Employee or Sub-contarctor

[bubblewatcher]

Recently a landscaping company won a public bid for a job but listed no subcontractors. The project strictly states that a Licensed Surveyor must perform the staking work. A protest was filed that the landscape company did not possess the required license. The argument made by the Public agency was that the landscape company could hire a Surveyor as an employee.

What are your thoughts?

[mpallamary]

Mr. anonymous.

File a public records act request to address this question. See www.tiepoints.com for more information on how to do this.

If they are not licensed, I would lodge a complaint.

Good luck.

[mpallamary]

Good observation!

Hey, for laughs if nothing else, perhaps post the contract.

If the work is for an agency, perhaps also: SMA 8726

"The review, approval, or examination by a governmental entity of
documents prepared or performed pursuant to this section shall be
done by, or under the direct supervision of, a person authorized to
practice land surveying."

[bruce hall]

I forgot about listing my subs. I will hire a land surveyor as a subcontractor and send you his name and license number. Is that okay with you?" says the landscape company.

The reply by the public agency is a stupid response. It should have been addressed more eloquently, like this post. Just make sure that whoever is doing the staking is licensed, whether as an employee or not, and everything should be fine.

[mpallamary]

Amen brother Bruce. Amen!

[bubblewatcher]

I will mention a few other points. Most bids require you to list intended subs, for SBE or DBE requirements such as this particular project. Not listing any would deem the bid non-responsive. Stating that i will hire a surveyor as an employee is not inline with the definitions of an employee as set forth by the State and the IRS. (you were hired as an employee for one day of staking and then what fired, layed off?) You are contracting with a sub.

Does anything like this affect the way paving contractors have used surveyors for monumentation?
Is this response by the public agency a reflection on the industries perception of Land Surveying as a trade and not a profession?

[bruce hall]

not, but I do know that many paving companies use union labor and have a
policy that they will only use surveying companies that have a labor contract with the Local Operating Engineers. The last time I read the short form contract of the Local 12 it refered to surveyors as a "workman". You can make what you want out of that.

Most of the projects that I have seen awarded for paving indicate the land surveyor who is the sub. Once in a while I won't see it, but for the most part the surveyor is listed.

[Ian Wilson]

Just to warm things up a bit, I make reference to §8729(e).

(Sits back with popcorn...)