Terms and Conditions

CONTRACT TERMS AND CONDITIONS

This is a contract between you and Foster Survey Company. Foster Survey Company reserves the right to amend, revise and/or terminate this contract within 30 days should we determine that the information you supplied be incorrect, such as size of land as just one example, or expanded scope of services are required beyond that which is included in the product you purchased. You may be given the option to apply the amount paid towards the revised scope of services.

1. In placing your order you acknowledge and agree that do to our current backlog we may not start your property survey for about 6-8 weeks, 4 weeks, or 2 weeks depending on your order. Start means we may setup your job in our systems, start the research, or start the field survey, for example. Any and all work we begin on your survey is starting that survey. The start times and our backlog timeframe may be longer. We may, at our discretion, setup your project in our systems, do internal research, and begin external municipal and state related research at any time after you place your order.
2. Your initial deposit payment and all payment plan payments are non-refundable.
3. With our 6 Month Payment Plan With Only 10% Down Upfront you will pay 10% right away and then pay 6 additional monthly 15% payments until your balance is paid in full. We will create an invoice for the total amount with all payments immediately applied upon receipt against the total invoice amount. Any additional work may be added to this invoice or invoiced separately as we see fit. All sales are final and no refunds will be given. We reserve the right to stop all work and not provide plans and certifications until payment in full is received.
4. With our 50% Down, Remainder As work Is Completed Plan you will pay 50% today and we will bill you the remainder as work is completed, and then your balance is paid in full. We will apply your payments to regular invoicing as we do work on your project. The first 25% will be invoiced right away for project setup, the remaining payments will be invoiced as our work progresses with the final invoice upon completion. All sales are final and no refunds will be given. We reserve the right to stop all work and not provide plans and certifications until payment in full is received.
5. You’ll tell us everything you know about the project, give us all the information you have about the Project and about what you want us to do for you.
6. Our Property Survey service does not include a survey plan, or map. If you desire a survey plan you must order our Property Survey and Plan service.
7. Plans that are part of your survey, if ordered, do not include the special recording mylars required to record at your municipality and we will not record those plans for you. Should you want to record your survey plan, if ordered, you must order from us a mylar copy of the plan (includes needed bond paper copies) at our current rates (see below) and take these plans to your municipality yourself.
8. We’ll decide who in our firm will work on the Project.
9. We will bill any additional work, should it be required beyond the scope outlined above, at the following hourly rates: Field Survey Specialist $200 per hour, Office Survey Specialist $200 per hour, Office Staff $150 per hour, Professional Land Surveyor $250 per hour, GIS Specialist $250 per hour.
10. We will charge you $500 each for Mylar plan copies, $7.00 each for plan copies on bond paper at 24”x36” sheet size, $4.00 each for copies on bond paper at 11”x17”, and $2.50 each for copies on bond paper at 8.5”x11”. Digital copies will be billed on a time and materials basis.
11. We will bill Fieldwork from the time the survey party leaves the office until they return. Overtime, or work requested outside normal business hours, will be billed at a rate to 1.5 times regular rates (minimum). We will add all incidental expenses such as travel, tolls, reproductions, copies, copies of deeds, plots, Mylar plan copies, stakes and other related cost to the per diem rate or lump sum figures. A list of fees for these incidental expenses will be made available upon request.
12. We’ll try not to damage anything at the Project site while we’re there working, but damage is possible, and our fee doesn’t include the cost of repairing any damage.
13. We will review our billing rates biannually, in January and in July, and will advise you of any changes that may affect work currently being performed for you.
14. If you ask us to work outside normal business hours, we’ll charge 1.5 times our regular rates.
15. We’ll charge 4.0 times our regular rates for services related to litigation, depositions or arbitration, including preparation for litigation, depositions or arbitration. This multiplier does not apply to non-binding mediation.
16. We will not stamp drawings, submit any application or provide any plans or reports until we receive payment in full for any balances owed.
17. We’ll bill you monthly or when work is complete. If you take exception to any part of our bill, including the amount of the bill or our estimate of the work complete, you’ll let us know in writing in 5 days or less. By not doing so, you agree that you won’t dispute any part of the bill, or withhold payment in whole or in part.
18. You’ll pay us upon receipt of invoice, and we can stop work until you pay us in full. If you don’t pay us in 30 days, you’ll owe us interest at the rate of 1.5% per month.
19. You acknowledge that you have secured legal rights to the property upon which we are surveying or that such right will be secured within two weeks of signing this agreement, and shall furnish a description of the property to us prior to our commencement of services. You further acknowledge that non-payment of fees owed under this agreement will result in a mechanics lien being placed on the property.
20. If damages or losses result from something you do or fail to do, you’ll make sure that we don’t have to pay for them.
21. If damages or losses result from something we do or fail to do, our financial responsibility will be limited to a maximum of the net fee received by FOSTER SURVEY COMPANY, not including reimbursable sub-consultant fees and expenses.
22. In an effort to resolve any conflicts that may arise during surveys, or design or construction of the Project, or following the completion of the Project, we mutually agree that all disputes between us arising out of or related to this agreement will be submitted to non-binding mediation unless, at the time of the dispute, we mutually agree otherwise.
23. If either of us sues the other to enforce this agreement, the one who loses will pay attorney fees and expenses for the one who wins.
24. All drawings and documents prepared by us are for this Project only. You shall be granted a revocable license to use the drawings and documents for the purposes of boundary review, and shall not use such documents for any other purpose without our consent in writing. You shall indemnify and defend us from any claim, loss or damage arising out of your failure to abide by the terms thereof. We don’t accept any responsibility for damages or losses that result if they are re-used, in whole or in part, without our written permission.
25. This is a contract between you and FOSTER SURVEY COMPANY. No one else is entitled to use the documents we prepare for this project without our written permission. Ownership and copyright of all plans, sketches, diagrams or reports, whether in original or digital form, on printed, copied, or blueprint materials, or on diskette, regardless of media, is to be retained by Foster Survey Company.
26. We’ll keep original drawings, but you can have reproducible copies if you ask for them.
27. You shall indemnify and hold harmless FOSTER SURVEY COMPANY from claims arising out of any certifications that are required to be signed on your behalf during the course of the Project.
28. Our work may not be perfect. However, it will conform to generally accepted surveying principles and practices.
29. Either of us may terminate this agreement at any time, with or without cause, by giving the other thirty calendar days’ written notice. If either of us fails to live up to the terms of this agreement, the other may quit on seven days’ notice. If you decide to abandon the Project, you can tell us to stop work on seven days’ written notice.
30. If this agreement is terminated for any reason, you’ll pay us for all work we’ve done so far in and above your non-refundable deposit payment, plus $500 or five per cent of the total fee earned to date, whichever is greater, which we mutually agree to accept as the cost of stopping work and putting everything away.
31. After January 1, 2025, any legal cost arising to defend third party claims made against us in connection with the Project shall be borne by you.
32. Any changes to this agreement will be in writing. If we advise you in writing of conditions that in our opinion justify changes in this agreement, specifically including changes that may result in increases in our fees or changes in the Project schedule, you agree to notify us in writing within 5 business days of any objections or exceptions to the proposed changes. In the absence of such notification from you, you and we agree that our letter advising you of changes will constitute a written change to this agreement.
33. We are not liable for any delays, business disruptions or Acts of God, including but not limited to: weather (hot, cold, rain, snow, wind, etc.), business interruptions and closures, State, City and Town access limitations and closures, employee illness and sick leave, contagious illnesses, viruses, pandemics and any and all issues beyond our control.