Evolve or die

[Jims5543]

Funny story, and a lesson learned*. Last year I was working with a home owner permitting a detached garage on his 1 acre property.

I got it through permitting just fine.

He was doing a complete owner builder deal on this garage. As he was placing his form boards based off my building lay out, he decided to raise his forms up 4 inches higher as he felt it worked better with the land around it, I did not disagree.

The county however, had a meltdown and forced him to create a new drainage plan because he raised the slab on the 20x40 building in the middle of a 1 acre lot 4 inches.  If he had raised it 3 inches there would not be a problem, the 4th inch was the problem.

He was livid, why does a new drainage plan need to be created? Nothing is changing regarding drainage. The clerk who rejected him dug in and held her ground. 

When I met with him to give him his new drainage plans he was still hot and told me he dives into peoples backgrounds as part of his job, he is in cyber security of some sort. We did not get into specifics.

What he did tell me is that the girl that rejected him has zero construction background nor education. He degree is a Bachelors degree in "art and science" from FSU. He knew her GPA her SAT scores the clases she took, I am willing to bet her credit score too. LMAO!!

He was pissed, he said to me how does someone who never built a single thing in their life tell me how to build things? I told him, because she has a checklist she is going down and that change set off an alarm.

*that is what I learned, they have no idea what they are looking at when they review my survey, they are only looking at a checklist and then checking off the items as "present" on the survey. They can be completely wrong, they just have to be on there.

Sometimes pool companies come to me to perform formboard tie in surveys on jobs I did not permit. I charge extra money to take these on, many are happy to pay my premium because the company they started with will tell them it will take 3-4 week to get to the form board tie in, when I am 3-4 days because common sense tells me a formboard tie in is holding up a concrete pour.

I then get a copy of what those companies submitted for permitting the project, I then get to see the level of BS, or should I say, their apparent knowledge that no one is REALLY looking at anything. They are just looking to see you put it on there.

One pool permit I looked at had the pool deck 20 feet over the roof of the house, no one batted an eye at that and passed the permit application.

As long as the item is on there, they do not care if it is right or wrong they just want to check the box.

I would never buy a house built here in the last 5 years.

As Covid was hitting all the competent old school employees in the building departments all retired. The result is a crop of Gen X and Z kids that have no idea what they are doing but are experts if you ask them.

That has been something I have noticed changed in the last 5 years making permitting any project hell on earth.

[Jims5543]

It is amazing what kind of tech is coming out.

This past Tuesday I met my surveyor buddies for beers.  One of the guys that comes out with us is a very smart equipment salesman.

He mentioned he purchased a new Tacoma, we went out to check it out after we were done. Then, this brilliant man busts this out, its a wearable, and mountable (as in mount on your vehicle) Lidar/GPS locator.



Right now, when I used my GPS and Robot, I have to set up the robot in various places, then physically walk up to each item on the ground that needs to be located (walkways, pads, utilities etc) then stand behind the robot and locate everything else (house, fences, power poles).

With this lider, I take a stroll around the property, it maps it all out.  Then I mount it on a survey pole and locate my property corners.

A job that is taking me 60-90 minutes in the field can now be completed in 10-15 minutes.

I am trying to get the salesman to come and give me a demonstration start to finish, then I am putting my younger son, who works for me through the classes to train him to post process the field data.

This is a huge game changer. The timing of this amazing little tool coming into my life sucks. I just purchased a used Tacoma 4X4 to replace Bernie (the PriusV) It has a V6 too which was important to me. The 4cyl models are pigs.

[Jims5543]

2 weeks ago I looked to see how much A.R.E. Tonneau covers were.  They are over $2300 now, last time I purchased one ages ago, it was $1200.

The equipment guy above had a Rough Country Tonneau on his Tacoma, I looked into it, they were around $700, plus I like this design better, it is easy to fold it back out of the way if you need an open bed.

The younger son and I installed it last night, it took about 45 minutes to install. Then I spent another 45 minutes screwing with the alignment.

Last night I learned, these new pickups do not have metal beds anymore, I thought there was a bed liner in this one, that is the actual bed, the entire bed is plastic now.     

I remembered from my Mini Pickup, the side rails are somewhat flimsy, the same here with this Tacoma, there was obviously a tweak or something going on with the side rails. I had to mess around for a while to get the topper to close correctly. Its still not perfect but it works.

