a report as such for anyone besides me or the job notes.... interesting.
Rich., post: 373334, member: 10450 wrote: I write summaries like this for myself and put them away in the file with the notes for the job. This way in years if needed I can read what exactly I did and why I did it. Otherwise I'd have no idea how I got where I did.
But I've never written a report as such for anyone besides me or the job notes.... interesting.
What I've found is that while land surveyors tend to be sophisticated consumers of maps and graphical data, most clients and their attorneys relate much better to written material. A map is a map, right? But a report that explains as clearly as possible what was done, what was found, and how the surveyor interpreted the evidence actually does a better job of convincing the client that they have received a very good service.
Surveyor's reports turn out to be good marketing tools, also. Some of my best clients have been attorneys who read a report, recognized that they were looking at a product that required expertise that isn't generally available, and brought me their clients' problems to deal with. That has worked out exceptionally well.
On top of that, there is the probably most important reason to write a surveyor's report. If the evidence and rationale behind some boundary determination makes sense, it should write up well. If it doesn't write up in clear language, then that is diagnostic of a problem. How is a surveyor ever going to explain to a judge or jury what and why he or she did if he can't in some pages of prose?
What I'll ultimately do is on this draft show the way things 'are' and explain this to the client, what i did and what i recommend for a solution. Considering A&B are both one property now it would be easy for them to do an agreement and call the wall the line. Especially since A calls to the wall and while B doesnt, it's metes would not even cross the wall. Then we can go from there