Sawyer Land Surveying, Inc.
Serving San Diego, CA and surrounding areas
Free estimates
"Spring of 2015, I commissioned Sawyer Land Surveying Inc to survey my newly-purchased property, a single family home. The new survey monuments Matt Sawyer placed showed that part of a dilapidated block wall which was an architectural match to and had originally enclosed my home appeared to encroach on my neighbor's property by a few inches. I brought up this inconsistency to Matt, who dismissed my concerns. I relied on Matt's survey to make significant development improvements to the property, including replacing the dilapidated wall with a new one, within my property boundaries. My tearing down the old wall, which had been part of my property for eighty years, caused my next door neighbor to react violently: he threatened to kill me, threatened my contractors, one of whom quit as a result, harassed my family, abused his position at the City to interfere in the development of my property, and even sued me frivolously, an action he lost with prejudice, but I still had to waste my time and resources in litigation. The neighbor relied on Matt's survey to build himself a wood fence, and had the permit signed off by a City inspector friend of his who did not verify the fence was not encroaching on my property. Then, in 2019, while browsing the Survey Records System, I found another neighbor's survey subsequent to Matt's, by another surveyor, who identified a four inch error in Matt's calculations. I pointed this out to Matt, who admitted to his error, quickly refunded my fees, and tried to get me to sign a release so I would not take action against him, a release I refused to sign. After confirming that the neighbor's fence was now on my property by several inches, I asked Matt for his insurance information so I could file a claim, but he refused, clinging to the disingenuous argument that "a few inches is not an encroachment". My goal was for Matt to acknowledge that his error had consequences on my family and me but he refused. So I sued Matt in small claims court in the hope that he would take some measure of responsibility for the impact the erroneous survey had on my family. Too late to sue, said the judge, erroneously referring to the wrong statute of limitations. Courts don’t always get it right, but no matter…. Damage caused by Matt’s error was done, I will never get my time and energy back. Relationship with the neighbor is forever damaged. The goal of the lawsuit was not to get money from Matt. Indeed, prior to the hearing, Matt offered me $1K to avoid the lawsuit, but he missed the point of the whole thing; Take responsibilty, be accountable, acknowledge that errors have consequences. When we buy land survey services, we expect accuracy within established standards. Matt's survey of my property was off by a magnitude of five times those standards. It is possible, even probable that Matt Sawyer nowadays double-checks his work, but the reality is that the probability of anybody catching him on an error is low to none. What is certain, though, in my opinion, is that Matt Sawyer is unwilling, and unable to recognize that errors in his work have consequences. Not in his character."
Recommended by94%of homeowners