It will keep honest people from stealing, a person with no moral compass could get in there in a minute or two if they wanted to.

[MiniDave]

Plastic bed? That's a surprise! Never have to worry about rust I guess....

[MPlayle]

Toyota Tacomas have had plastic beds since about 2008.

[94touring]

I assumed liner.  My 03 tundra is metal.

[Jims5543]

I assumed liner.  My 03 tundra is metal.

I also have an 05 Taco, it has a metal bed with a liner.  I have not owned a Taco newer than 2005 until now, I was amazed it was made out of plastic.

[Jims5543]

2022 was a bad year, I made some adjustments, moved away from builders and existing home sales and tried to succeeded in transitioning into more high end recession proof clients.  I was glad to see the writing on the wall and transition like this, at the same time keeping close contact with my sleepy existing clients just in case they wake back up.

They have not woken up.

In 2022 I laid off Nick the Stoner, he was working in the field and was not really a hard worker, just a pulse that showed up every day. I did not replace him.

Then in 2023 Office Dori left and I did not replace her. My wife works part time with a subcontractor service filling in the rest.

This made me even more efficient.

I am so efficient that I turned my best profit ever since 2008 in 2024.  So unexpected, I had to write an additional $11K check to the IRS this week. My wife, got the initial call from our CPA giving the "bad news".

After hearing her freak out in a phone call to me I reminded her. People would kill to be in our shoes. In these situations I always remember  Howard Stern talking about Wesley Snipes when he went to jail for refusing to pay taxes. Howard said, everyone in this country would LOVE to be in his shoes, where he makes so much money he has to pay millions in taxes. That is hitting the lottery in life.

I ALWAYS remember that, I paid more in taxes this year than most make in a year, am I mad? Nope! I am grateful that I cracked the code to be in this position. I have no solid number regarding how much I personally paid this year, I will in a couple of weeks when my CPA gives me my returns. (In Florida, for whatever reason, we have until 30 April to file, we have an extension, I am assuming because of the hurricanes last year.)

I called my CPA and my first words were "I heard the fantastic news!!" she laughed, I then told her, there is no bad news here, only good, we crushed 2024 and I am not even slightly upset over the additional taxes, that means we are doing very well.


My company turned a 153K profit last year, I can honestly write a 153K check to myself tomorrow without penalty if I wanted to deplete the business account. I will not do that. I will take maybe one third of that after I bounce back from the Tacoma purchase. I like to keep a substantial amount in my business account. My CPA told me I am an extreme minority, most of their business owners bleed the place dry and panic when a 11K tax bill comes due.  I have no idea how these people stay in business.

After the housing crash I realized I need to make sure I am taken care of by ME. When all my credit was pulled in 2009 I stopped carrying any credit. Hence my keeping large balances and not using credit at all, and also insuring (not investing) in Gold and Silver.  Only buying things when I can pay cash, etc..

I obviously am too efficient so I pulled my older son aside yesterday and told him I am spreading the love. I upped his salary $200 a week or about  10k a year and told him, do not get used to it, use it to pay off debt because I might drop it if things go south.

He still gets over 10k a year in bonuses 2X 5K+ every June and December, if this trend continues, I might double that. My goal is to have him 100% debt free in 5 years. Then work on the younger kid and get him set up too.

I could leave money to my kids after I die, OR I can help them get set up now, and enjoy watching them prosper as a result while I am alive knowing I helped them.

No offense to boomers, the whole wait until I die is a greatest generation and boomer attitude, I am Gen X, I am not interested in waiting until I die so my kids can get a windfall.

How much fun is it to watch them get set at a younger age and make their lives better while you can see it? My goal is to have my 2 sons set up in homes paid off before I die. The older one is 90K away from that. The younger is saving while living at home, he has enough now for a down payment on a home. He is completely not a bother, actually he is a delight to have here, he is a fantastic cook that makes dinner for us once a week and is fattening us up with his fetish for home based deserts which he is very good at, those Heath Bar cookies on the counter right now are calling me. LOL!

I told him to stay home and save until he can pay cash for a house, he has his own side of the house and is not bothering us at all.

