What is the difference between a survey & a drive by survey

Providing a professional service.....being reported to the state board.

> (Ok, add yours) Gotta go look at another drive by!

THIS IS A NO-BRAINER:

IT DOESN'T MATTER, I CAN SUE EITHER ONE IF THEY ARE WRONG--SO I CHOOSE THE LOWBALLER DRIVE-BY'R

😉

Pardon my ignorance, but what exactly is a "drive by" survey?

What you talkin about willis?

Randy

Radar, I am LOOKING at a drive by junk heap right now.
I have to go back to the field (probably 4-5 trips) to search for original evidence, and LOOK at another "Drive By", that is, LOOK at one that was done before me.

I have NEVER done a drive by survey.

A drive by is one based on previous records, of some sort, that only sort of resemble the actual points in the field. And, drive by, and tie a few flags.

N

He's referring to Mortgage Location Reports (or some other "survey" using a similar name) where the "surveyor" is just merely verifying that a house or other building is within the boundary. Many surveyors that perform these types of "surveys" will visit the property and draw a sketch from the truck -- some will actually get out and make some rough measurements with a tape.

A survey: reaveals the garbage from the previous drive by.
A drive by: Keeps all the previous records "intact", because it does not allow reality to set it.

A Survey: Makes Trouble
A Drive by: Makes the Title Co happy, cause it fits everything.

> Survey: Costs money, finds problems.
> Drive by: Costs less, finds no problems.
>

What is God's green earth is a "drive by"?

Do you literally mean that some surveyor drives by the property?

> Do you literally mean that some surveyor drives by the property?

Some don't even do that.

I remember a guy in Nebraska did a survey for a Convent, in the early 80's. They owned a 1/4 1/4 section. He sent them a drawing of a square with 1320' labeling each line, together with his bill. This is the one that finally got his license pulled, he'd been doing this jack-leg stuff for years.

Dugger

Winshield survey equals driveby survey.

Generally, one of these critters occurs with no actual fieldwork. An example: You work for a company that has been doing mortgage survey/mortgagee title inspection/improvement location certificate work for many years. A request comes in for a property in a subdivision where changes to the main structure almost never happen due to the original barely fitting in the allowed space to start with. Your company provided this service at an earlier date to a prior owner or lender. You pull up that file, change the date and ship it out the door. At most, you might have a flunkie drive by the place with the old drawing in hand to be a bit more certain that nothing has changed.

I see Holy beat me to this.

I first heard the term in 1982 when I worked for a surveyor who had survey files that dated back to 1920. Most of the ones had been surveyed by his father or aniother highly reguarded surveyor.
He did a large amount of lot surveys for closings and actually did them according to the standards of the time. Whenever there was an order to survey a lot that he had a previous survey of, the crew would visit the site, and note any changes that had taken place. They were called "ride by's" because many times there were no changes, and the crew was there about 30 minuites. Plus, most of the (hand) drafting time was shortened by tracing the old survey. A completely new survey was done whenever there were signifigant changes.

When Alabama MTS (now SOP) came into effect in 1991 and required all corners to be monumented, their ride by's became a thing of the past.

Tennessee still allows "Nonmonumentation Procedures" as they call them, but mortgage surveys of any species have been extinct in this area for a decade. Surveys only get ordered by title companies if there is a known problem or the buyer specifically requests a survey.

When they still existed, the joke was that for some companies it was standard procedure to toss a handful of 18" stakes and a roll of flagging out the window as they passed the property so the owners would see that they had been there, then return to the office to print the bill and the drawing.

Just think of it as the same scenario in this picture, but instead of guns, there are total stations, and prism poles!

We call them fly-by-night outfits here.

> We call them fly-by-night outfits here.

We used to call them shade tree surveyors;-)

They don't get the gun out unless they set it up under a shade tree LOL

We had a seminar a few weeks ago presented by a group of lawyers from the REBA in MA. They understand surveying a little better than most, they understand it well enough to have a Mortgage Loan Inspection joke:

What's the difference between a 10mph drive by survey and a 40 mph drive by survey????

About 40 bucks.. ($125 vs. $165)

We always called them type of surveyors "Jack Leg Surveyors", and it's not a compliment.

Here in NH Mortgage Inspections are not even in our Assoc bylaws.
The RSA's have been revised to show the following:

310-A:74 Exemptions. – This subdivision shall not be construed to prevent or to affect:
V. Preparation of mortgage plot plans and mortgage inspection reports, provided that:
(a) Any drawings prepared in connection with such plans or reports shall include the conspicuously-placed legend in 24 point or larger type: "This drawing is not a survey/For mortgage purposes only,'' or language which is substantially the same.
(b) Any such drawing shall not bear any professional seal.

I have done a bunch of them for a company I used to work for but we actualy setup equipment, tied into boundary monuments but alot of the time we tied to existing plans, tax maps or what ever available.

Not great work but it paid the bills. We NEVER stamped a plan or called it a survey.

It was a Mortgage Inspection Sketch with a report attached.

Jim in NH

>We NEVER stamped a plan or called it a survey.
> It was a Mortgage Inspection Sketch with a report attached.

Interesting how the regulations vary from state to state. I'm prohibited from issuing "any plan, plat, report, or specification" to a client or public agency without affixing my seal to it.

The Report had to be stamped (by a Surveyor or Engineer)but never stamped the "Sketch".

This all happened because it was in the Bylaws and RSA's but was challenged by an Engineer. The whole sha-bang was changed because he wanted to be able to do these.

Here in NH it is up to the lender who they want to stamp it.

Live free or get out.

LOL

Answer to problem

Charge for a real survey what a real survey would cost and then charge double for a drive by and turn all the scum into the state board

what is scum
a surveyor who does not do even the minimum standards no matter what he charges
low ball or high

and then when your kind start surveying things will be better

I cannot do anything with the offending surveyor... he is out of commission, due to health, however, I am brewing up a sermon about the subject matter.
N