[Jims5543]

Sorry for the lack of replies, I was out of town over the weekend and did not want to reply on my phone.

Originally Posted by SCadaddle

Let me ask you this question:

"Name at least one other Profession that freely gives away their work product that was a result of a contract by two parties, to a third party and thereby extends their liability from the initial contract to the next party without compensation?"

I am guessing that the State of Florida does not have a mandatory survey/plat recording law, otherwise a trip to the courthouse or online they could get what they need without contacting you.

And that's my take as a Professional Land Surveyor.

I agree I guess I am venting. There is no profession where they give anything for free.


In most all of these cases I am referring to Mortgage style surveys for Real Estate closings, I moved away from Builders and Developers in 2008-2010 and aligned with a few title companies, some use my company exclusively. They kept my doors open from 2008-2016.

Now building is alive again, I work for one tract home builder and a few small mom and pop builders. I really do not want to get back into development heavy again. Too much stress.

I mostly work with title companies now, they keep me busy and to be honest, I like the work, I am out looking for other surveyors mistakes. I am shocked how many times I find them too.

There is no state law concerning filing every survey with the state. There is a platting law, all plats are filed and recorded in the public records.

There are local building department rules, the last survey they require filed is a form board survey. Therefore that is of no use to a mortgage company.

The title company receives copies and it is assumed they include on with the closing package as well as file one.

There is a form Title Companies have, it requires an older survey and the homeowner signing the form that states there are no changes to their properties.

It is amazing what people will sign to save a few hundred bucks. They will even lie.

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

How do they know which surveyor to contact for records of a particular property?
Everywhere I've lived a copy of every survey is required to be filed with the county. If you need a copy of the survey, you go to the county.
Not knowing your particular circumstance, I would think you could say, "I provide copies of surveys for $35, but you can get them from the county for free."

If I provide a copy of a survey for $35 I then assumed the liability of whatever transaction is occurring at the moment. See above about the recording rules here.

Obviously they have either a formboard survey from the building department, or a copy of a copy of a copy from a previous owner or from an older closing. That is how they know I surveyed the property.

We do get the odd phone call from people fishing around trying to find out if you surveyed their property.

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

Just had my place surveyed. We had maps and old surveys, but only one of the original monuments could be found. The survey revealed that many decades of assumptions about the boundaries were wrong. My western boundary line runs straight north for 400 feet, then goes north northeast for 1000 feet. There is a steep ravine that runs the same direction. Everyone assumed the boundary line ran on the eastern ridge of the ravine. Nope. It runs on flat land 20 feet east of the ravine - through my utility building and my chicken barn and ends in a creek.
One piece of my property has been assumed to be a part of my neighbor's field. He is currently farming it. I'm not sure what to do about that. It's only a couple thousand square feet, but I'm paying taxes on it and he's using it to make a profit. That seems like something that should be corrected, but how?

That is why I did not rely on older surveys I will use them as a reference to help locate monumentation outside that I am running out the land and yes I have found problems that were not found by the previous surveyor.

I am sure SCadaddle has his list like I do, there are surveyors out there you just never trust, you know they suck. Those are the ones that give discounts if you give them another surveyors work, they just copy it. I am sure that is what happened with that attorney I discussed in my first post. That property was very old and was very complicated, we put a lot of work into that survey and now another surveyor most likely copied it and did not actually survey that land.

Those types are in every profession.

I work for a large pool company here in town, a few times now, they depended on notoriously bad surveyors work and it burned them. Now, whenever they have a tight fit, they have me go out and re-survey the property so they are sure they are not going to have a problem.


Thanks for all the replies fellas, it was insightful and helpful.