With house prices being bonkers, we/he are in a holding pattern until we can figure out what the right move is.

[MiniDave]

I agree with you about giving it to them while young enough, especially if they're using it to make real progress in their lives like yours are.

Two of my grandchildren already own homes, and a third is about ready to pull the trigger on one, along with another great-grandchild on the way.

I wish I could do more for them, cause I know it would really enhance their lives......

[Jims5543]

I really wanted to move away from here about a year ago. It did not come to fruition. Covid ruined this state, everyone moved here driving prices into the stratosphere.

Homes here are in the 400-700K range for nice homes and 300-400K for fixer up homes. No way a 21 y/o will be able to afford that.

we were looking to move up by St. Augustine to an area called Palatka. Houses are 100K there, the hook is, the areas is currently gentrifying.

The downtown area was adorable, it made me not want to buy acreage outside of town but instead buy a 1900 era home in downtown and live where you can walk to everything.


Still on the table, I might buy something as a rental until we are ready to move there.

The Air BNB we stayed in was built in 1855.  It was so freaking cool. I wanted to just find another older home and buy it to fix up.

We were exactly 30 minutes SW of St. Augustine on the St. Johns River.

Palatka is a cute little town where everyone knows each other.  I liked the vibe and was ready to just drop everything and move there.

there are 2 land surveying companies there, one has a 1 star rating, the other 5 stars. The common reviews said they are overloaded.

Good place to be.

Some pics this is the house we stayed in.



View in the morning from the front porch on the St. johns.



The owners pulled a floor board so you can see the joists under the house. I am 99% sure this is all Dade County Pine which is very rare and special.



We really dug this town, it may be our reality in the next few years.

[94touring]

Real quick....if you and Renee travel once a year on some badass vacation, you really should utilize one airline credit card. Particularly since you run a business and have a lot of cash flow. Have it set to automatically pay the balance every month.  Maybe you already do this.  All my international vacations are freebies because of points.  I have a hotel card too.  United and America have the best points deals. 

[Jims5543]

Our trip to Breckenridge was free.

Airline miles paid for the Delta Comfort+ seats round trip.

Bonvoy paid for the hotel in Denver the 1st night.

Converted Delta points paid for the Hertz rental.

Only money we spent on that trip was food and drinks. And weed. Giggity.

[Jims5543]

Well, these last 2 weeks have been interesting. I noticed a uptick in exhsiting home sales last week, and thought it was just an odd one off thing.

3 days into this week, that trend is continuing.  It makes no sense to me, but, what do I know. I am not a financial expert by any stretch.

My only guess is that the markets are so volatile right now people are seeking safe haven in RE again. I could be way off on that.

We normally have 2-3 surveys a week for existing home sales, last week we had 12.

Three days into this week, we already hit 12.

My equipment guy texted me yesterday, he is coming over Friday morning to demo the Lidar, we are going to scan my office building then post process the data and import it into my cad.

I hope this functions like I think it will, all I am doing since learning about this is dreaming of having it and making my job much easier.   

Here is a demo video of the Lidar unit, if anyone is interested. I have to laugh, when I got into this field, we had 3 man crews, long metal tape measures called chains to measure with. A distance meter had just come out, we had one crew with it, it took about 5 seconds to make a measurement and we were ecstatic by the time savings.  LOL!!  Now I am a 1 man crew, I can collect 300 data points in less than an hour and think that is amazing. 

This collects thousands of points a minute.

[Jims5543]

A Porch Company emails us and wants us to help them with a permit survey for a covered porch. They have been calling all over town and no one will help them.

We have done this before and know the drill.  We accept the job, give them a price and time frame then ask for additional information. These trailer parks do not have property lines between the units since they are renting the land under them.  We ask for a key map and the lot number. They can only provide the lot number, #25.

We again ask for more information so we can make sure we are on the same page, they give us nothing just that its trailer #25.

Fine, we send a crew out, they find and survey unit #25.

We deliver the survey.  Well, they meant to order unit #225. They initially email back and tell us the trailer we surveyed looks nothing like the one they are working on then this killer line:  "Did you even go out there to survey it?"

I re-read what the lady wrote a few times thinking maybe I was reading it wrong, nope she was accusing my company of committing fraud.

