“If you wish to get someone else to
take the survey/civil from here, please do so. This is our first job with you,
we have several repeat clients who have to get first priority, we are doing our
very best to accommodate you, but by constant phone calls and emails it is hard
to get work done.”

I want to fire him but I paid
him 1,000 so far ($500 in balance) for the existing plot plan. I am afraid that
if I just take that and walk it will be a waste since I still need a proposed
plot plan and the new land surveyor will most likely want to start from
scratch.
In our contract he states that the existing plan would take 1-2 weeks but then
doesn't give any time frames for the rest of the work. So technically he has
breached the contract since I still don't have the final As-Is Plan.

Any ideas of what to do?

I do not think they are breach in contract as they are right that clients before you are on the priority list. It took a while for us as well as there were several folks in front of us. After about 3 weeks I sent one email and after two more weeks I just gave a phone call. You have to give them a chance to do their work and constant emails/phone calls are aggravating. I do not mean to hurt your feelings, but just hang in there and they will get it done. Now - for our second survey - we needed it asap and I offered extra money to expedite the process - seemed to work.

This is the time of the year when owners either realize they need a survey to get a building permit or they finally have enough information to be able to show the new footprint. Surveyors are typically overwhelmed for the entire month so delays should be expected and part of your schedule.

However, it is entirely inappropriate for him to put "repeat" customers ahead of you; work should be on a first come first served basis but those customers may be what keeps him in business. I suspect he mentioned his other customers in an unprofessional attempt to offend you so you will fire him. Usually surveyors just refuse to return calls. I try not to use slow surveyors again but you should never fight with them because you may need them again some day.

If the first product you received from them was wrong, they are less then adequately responsive, and they are not meeting your contractual timeline then I think that at the very least you will be less than satisfied in the final product or timeline.

I am very particular, if you can't do what you say you are going to do or at least advise me when variables are going to change what I am paying for, I would rather find someone that can...

I agree with Ren8 that it is inappropriate for him to place repeat customers ahead of you (and what I'm hearing is, "I'm serving the developers who give me repeat work instead of you, the piddly-small home owner.")

And customer service /communication with the client is a part of any job, even if this guy doesn't seem to like that part of the work.

You have two choices:

- Walk away, go with someone else, and lose money. Only you know whether this is a big deal or a small deal for you. However, this means that, as you say, you "start from scratch" ... and you're still delayed.

- Stick with this guy and put up with his crap, which you may have made worse -- it sounds like you've already broached the topic of leaving /going with someone else. That doesn't usually make workers like you. The big concern here is that he made mistakes on part one of the work. IF you stick with him, I'd say email back and tell him you're sorry that you're bothering him so much, but if he will give you a solid date on when you can count on the work being done, you'll gladly step back and wait 'til that date.

I think you have to walk a fine line here. On the one hand, I would not recommend putting up with shoddy work and allowing yourself to be a doormat ... but, on the other hand, people in your area all know the other people who are connected to construction work. Your builder knows all the plumbers, who know all the cabinet guys, who know all the electricians, who know all the guys down in the permit office. If you royally piss off one, you may become the subject of casual conversation, and your other contractors may be wary of you (or may pad their bids to put up with what they see as a potentially problematic client). Fair? No, but what is? Again, you have to walk a fine line.

The situation is clearly unfair but I don't see a proactive choice that would benefit the OP. To build a house you sometimes have to roll with the punches and move on to the next problem.

But ask your contractor if he has any influence with the surveyor. But I warn you that I did that last year and it turned out they hated each other and it took even longer to get the survey.

Thanks for the feedback.

One thing I think I did wrong was to just accept his flimsy
letter agreement and not to have a real contract with specific deadlines for
every phase of the work. Not that they
would stick to the schedule but so that I would be in a better legal position. Right
now he’s treating me like the proverbial red headed adopted step child.

Mrspete, I have asked several times for a schedule going
forward thinking I could use that to keep him on track but he keeps refusing to
answer. Since the relationship is pretty
strained I don’t want to push it just yet. I guess for this week at least I will back off and see what
gets done.

