Land Surveyor Delays and Non-Response
I hired a land surveyor back in September of last year for a county project (residential replat).
The surveyor finished the three documents (boundary survey, plat page 1 and 2) as per county requirements in January.
I submitted these to the county with my application for replat the same day.
Within a month, the county sent the requested changes back to me. I had kept the surveyor posted throughout the process of receiving new (unofficial) changes from the county, so they would have an idea of the changes requested before they were officially sent back.
Most of the changes were simple document changes, ex.) removal county commissioner’s legal agreement, add square footage and acreage of proposed lot, remove signature block on this page, replace signature block with xyz text, etc. Maybe 8 of these small changes total, only two pertaining to survey data.
After a month of the surveyor having the official changes requested by the county, I reached out to the email address I was in most contact with. No response.
After another email and non response, I sent one to all emails I had on file for them. I received a response from an email address I rarely communicated with prior. They apologized for the delay and assured me they would prioritize finishing it.
A month went by. I emailed them requesting updates, briefly explaining that we are intending to build our home after the replat is finalized, hence the anticipation on our end. No response.
A surveyor I know personally told me it is unacceptable and that those changes would take a couple hours maximum. He advised me to email daily, concerned that the initial survey could even expire. He was not concerned about the contract and he has told me that the surveying board (Florida) would find the lack of responses and the delays to be unprofessional.
He believes that because they are paid in full, they no longer care to provide the service in a reasonable amount of time.
My biggest concern is that our contract protects the company against delays, stating:
“Circumstances outside of our control such as inclement weather, lack of boundary control, and workload at the time your authorization is received could delay estimated turnaround time. Reasonable efforts will be made to complete work at the earliest possible date. If work is cancelled for any reason you will be invoiced for time and expenses incurred to the point of cancellation. Under no circumstances shall (Land Surveying Company) be liable to Customer for any claim or damages INCLUDING CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES arising or resulting from any delay in (Land Surveying Company’s) performance of its work hereunder, regardless of whether the delay is caused by factors beyond its
control or whether the delay is caused by acts or neglect of (Land Surveying Company).”