The girls up front go back and forth with her, suddenly they can produce a key map, they also send a picture of unit 225, where we can see the unit number on the trailer. We also looked on Google maps and figured out we were in the completely wrong place.

Once they figure this out, we inform the Porch Company they ordered Lot 25, when it was 225 which was obvious in the pictures they sent.

The Porch Company blames the homeowner stating they told the Porch Company the wrong unit number. Not once did they offer an apology for accusing us of fraud.

At this point, disgusted, I told the girls to just delete the email, we are done, we are not going to get paid for the wrong order now and we are cutting our losses. I then told the girls, after she accused us of fraud, I am not even interested in working for her anymore.

2 weeks go by and she emails us and asks us what the status of the correct survey is?

I was amazed by the gall.  The girls just emailed her and told her we are not interested in working on this project anymore due to the losses we are incurring, furthermore since they called our ethics into question, it is in both our best interests to not work together anymore.

An hour later the Porch company emails back and wants to know how much to survey the correct lot now?

I saw the return email and I just sat here in disbelief that she still has the gall to try to order with us.

Are people really this clueless?

[MPlayle]

Yes, people are really that clueless.

[MiniDave]

What does the lidar survey thing cost? will it save you money by making you more efficient or simply move the heavy workload into the back office/processing area?

[Jims5543]

The Lidar is 35K for the unit with all the bells and whistles + $1500 a year software subscription.

The jury is still out on this and if it will work.  We scanned my office building Friday morning, I have not had time to process the data file to see how tedious or easy it is to manage.  This is like learning an entire new language. I am still trying to get my head around the software and process. I hope to have an opinion on this tech by the end of the week. At the beginning of next month there is a online training session that is free, I am signing up to watch it and see if this is the ticket for me.

In theory, it will drop my field time down 75% and increase my office about 25%, I prefer to get done in the field faster and sit in the office longer, especially in the summer. 


I came to post this, at a Easter gathering today I met my nephews new girlfriends family for the first time.  They are all from Venezuela originally. The dad spoke limited English, we ended up chatting the best we could because we share a common interest. Cars!!

He races in circle dirt track racing, he has a Crown Vic he races and has a Chevy Camaro ZL1 that he just finished building that he is going to be running soon.

In 2 weeks he is racing again, we are going to watch him.  BTW - he is 70 years old and I am digging he is still racing.

His daughter (My nephews GF) was all excited we were chatting, she said he does not talk to anyone, the moment she saw us chatting she knew we were talking cars. It made her day, she actually thanked me for initializing the conversation.

I invited him to the AX next weekend, if he comes I will give him a ride in the Mini. Then we are heading to Clewiston, Florida, the sugar cane capital of Florida to watch him race, going to head out early and tailgate before the race.

[Jims5543]

This is a huge game changer. The timing of this amazing little tool coming into my life sucks. I just purchased a used Tacoma 4X4 to replace Bernie (the PriusV) It has a V6 too which was important to me. The 4cyl models are pigs.

I just had to write a war and peace email to a customer. I may as well tell this funny story.

For a couple of days the Tacoma was considered stolen.

When I purchased it I wrote a company check for it, full price OTD.

At one point the manager on duty at Carmax came over and asked if she could see my checking account balance, I thought that was odd, so I pulled it up on my phone. Plenty in there to buy the truck.  Except for one problem I did not anticipate.

My bank was National City Bank, which was purchased by PNC.  I had a large ledger of business checks with National City still on them, the branch manager told me to just use them up, since we hardly write any checks anymore outside the monthly rent and some supplies once every few months we have lots left.

Well, that was causing concern at Carmax that night. I told them lets just table the deal until the next morning, I will run to the bank and grab a Cashiers check for them. They declined and decided to push the deal through that night. I didn't care either way.

It seems Wells Fargo is their bank and Wells would not be arsed to contact PNC and sort out the check. Somehow the check was deemed "untraceable" and kicked back.

I received a Fedex delivery yesterday with a very off putting letter, it demanded I either return the truck immediately or risk it being repo'd  or make payment arrangements, the letter stated in bold text, this is an attempt to collect a debt.

I also had to pay a $50 returned check fee. All of this pissed me off because I told them lets back off and do it my way in the morning, they insisted on pushing forward.

