Show us why the public should always call a land surveyor

Where are you surveying?

MARK GREGORY HILL posted a status
May 13, 2019
Kinda retired. Got throat cancer from smoking. Had the laryngectomy in 2012. Doing well so I don’t have much else new or to talk about. Lots of doctor visits and PET scans. So far it hasn’t returned in any form. Guess I got lucky. Caught it early helped tremendously. I try to get people I see smoking to quit but they act the same way I did. Just some of the same stupid replies “gotta go someway, hahahahaha” but doesn’t have to be by a way that can be prevented. I’ll be one of the first to admit, it’s a tough thing to quit. Gets you both mentally and physically. It was a nervous habit for me. There can be a lot of pressure on someone to meet a deadline and try to hurry and “git er done”. Then it’s to the next one and same thing, hop out jump on it. Many people have different approaches to speed things up and have their own style. Hopefully they don’t forget the main thing and that’s to do it right. That was my approach. I didn’t necessarily try to hurry. My main plan was do it right and if there were any ways to speed things up that was an after thought but not primary. I know it’s tough and easy to think about and try to cut corners with all the competition nowadays. I know it can depend on the client and they don’t like to delay a closing. Heaven forbid you misspell a name, even the uncommon ones or get a job for a celebrity and it’s got to be top secret even though it’s going to be a part of public records normally but there’s different kinds of pressure and different approaches to how to handle it. Almost needs to be a Union although I think that’s been tried. Kind of a monumental task to establish a Surveyors Union. And who do you go after, the registered surveyor or the I-man or maybe a Rodman’s Union. That’s going to be hard to start wherever you are and whatever direction you take. Probably 90% of the population doesn’t even know what we do. I’ve been thought of as one of those people who walk around in a mall with a notebook asking questions for their survey on how many people have cable TV as one example or being thought of as the guys that lay sod and plant flowers (landscaper). Also had the police called because someone thought we were stealing their fence. Hahahaha. That’s one of the funniest ones. I bet you’ve all got some hilarious stories too. Somehow, someone needs to organize EVERY SURVEYOR and come up with and establish a decent price scheme that’s fair to the client and everyone. I can see making a few exceptions for the elderly or someone deserving a bit of a break. I know one that doesn’t charge to do surveys for a church but that being the case the church may not get top priority over the job that’s gonna make the payroll and I don’t think it’s going to get you first in line at the heavenly gates but it is a well inspiring gesture. I guess I’m rambling and I’m preaching to the choir but seems like something needs to be done to regulate and unify the profession. Weed out the bad ones and keep the good ones. All the client sees is an outrageous cost for nothing but a piece of paper or papers and has no idea if they’ve picked a good one or a bad one. Normally that same ole saying holds true. YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR. I’ll let someone else have the soapbox now. Be careful, fair and try not to give the profession a bad name. There was once a time when the local surveyor was a respected, knowledgeable main member of the community that people trusted and were nervously or impatiently waiting on the surveyor to come out and show them or establish where their property was. Is that really what we do now. That’s what I always thought but when I read all these articles in all these magazines it sounds like that’s not even what we do. Especially with a drone. We just measure things and find pieces of steel n the ground and say that’s apparently your property boundaries. GEEZE. Somebody else’s turn on the stage or straighten me out cause I’m apparently confused. I like to think and prove I’ve found your property corners and that’s my primary concern. I don’t live on the nicest house in town or have anywhere near the most money but I’ll go out of my way to make sure you and possibly more important that your neighbors have the property that was intended. Later on dudes. Hahahahaha

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