Surveyor Rant

[dodge man]

Um, the points goes down, we set the equipment up over the head of the nail. For nails, I actually use something more like the size of a landscape spike.

 

[KennyG]

The situation surprises me. I've had a number of surveys done and never found any evidence of the surveyors presence except the actual boundary markers. I always drove a metal post at the marker and put a pvc pipe over it. When I needed a survey again, I only got a paper showing markers "FIP" (Found In Place).

 

[coralhead]

That being said I should note I have nothing against surveyors, most are very professional, why in fact "some of my best friends are surveyors"

That being said, ask them how they put in traverse points. I'm quite sure they will tell you that they put the pointy ends in first.

 

[CobyRupert]

Well excuse me, I should of said "sharp nails sticking up", instead of "sharp pointed nails sticking up". What now, an argument about the sharpness of the edges of the nail head or whether than can damage tires, animals, people? My point still stands! (err, stands...pointed down)

 

[95XL883]

Wow. Some pretty strong opinions here. To the OP, I understand and appreciate your aggravation at a potential hazard left on your property. But you found it and pulled it. Good on you. You were absolutely right to do so.

Dodge Man has said it well. There are any number of people who come onto my property to do their job.

The electric coop sent their crews to trim all brush away from their poles. They left debris, i.e., limbs dumped on my ground. Not happy about it but they fit in the bed of my truck so I picked them up and put them in a burn pile. They stretched the fence wire where they climbed over it. I'm not happy about it but is an old fence and I don't have animals as it doesn't enclose a space anyway.

AT&T came through recently replacing an underground cable. At least now I know where it is. But they killed a 15' wide half mile strip of grass that is now a huge weed strip. I'm going to make "lemonade" out of it by glyphosating the weeds and planting perennial wild flowers. If successful, I won't have to mow it any more and my wife has been wanting a big sunflower/rudbeckia planting for some time. On the plus side, they "fixed" part of my fence that had been bent to a 45 degree angle, presumably by some piece of equipment catching it as it was towed along the road.

I have a neighbor who use to let his dog pack run free. The pit bull was particularly aggressive and I will shoot him if he ever threatens me or mine again. But the neighbor understood and after a while put up a dog proof fence to contain his pack.

I had to have my property re-surveyed when I bought it as a most of the corner pins couldn't be found. They left a couple of those spikes but I found them and pulled them. (The corners are now marked with 1/2' rebar set in concrete as part of the survey.) I'm not happy with the original surveyor. He made a big mistake in the original survey. If I was the litigious sort, attorneys would have a field day at his expense. I'm not happy about having to spend $1,100 to correct his mistake (but I got the seller to pay for half of it) and now it is done right.

I'm not going to let these "slights" stop my enjoyment of my ground. If I catch somebody doing it, I will press them to fix any problems they cause. My survey is now correct and permanently marked. Where appropriate I added fence to stop any boundary confusion before it started. At least your neighbor is trying to understand where his property lines are. It would have been nice if the surveyor had picked up after himself but likely he forgot and doesn't intend you harm. If you are having to brush hog, do you have other obstacles that could damage your tires. I count myself lucky that I haven't had a flat tire from the locust thorns or busted equipment from a rock or stump. There are a lot more of those than a couple of survey spikes.

JD, I hope you are able to enjoy your property. Yeah, the surveyor should have cleaned up after himself, but he didn't and you do have choices should you ever need a survey again. If the surveyor ever comes back, talk to him. Most likely he will pick up after himself with some gentle reminding. Good luck and I do hope you can enjoy your property.

 

[Pettrix]

Out in Arizona they have strong private property laws. If you have a sign displaying No Trespassing with the ARS code, people cannot enter your land, if they do they can be arrested and charged with criminal trespass. No police warning needed. As long as you have the sign posted.

As far as surveying go. Out here they put on REBAR pins and I hate that since a tractor or any tube tire vehicle can run that over and puncture/destroy their tire. I put rebar caps over the exposed rebar. Not to mention, a person or animal can be impaled by exposed rebar.

 

[TractorGuy]

On another note the surveyor that did the property next door (this instance is behind my property) that also left nails couldn't find all the existing corner markers so he set one,,, 2 feet from the concrete marker he failed to find. The funny thing is he simply uncovered and wrapped tape around the concrete markers he located and agreed with. My tape measure showed him 2 feet off with the one he set so I dug around and found the marker he couldn't find. Yup, it was 2 feet away from the one he set and matched the distance shown on the county plat. I know he didn't locate it because it had vegetation growing on top of it that wasn't disturbed. He also tried and failed to locate a corner marker 60 feet away because I saw where he dug and left the hole. After I located the marker he set a new one for. I simply pulled my tape 60 feet in the direction the other marker should have been and found it with 3 sticks of a long screwdriver.

The moral of that story was the guy couldn't read a tape measure and got lazy. There is no way he should agree with the middle marker and set a new one 2 feet beyond the distance shown on the county plat.

 

[TractorGuy]

Out in Arizona they have strong private property laws. If you have a sign displaying No Trespassing with the ARS code, people cannot enter your land, if they do they can be arrested and charged with criminal trespass. No police warning needed. As long as you have the sign posted.

As far as surveying go. Out here they put on REBAR pins and I hate that since a tractor or any tube tire vehicle can run that over and puncture/destroy their tire. I put rebar caps over the exposed rebar. Not to mention, a person or animal can be impaled by exposed rebar.

Wish we had those laws here!

All the corner markers on my property are 4" square concrete with a stamped metal button in the center. The new marker the guy set on one corner for the neighbor is rebar with a plastic cap on it.

 

[CCWKen]

Shortly after I got this property, I was planning to build a shop on the corner. I had a surveyor come out and cut 1 acre on corner. All I found was wooden stakes with ribbons. I had to drive my own rebar markers then I put about a cup full of concrete around the top of them to make them easier to find. I decided against the shop and declaring it commercial property but the rods are still there. I mow it but if I ever work (plow) that area, I'll have to locate the inside corner rod and pull it.

Also; apparently, surveying is more accurate today. The survey they did when I bought the property 20 years ago was slightly different than when it was cut from the original farm 50 years ago. My back corner changed by about a foot to my loss so the neighbor's fence doesn't line up with it either. :confused3:

 

[oosik]

Hmmmm.......... I really don't mind if a surveyor wants to cross or enter my property. They are not the type of individual that will be causing any problems. My property is a remanent of a government homestead granted in 1892 for - of all dam things - oil exploration. My SE corner is a section corner so when a neighbor down the way wanted his property surveyed - the surveyor came back and established my SE, NE & NW corners by survey. The SW corner is out in the middle of my big lake and nobody - including myself - gives a toot about that.

BTW - all my 80 acres was by meets & bound description.