So, long story short I stole a Tacoma from Carmax for a few days. LOL!  I thought I saw a helicopter following me.

[Jims5543]

Oh and this job is going to kill me.  Monday and Tuesday, I had so much field work I was in the field 2X longer than I am usually there. I was getting back from the field so late I was falling further and further behind.

My dog woke me at 2am today she had to pee really bad.

I went back to bed and my brain turned back on, I laid there tossing and turning freaking out over how much is on my desk. I am a log jam at the moment.

After an hour of that I said fuck it, got up, got dressed and went to the office at 03:15.

I left for the field at 06:15 which was a lighter day, my first work was in a subdivision under construction, by 07:00 I had my first tasks completed out there and was leaving there at 0745.

I only had 2 more fast stops to make working my way back to the office. Back in office at 09:30. Put a good dent in the pile of shit on my desk today.

I announced today, no off the street customers. Then we get an inquiry from a gal that used to use me a lot a lifetime ago to survey 7 acres, we punted it and I have to admit, part of me died turning it away, it was going to be a fun project.

I also was just approached to provide construction support a Holiday Inn remodel. Passing on that too.

I am completely at a loss as to how it is so busy here, its insane.

So I have been up since 2am after only sleeping 3 hours last night.  I should sleep good tonight.

[Jims5543]

This is mind blowing to me.

I have always struggled converting old legal descriptions into text. I scan them, then I convert a PDF into text.  The conversion never goes well, this is a perfect example, I attached a picture of the legal.

Here is what my PDF to text program gave me to clean up:

Tract 40, $ectian 35, T*rrship 38 liouth, Range d0 f*st, PALM CITY FARMS, according te the Plat thereof. as recorderl in Plat Book 6, P*ge d2, Publie R**ords af Pallr B,eaeh {nox Mrrtin) County, Florids; LISS ANI] right-of*way of r*cord for Stat* Road 76"{ and al*o LT$$ AND pruperty: A part of Tract 4fi, Sectinn ]S,Torrnrhip 38 South, Rnngr EXCH,PT the following 40 [ast, Ftlm City Ii*rrns, to the Ptrat ther*of. ss r*cordrd in PIst Sffik 6- Psge {2, Fubli* County, Florida, describrd ss frrllowr: Carmmence st thc Records af Prlm B*ach (now 38 South, Range d$ East; thrnce North {Xl degreru 50'55" Southwe*l t$rntr of $*ctkx .35, 09'05" f,rst, 5S fe*t t* the flast right-of-x*3' Iine of West, n.221.55 fert; th*nce thrnrt N*rth fil degr*e* ${}'$5" Wt*t* along srid County Road i{o" ?SA rnd the PCIint thcnce Snuth 89 degrees 55'40" East* 50.01 feet; theuce righl-of-wry line, r distsnce of ,{I6.El li,nuth IS dcgrce.c !?'dl" !ilrst, 5{1.99 feet to th* South 05 rlqre*s ?3'l*'* l#trt, l68.tq the fullowirg dtscribed pr*p*rty: A parttl of Point of Beginningl ALSO Lf$S AND Range *O Easl,, Pelm Cifu* *orrns,, nctorcling to Iand lying in Trsct {O, lit*tion 35, Public Reeords gf Palm Se*eh (n*w Marlin) the Pl*t th*reof, as r*rnrded iu Plrt Book 6, Ssuth 6O fe*t of raid Traet *0. l*ss the West 50 County, Flsridq and beiug destnibed rs togrthrr with thr fi,ast 0$ f*rt eif feet af existing right-of-w*y ftr {:R-?6A {a l$$ for {6th Strert {e }S ftxrt right-*f-w*y} said Trsrt d0, less the North lS fret of existing a partel of land hiag tht fillrt of s cun't less the South 6$ feet as descrihed rbovc; cone&yr ta thr N$rttrwe*t lying nrar the S*uthesst corenr of ssid Tract d0- having a radiut af 2tXl f*et and being tengent to the North line of thr Soulh 60 feet af Tract 4* and alxr heing tang*xt to th* Wrst lire of the fsst 6{} fret *f *aid 'frnct 4{} as rhawn on sketch record*d in O.R" Book I I4l, Pnge ( 2253, Public Rtcard"; of hl*rtin Courtyr Floridt.

