Sacramento Delta Surveyors

D

DLL

Member
exMember
Joined
Jan 1, 2000
RO Number
1777
Messages
429
I have used Brendan Schmidt twice. He is real good, but I wanted to try another good one to see if there is anything else, sort of get a second opinion.

I took his second survey and have been having the write-ups fixed. Anyone who knows how thorough Brendan can be is smiling right now. Ya gotta luv the guy. I think he used to avg about 44 write ups per boat. That included a Seadoo I hear. :)

Any suggestions?
 
Brenden surveyed the Carver we just bought. The previous owner only had the boat for 18 months and had someone else do his survey when he bought it. Neither he nor the seller did anything to the boat based on the survey - it was an 'as is' deal. Brenden's was way more thorough - probably 60 items. The other surveyor found less than half the issues Brended did. There's a boat listed at a broker by me that advertises 'a recent Brenden Schmidt survey on file' as a selling point. Not THAT's gotta make Brenden smile!
 
I understand what you are saying. He is VERY good.

I may use him again, but explain I have corrected many of his write-ups, plus he wrote up one item that is wrong. No big deal, but he should be aware of it for future surveys. Guess I will call him again. In a month or so.
 
I am over in Q shed at Willowberm. Howdy! We used Brendan for out 480 Sea Ray last summer and he did a great job in the bilge and below the decks. I was not happy with his performance in the interior of the boat. I believe he is a great surveyor and I should have been there with him to ensure that certain things were checked and explained. I was not. Nuff said. We exchanged opinions and we agree that I should have been there. Make sure you or someone you trust is there.

Bill
 
You know one thing about Brendan, he is fair! When he did our Carver I let him know there would be many items changed in the next year. He said to let him know and he could rewrite it pretty easily since he just had surveyed it. The changes were made, and I contacted him and he said he could drop by as he was in the area, he spent about 10 minutes looking at it and left and I had an updated survey later that evening.

Weeks later he sent me a bill. The only problem I had was there was no discussion about the cost or a bill and I really thought this was a favor since it was only an in the water update and because of the way it had been presented. I brought this up and Brendan graciously rescinded his billing request having recognized the error.

In the future the cost of a re-survey may be brought up to others. However I have done similar work at no charge when I had my auto repair business and thought this was standard. Sometimes updates or a little favor goes a long way in developing loyalty. I wouldn't use anyone else and hope that in the future he doesn't charge me double on other boats or write them up poorly to get even. Brendan doesn't strike me as that kind of guy, I do feel he is on the up and up and honest.

Gnarley
 
No argument here.

My ONLY concern is that many people who print their results on a specific form tend to use the last survey they did on the same boat as a "template". I did it when appraising house because two house on the same street, close together USUALLY have the same basic info. Census tract number, FEMA map, zip code and so on.

I have no problem with anyone using a template, but we are all human and can make a mistake. I will call him and make sure he knows we have fixed many, many things lately.

The only mistake I have found after two full surveys, 2 years apart was that he wrote us up for having dry rot under the galley sink. When the repairman looked under there he crawled all the way in and found wood shavings, which might look like dry rot if you flashed a light on it.
He could not find any wood deteriation of any kind, even using...what is the name of that thing... like a multi-meter to check for moisture in the wood. None found. Pretty darned good work to only find one error after two full surveys.

I tend to believe the repairman because he knocked himself out of some work by telling me that.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top