Land Surveying: Ethics of a Land Surveyor
Not a lot of people realize that land surveying is actually a fusion of art and science. Yes, different equipments are available for the surveyor’s use, but the land surveyor still has the last say on the results.
Despite this though, a land surveyor still has several guidelines to follow. If you’ve had an experience with a dishonest surveyor, or are wary about hiring one, this article should be able to help you out.
What ethics should a land surveyor have?
A surveyor should always start a project with fairness in mind. Your client as well as everybody party involved in the project is expecting you to be fair and just so make the best possible assessment with the evidences handed to you.
Before a project commences, the surveyor assigned to the project should come forward if there’s a possibility of conflict of interest. This is very important to preserve their relationship with the client. A surveyor should avoid professional impropriety by declaring involvement or any prior affiliations with any of the involved parties. It is also the surveyor’s responsibility to keep any information regarding the project as well as the client confidential even after the project is done.
Several cases were reported where the surveyor overcharged the client. This usually happens when the client doesn’t know anything about land surveying. A land surveyor running his business with ethics will never do this. Fortunately, there are more honest land surveyors than dishonest ones.
A surveyor should charge a project according to the length of time needed to get it done as well as the level of technical complexity required for it. For the surveyor’s sake as well as the client, one should never sign plans, certificates or reports unless these are personally supervised by him. Not only is this unfair on the client’s side, doing so could put his reputation in danger should the results get disputed and he doesn’t know anything about them.
Just like with other industries, a land surveyor should never undermine the capability of other surveyors or the people from the land surveying industry.
New technologies come up for land surveying all the time. When a surveyor knows that a project is beyond his skills, he should tell the client about it. There’s no sense accepting a project only to come up with a subpar result. It will only hurt your business and your reputation.
Surveyors should also be responsible enough to study, do a thorough research, practice and utilize his skills before offering clients a new service. If a surveyor is new to flood determination, for instance, then he needs to make sure that he knows how to perform it before offering it to his clients.
Surveyors do not work alone. They usually have a staff to support them. The land surveyor needs to be responsible for their actions at all cost, for actions or work carried out by them.
For assistance in finding a land surveyor, call us at (404) 998-4474 or send us a message by clicking here.
Land Surveying: Estimating the Cost
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Land surveying, in short, is the science and art of establishing or re-establishing property corners, property lines and/or boundaries. There are different reasons why someone wants a lot surveyed.
Essentially the most common is to check if a piece of land is vulnerable to flooding, to subdivide a property to sell or deed to family members as well as to determine if there are any encroachments. This may happen if a neighbour disputes that you are using a piece of his lot or viceversa (for more on this, go here).
The Cost of Land Surveying
If you need to have a piece of land surveyed, the first thing that will come to mind is “how much will it cost?”There are plenty of factors determining exactly how much land surveying for your land would cost.
The fact that this type of service must be carried out by an expert contributes a great deal to the overall cost of the service, but choosing a non-professional to survey your land is dangerous and possibly illegal for the non-professional. Because of this you have to take a good look around before settling with a surveying company.
If you must work within a particular budget, discuss this with the surveyor up-front. Very often he may be able to offer cost saving steps to get the work you need done within these cost limits. The form of the land must also be looked into. A square or even a rectangle piece of land is somewhat easier to survey than an odd shaped parcel, or one with many different sides.
With the latter, the surveyor would have to take more time in surveying the curves as well as the bends which means the cost of the service would go higher.
The overall measurements the land is also key factor here. Understand that the cost of land surveying is normally proportionate to the time and effort that the land surveyor would spend on the project. If the land that you’re having surveyed isn’t accessible, or has thick vegetation, then the total price of the survey might go higher.
This is true of the varying weather conditions that might impact the work. Surveying in warm weather is somewhat slower to keep from putting the crew members in danger. Also, most surveying can’t be done in the rain.
When requesting for an estimate, bear in mind that surveyors base the estimate on expected conditions at the site. These conditions could change, bringing about additional costs. Always ask about these potential additional cost scenarios.
All that being said, competitive prices are also to be expected, this is why we recommend deciding on a surveyor based upon his experience and reputation rather than on the price he writes on a piece of paper. Usually it is better to invest a good amount of money on a survey that’s well-done rather than choose a company with a very “affordable” price but have the survey repeated because the results were wrong.
To sum it up, you should always discuss the expenses of the survey before you decide to ask the surveyor to start his work. It’s also wise to receive a contract that lets you know what is expected of the land surveyor. This is one of the most important steps in getting your land surveyed.
For a free land surveying quote, call us at (888) 936-8426 or send us a message by going here.