Subirct to tsxes for

l0l7 *nd subrequtnt yearsi covsnsnt*, mnditionr, rxtricticn$!

t&stmrttlt,,

Defeated, I started to just type it all over myself. Then I thought, I wonder if AI can convert it. So I asked Grok if it could convert it. It said sure and 3 seconds later it gave me this dead on perfect transcription:

Tract 40, Section 35, Township 38 South, Range 40 East, PALM CITY FARMS, according to the Plat thereof, as recorded in Plat Book 6, Page 42, Public Records of Palm Beach (now Martin) County, Florida; LESS AND EXCEPT the right-of-way of record for State Road 76A and also LESS AND EXCEPT the following described property: A part of Tract 40, Section 35, Township 38 South, Range 40 East, Palm City Farms, according to the Plat thereof, as recorded in Plat Book 6, Page 42, Public Records of Palm Beach (now Martin) County, Florida, described as follows: Commence at the Southwest corner of Section 35, Township 38 South, Range 40 East; thence North 00 degrees 50'55" West, 2,221.55 feet; thence North 89 degrees 09'05" East, 50 feet to the East right-of-way line of County Road No. 76A and the POINT OF BEGINNING; thence North 00 degrees 50'55" West, along said right-of-way line, a distance of 416.81 feet; thence South 89 degrees 55'40" East, 50.01 feet; thence South 05 degrees 2318" West, 168.19 feet; thence South 10 degrees 2741" West, 50.99 feet to the Point of Beginning; ALSO LESS AND EXCEPTING the following described property: A parcel of land lying in Tract 40, Section 35, Township 38 South, Range 40 East, Palm City Farms, according to the Plat thereof, as recorded in Plat Book 6, Page 42, Public Records of Palm Beach (now Martin) County, Florida and being described as follows: The East 60 feet of the West 50 feet of existing right-of-way for CR-76A (a 100 foot right-of-way); together with the East 60 feet of said Tract 40, less the North 15 feet of existing right-of-way for 66th Street (a 30 foot right-of-way) less the South 60 feet as described above; together with a parcel of land being the fillet of a curve concave to the Northwest lying near the Southeast corner of said Tract 40, having a radius of 200 feet and being tangent to the North line of the South 60 feet of Tract 40 and also being tangent to the West line of the East 60 feet of said Tract 40 as shown on sketch recorded in O.R. Book 1141, Page 2253, Public Records of Martin County, Florida.

Mind blown!!

[jeff10049]

High-end recession-proof clients were precisely what I geared my RV business to. $ 500,000 was a relatively inexpensive coach in our world. We were always booked a year ahead. Each client would book next year's appointment before leaving. Also, anyone like your porch client was fired, and yes, people are that clueless.
We had a customer accuse us of stealing a sink cutout cover from his coach. I never went past the driver's seat. The work was on the exterior of the unit. He called, and I explained this to him. He then showed up, cussing me out in person and also accusing us of getting the carpet dirty. At this point, I told him to fuck off and sue me. And if he has any friends fuck them too.

He said, ' Good luck with your business. ' I won't be back. I said you're not welcome back. It turns out he was a member of the Rotary Club and tried to badmouth us; as a result, we ended up with a dozen or so great new clients from the Rotary Club. They all said don't worry about him. He's an asshole. We came by to apologize and to say that he is not a good representative of our club. About a year later, he called, trying to get an appointment. WTF, really? It turns out that every shop in town had fired him as a customer. I never even told him that every step, from me entering the coach to pulling it inside, and all the work was on camera, and I never left the driver's seat or got near any carpet. 

I was hoping he would file a lawsuit so that I could provide the video evidence and expose him for the fool he is. A huge waste of time, but it would have been worth it. We sent him a thank-you card for all the referrals from the Rotary Club. He was later found guilty of embezzling money from the club, a real class act that guy was.

I think the longer you are in business, the lower the tolerance for bullshit becomes. I found out the best money we made was when I stopped catering to the bullshit customers. My favorite saying in my new business is. "You're welcome to go somewhere else" 

The majority of our customers were super cool people. We are still friends with a number of them and get together for a visit now and then. We ment some really neat people in that business from all sorts of professional fields I always enjoyed the stories of how they got to where they were.