Colfoster, it isn't the case that he has a line and I just need to wait for those ahead me. He has made it clear that he has pushed me out of line and is taking care of his regular clients first even though they signed on after me. I still think this is a breach since he missed the deadline by 4-5 weeks and counting for just the first phase.

Anyone have an idea of how long it should take for a typical
land survey/civil engineering study during the busy season? I was looking at
other quotes and they were in the 3-4 week time frame but I got those quotes
back in February.

Btw I posted the same question on AVVO (legal help
forum). So far only one lawyer had responded
and basically said to get a lawyer… no surprises there but if it comes to that
I will.

gosh, I read that wrong - so sorry my friend. I thought he was just doing other projects that he was working on prior to yours but after re-reading your post and seeing that "repeat" folks get favoritism is certainly not cool. But Renovator is right - sometimes you have to just sit back and roll with it and think that in about one years time, you will be thru with all this mess and into your new home creating memories. I wish you the best of luck my friend!

Personally at this point, I'd go find a new surveyor and then take him to small claims to get back what you paid. Just before you do, make sure you have it all documented in writing that he said he's putting others ahead of you and that what he did send you was wrong. No need for a lawyer if it's under I believe $5000.

colfoster, no need to apologize. I appreciate any feedback and comments that are offered. I agree that for now at least I will back off and roll with it.
Going forward I am wondering how to best avoid this kind of situation. I am about to engage a structural engineer and am thinking about what type of contract to use. Unfortunately he is very laid back and has said he doesn't typically use a contract. I think his clients just pay for the work when its finished. I am not sure if he even asks for a deposit. So if I want a tight contract, I need to walk a fine line so I don't get hit with the "pain in the ass" surcharge.

cpartist, it may come to that. For now at least I will give him a week or so to see if anything happens. Also it depends on what my crack legal team on AVVO has to say.

I should also mention that he never sent me back a signed copy of the
letter contract/proposal despite several requests for him to do so. I need to check but I think that the fact that he wrote the contract, cashed my deposit and started the work should mean that the
contract is enforceable even without his signature. Again I am waiting on legal advice.

Chill! This is (unfortunately) only the first in a long line of delays that you will face in construction. Hurry up and wait is more the rule than the exception. Time for some measured breathing and meditation to get you through the whole process! You can't make yourself crazy at the beginning. You have a long way to go full of delays.

Don't get sidetracked; you're building a house so your concern is not with bad behavior but money and time. A new surveyor and legal action could easily double the cost and time required and that is definitely not in your interests so keep yore on the ball. There is also the matter of the advantages you mentioned for using this surveyor.

It usually takes me 4 to 6 weeks to get a survey and in the early spring or late fall that can turn into 2 to 3 months. It doesn't take long to create a survey with modern instruments and CAD. What takes time is that a survey company often only has a few field surveyors and you have to get in line. If the weather is bad or a surveyor gets sick they can get seriously backed up.

But I do know a surveyor who will meet me at the site within the hour and draw it by hand in his truck. He tends to make obvious mistakes but lets me correct them and he drops by to stamp the final copy later. He once met me in a snow storm at noon the day before Christmas. I don't recommend this approach but you gotta go with what works.

oh, the memories, just went through this issue myself... best advice is to be very polite and persistent. I would limit check-ins to 2x per week email or phone, put a note on your calendar to call every Monday / Thursday. Never have an email war, much better to talk in person and just use email to document facts (price / timelines). I hired a land surveyor to produce permit plans and it took them 9 weeks to produce, we started last November and it was late January before the County approved. It was like it was their first time doing it. Some mistakes that they made were: Impervious surface calculations, tree save calculations, threshold elevations, building ht elevations, req'd details, retaining wall ht ordinances, water retention ordinance, the list goes on. Really I nor my builder cared to much about the mistakes, it was just to get the permit through, but the County kicked it back 3 times before our builder talked to an inspector he knew at the County. If you decide to go to another firm, ask for the electronic files (probably some version of autocad), might be able to save you some money / re-survey at new firm.

So, one take-away for the rest of us is, Have your surveys done mid-summer or mid-winter.

Not mid winter in FL. that's prime season.

