Bruce, a land surveyor, is having difficulties fulfilling his contract to stake a fence line due to a lack of control points and monuments needed to accurately survey the property. He has been searching old deeds and documents but flooding and development over 100 years have removed many of the original markers. Without being able to find the starting control points, he is unable to stake the fence line as requested. Bruce wants to meet with the county surveyor to discuss options, but acknowledges the client may be unwilling to delay further or renegotiate terms given the financial losses from delays in constructing the pastures.

1. Page 1Gmail - RE: CLR fence staking.
8/17/2011 4:16:43 PMhttps://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&ik=9c96e9665d&view=pt&q=smgaggero%40netscape.com&qs=true&search=query&th=1...
Bruce Barton <pls5555ca@gmail.com>
RE: CLR fence staking.
1 message
Steve Gaggero <smgaggero@netscape.com> Thu, Apr 21, 2011 at 10:31 AM
To: "Bruce D. Barton, PLS 5555" <pls5555ca@gmail.com>
I have been hearing these excuses from you for weeks. A contract it a contract. Saying you “cant” this and cant that without this or that is ridiculous. If you need
to meet with the county surveyor why haven’t you met with him? if we hire a giant survey company and say we need this fence line this week I assure you it will
be done and the cost of same will be your responsibility. I don’t think you want that liability and frankly we don’t want the legal headache. Get what you need and
get the job done...
Please!
From: Bruce D. Barton, PLS 5555 [mailto:pls5555ca@gmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, April 21, 2011 9:47 AM
To: Steve Gaggero
Subject: Re: CLR fence staking.
I am meeting with the county surveyor to discuss the project and the lack of control to be able to stake the road
today. I have spent days going through documents hoping to find monuments described in any deeds. I have found
many of those documents. The stretch that you want me to stake IS the only area that I haven't seen any county
survey activity on, and there was some monuments near the office, but are gone. They were set in 1939 and the
sycamore tree all the deeds were written from is no longer existing. In addition to the floods removing any evidence,
the road was repaved in the last few years along the portion you want staked. The deed for that part of the road ties
to many trees along it's route, none of those trees between the Equestrian Center sand the first gate are still existing.
I have searched for and have not yet found anything along the boundary on the west side of the property but have
discovered that there is about 150' of error somewhere in the old documents. The existing fence line, based on what I
have found between you and Buzz is nowhere close to the distance shown on the deeds. The fence follows the
ridgeline more or less as described in the deeds, but either there is a bust in the angles and or distances of the deed
and without having any control points to go by, it is impossible to determine where the error might be. That property
line needs to be determined first now before we will be able to determine the starting point of the deed describing to
road.
I know you probably don't care about any of that, but without having something solid to tie the right of way lines, I can
not locate it without control on the southwest end. If you recall, one of the very first things I had said to you is: you
don't know what you are going to run into in these projects with documents over 100 years old. My estimate of time
was based on everything going perfectly smooth. It has been everything but smooth. I could have started this project
4-6 weeks sooner if you had go with me to do so. I also explained to you that I had a big project coming up that would
require my attention for at least a few weeks straight. Although that hasn't started, other projects have come up.
Financially, I can not give your project 100% of my attention since the estimated time of completion is based on
finding the points the county had set along the road. Nothing remains until you get 1/2 mile or so down the road.
Based on what I know know, I wouldn't have touched this project for less than $100,000, and I bet that isn't even
enough. It would be cheaper for me to give you $22,000 than to finish the contract, because I wouldn't be making a
single penny on the contract as it now stands. So depending on what the County Surveyor says may determine what
to do about the survey.
If you are unwilling to negotiate some items, I may not be left with any alternatives to continue. I can not provide you
with the requested staking without the proper control.
On Thu, Apr 21, 2011 at 7:09 AM, Steve Gaggero <smgaggero@netscape.com> wrote:
Bruce, Your failure to adhere to the contract schedule is causing a severe delay in the construction of our pasture fencing, thus causing us significant and real
financial loss by being unable to lease those pastures. We are talking about 100 horses for up to $600/mo each or $60,000/mo.

2. Page 2Gmail - RE: CLR fence staking.
8/17/2011 4:16:43 PMhttps://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&ik=9c96e9665d&view=pt&q=smgaggero%40netscape.com&qs=true&search=query&th=1...
If you cannot prove that you have spent every productive hour attempting to locate the control needed to stake the fencing, and instead have performed other
work or done personal things, you are in material breach of our contract and liable for our financial loss and continuing damages. You can be brought before the
Department of Consumer Affairs, your license suspended or revoked.
We do not want to go down that path but we are very frustrated with your lack of performance. Please Advise.
Steve
--
Bruce D. Barton, PLS 5555
Land Surveying
cell (805) 258-8704
Home Office / Fax (661) 412-4220