Value of a Survey

What constitutes a SURVEY

by itsmagic @, Tuesday, March 22, 2011, 11:17 (4 hours, 25 minutes ago) @ Gene Baker
edited by itsmagic, Tuesday, March 22, 2011, 11:21

This reminds me of a discussion I had with a rural landowner a couple of decades ago while I was surveying an oil well site on a nearby property on behalf on an energy company.

He asked me how long I expected to be in the area and asked if I would place a few lath along his property line so he could build a fence. He indicated that he would slip me $300 as a thank you.

As it turned out, the property line in question ran for a mile through a largely forested area. After a search, I determined that the original monumentation defining the property line had been lost requiring re-establishment. After having a search done by my office and reviewing what I would need to do to locate his property boundary for a fence including the physical effort to run and mark the the line, I gave him an estimate that was closer to $1500 not counting travel time. This was in the pre-GPS days so there was substantial work required to re-establish the property line.

He got quite upset, telling me that all he wanted were 'a few lath' put up so he could build his fence. I explained that what he really needed were 'a few lath in the right place'. It was the last part that cost $1500; I would have provided the lath for free.

I think that we often overlook the fact that we provide a service to build a survey plan per legislated requirements and professional standards to protect public interests, not just sell the finished survey plan as a commodity.