Live_wire_oak has good advice. This is the first step in a marathon. Everyone is going to estimate the turnaround time optimistically, and end up taking longer than predicted. If you're thinking legal action every time there's a delay, you're going to pay your lawyer more than you pay your builder, and not end up with a house.

A nudge now and then is fine, but too frequent reminders doesn't endear you to the trades. And as much as you think your money should be the motivation to get things done, the fact is, all their customers have money, so if you want to be the priority, you gotta be liked. Apologize for annoying him, tell him you look forward to the updated plans when he gets to them, and consider this practice for dealing with the utility marking guys (the next step once you have permits), and then the excavators, and cribbers, and framers, ...

I agree with you on that amberm. In fact when we renovated our condo five years ago, our GC told us three months. DH and I just looked at one another and laughed. We were correct. It was over 6 months before he was done and we were moved in and he was still doing punch list things.

Our builder is telling us that we'll be in our home 6 months after he gets approval from the town. So I figure I'll be renting for a year if we decide to sell our condo early. :)

However, what led me to say what I did was the fact that 1. he was given a time, then told he was being put on the back burner for the surveyor's regular clients and 2. what little the OP got back from the surveyor was incorrect and 3. the surveyor basically telling the OP to go somewhere else.

Yes, cpartist, if it was one or 2 reasonably timed phone calls, and the surveyor freaked out, told the client he was busy with his other clients and that the client should go elsewhere, then I would request the retainer be returned and I would gladly go find someone less busy. But it's been a week since the revisions were asked for, and the surveyor "keeps blowing me off". A week for a change to a drawing is about the minimum time I would expect, given the first drawing took at least 3-4 weeks? Today would probably be my first call. But it sounds like OP has made enough calls already to be considered an impact to the surveyor's time. And that's why the surveyor is probably telling him that he's given priority to the other clients, I'm guessing.

Yes, if he's actually put the OP on the back burner in favour of existing clients, then I wonder how he's ever gotten repeat business. But firing him now is going to mean a longer delay, and even more money lost. And unfortunately, it's not going to be the last person who acts unprofessionally in this venture, so if OP doesn't have a favourite drink yet, he soon will.

Amberm he said the first drawings took 5 weeks to receive and he had been told 3-4 weeks for everything. Everything was supposed to consist of: (as-is plot plan, proposed plot plan done by a land surveyor, drainage calculations/storm-water design and a proposed grading plan done by a civil engineer)

He hasn't gotten everything. Only the as is plan and that was incorrect. I don't know if after the 4th week the OP started bugging the surveyor or exactly what happened. However if the surveyor had promised it all by week 4 and he's now on week 6 and still has only the bare bones, then I think the OP has a legitimate gripe, unless the surveyor had written him with a legitimate reason why he was behind. And people do overestimate and wind up being behind. Life does sometimes happen to throw everyone off.

Maybe we should suggest amarula for the op too?

I think I should have been more clear in the specific timing of events. Despite what he said about my being I nuisance, I only started to get on him this past Thursday. The catalyst was his employee telling me that they were swamped working with other developers and couldn't tell me when they would get to mine. From the conversation it was obvious that these projects weren't 6 weeks old projects but were just recently engaged.

As CP said, this was after getting a shoddy plot plan 3-4 weeks late.

I would say a case of Vodka is required. CP I think Amarula would make a good mixer:)

OK, I misunderstood. If I had been calling this late in the game, and been told that my hounding him was preventing him from getting it done, I'd probably respond with "So what's your excuse for the last 3 weeks when I wasn't harassing you?" And since he's fine with you finding someone else, and has so much work from other clients, he should be fine with returning your fees.

So frustrating I feel for you but as others have said, get used to it. Our land surveyor provided the first in a long line of /facepalm moments. He promised four things...delivered one...late...which was actually off by a few feet costing us about 3 weeks in time and $8K in additional excavation and removal costs. Plus now the garage ceiling (hence the door) is a foot lower than intended, and there are three more stairs down to the patio on the other side of the house which will cause even more costs once we factor in the additional railing and concrete etc. I should sue! But yeah, actually, I would just like to get the home finished at this point.

So best they do it right as opposed to quickly.