A client of mine just paid over $18.00 a foot up in Knoxville Tennessee for a "survey" that was more what I call a PRE-Survey which many surveyors do for from free -to a couple hundred bucks at most for a similar two page report. I've never seen such a minimal report in my life- with zero itemization of equipment! ZERO, and I mean from galley to batteries to engine room- to electronics..Have them? I don't know!!!
Said; "it rained the day before so I didn't use a moisture meter (probably didn't own one) but I tapped around with my hammer, it seemed good". Didn't bother to put water in the tanks to check the pressure system. Said the standing water in the lazarette "was probably from the cockpit being washed the day before"- and according to the owner apparently didn't know where switches were at when he got the recommendations of "Nav lights not working, spot light not working" (they do).
First he accidentally emailed me the survey he had done on the boat in 2011-it actually was even more minimal than this one, because on this one I personally told him areas I wanted inspected!! I called him and asked "why does your survey say the boat was blocked so didn't run engines, yet you told me you ran the engines tied to cleats for 30 minutes". Ooops. Oh, I love his sentence "bimini rail bent from inadvertent accident" -vs a accident on purpose? lol
Asked me if I knew a broker who had sent him to do several surveys for her. Happy to say, I've never met her. I shudder to think of the boats these clowns pushed. Doesn't subscribe to Soldboats.com either, so he just pulls figures out of his ass.
I've recommended the owner ask for his money back, and hire another surveyor and I'm going to report him to SAMS. Certified my ass! Oh-the photos? NO jpegs, just emailed us what appears to be a scanned copy of a PDF- all little postage stamp sized images, none labeled, some sideways on a page that may or may not be recent, as not dated either, but none of the 3 staterooms, or the 2 heads. None of the bottom from either survey!
PM me, and I'll tell you who this guy is. Unbelievable there's guys like this out there charging that kind of money. I emailed him a REAL survey of a same model boat, so he at least now knows what a survey should look like.
Had another boat surveyed yesterday by Bill Gladding in Jacksonville Florida. Now- HE'S A EXCELLENT SURVEYOR. You want to see thin guys with muscles wearing knee pads carrying the right equipment with them. Failed the **** out of the boat though, but we got our moneys worth- PLUS. Oh, I would like to do a shout out for Lambs Yacht Center for hauling, and cleaning the bottom of a 57' boat for only two hundred and Fifty bucks!! Buyer asked three times "you sure?" WOW.