surveyor career

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Nautically Challenged

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There is a long thread about marine jobs in the main forum. I would like to ask the same line of question but with this particular one: marine surveyor.
Are there too many of them out there?
Is it possible to get the license and work part-time as extra money?
If so, how?
 
The problem will be finding a surveyor who will let you work as an apprentice. More surveyors create more competition and rates start to drop. In other words, surveyors don't have any incentive to bring more surveyors into the picture.

If I was a surveyor, why would I want to hire someone who most likely will be my competition in a few years.
 
Having spent my last 35 years as an owner of 3 successful boatyards, having actually performed all aspects of boat work, there is nothing so frustrating as a Marine Surveyor who has never actually worked on or around boats.
Think about a minute. A Marine Surveyor is supposed to be an authority, and expert on boats, their structure, their on-board systems and their "everything".
Yet, far too many "Marine Surveyors" have little or none of this experience.
It is a self regulated profession at best that has far too many members that do not have the hands on experience it takes to truly perform a complete and accurate survy.
I personally have watched surveyors in depositions and in in court trials stumble all over themselves because they could not prove out what they did or did not write up in their survey.
There are a lot of openings in many many boatyards to learn the trade.
 
BoatFixxer, I could not agree with you more. Those are the surveyors who should not have the privilege to practice in this profession. Maybe the standards will change one day and this will no longer be a problem.
 
A friend of mine was selling a boat. The buyer hired a surveyor who took about 10 minutes to find a "potentially severe" problem, "potentially" costing "maybe" thousands to fix. The surveyor reccommended the buyer walk away and charged his full fee. No complete survey, no write up, no chance for the seller to talk things over...done deal, show me the money please. It was all BS! The surveyor got paid handsomely to not even get his hands dirty nevermind do the paperwork. The whole deal took about 15min.
 
quote:
Originally posted by BoatFixxer

Having spent my last 35 years as an owner of 3 successful boatyards, having actually performed all aspects of boat work, there is nothing so frustrating as a Marine Surveyor who has never actually worked on or around boats.
Think about a minute. A Marine Surveyor is supposed to be an authority, and expert on boats, their structure, their on-board systems and their "everything".
Yet, far too many "Marine Surveyors" have little or none of this experience.
It is a self regulated profession at best that has far too many members that do not have the hands on experience it takes to truly perform a complete and accurate survy.
I personally have watched surveyors in depositions and in in court trials stumble all over themselves because they could not prove out what they did or did not write up in their survey.
There are a lot of openings in many many boatyards to learn the trade.

Click to expand...


I agree with this 100%!! I see the exact same situation in my field of work...commercial real estate brokerage. There are some morons out there that ought not have been licensed! Passing a test does not an expert make!
 
Chris, The surveyor should have charged less. He put his reputation at risk and the word of mouth will lose him a lot more then that one survey could ever have payed him. Thank you as always for posting..
 
True, that's exactly what I thought....to be fair, maybe they did settle on less as I'm friends with the seller, not the poteltial buyer.

My pleasure for posting....you're always a gentleman Al....and much wiser than me!
 
You guys seem to come down too hard on Harry. He just asked the question, and you have:

1. Assumed he doesn't have the knowledge, skills or experience to do so.
2. Assumed he doesn't have the desire, time, and drive to gain such knowledge, skills or experience.
3. Assumed he just wants an easy buck w/o putting in any effort.

I don't have the answers for Harry as far as how much time and training it would take, nor do I have the answers as far as what are the job opportunities. But I sure would be interested in hearing the responses.

Anyone who's a true boater has dreamed of making a living in something boat related. For example, I am an Architect and have been very succesful as a building designer. I often think about what it would take to get into small craft design. I've done some research and am considering enrolling in the Westlawn boat design program. It may take me four years to complete, and it may eventually not pay me back what I invested in it, but it sure will be fun! And given the direction that boat design is going, many manufacturers sure look like they could use some help LOL. So you never know, maybe something really does come out of it. The thing is life is short and you have to always go for your dreams.
 
Harry,

A few additional thoughts. First of all, there is more than one way to become a successful marine surveyor. One is to be born in a boat yard the second is to become educated in the profession and work hard to gain real world experience. For the second scenario, it would be helpful (IMHO) to have a technical background e.g. engineering or technical degree. Marine vessels are complex with lots of different systems that the surveyor is required to be knowledgable of. If you are either of the above then it is important to be affiliated with one of the two major professional surveyor associations, SAMS or NAMS. Both have stringent admission requirements and continuing education requirements. Surveying is hard work and not something to be taken lightly. Technical ability, ethics, customer relations, business practices, marketing, are just a few of the proficiencies you must master to be successful. Reagrding working in the profession part time, I would not recommend it. To be successful, I believe, surveying is a full time job. Are there too many surveyors out there? Depends on where you live. Certainly in some areas like Florida there are a lot of surveyors and the competition is great. Not so in other areas. If I recall correctly, there are about 1000 SAMS surveyors world wide (mostly in the U.S.) and about 300 NAMS surveyors. Unknown how many independents there are. So if you wish to become a marine surveyor, do your homework first. Determine if there is a market in your area, determine if you have the background or technical ability to learn the profession and determine if you know how to run a successful business. Most surveyors who fail do so because they fail at running a business not due to their technical skill.

Just my thoughs.

Gary Shorrel SAMS SA
 
Ernesto,
I'm a mechanical designer with a strong background in machining (former machinist). I got my CAD certificate to help me transition from machine shop to office job 10 years ago. I've been boating for 30 years, worked in a few boatyards back in the old unemployment days, and have done several restores. I too always looked at that 4 year Westlawn course. Now they offer a "Yacht Design Lite", it's a one year course. I'm finishing up lesson 2 now, drawing a sailboat as part of it (too bad I'm a powerboater but hey it's fun learning). Anyways, I'm hoping the yacht design certificate will help me move out of the medical equip. design field and into a job at Viking or anyone of those builders advertising jobs on the Westlawn site. At a minimum, I believe this course gives the books, info., and mat'l to get one "started" in the surveying business. Yes I too have thought about making some easy money... :-)
 
Suggestion.....If you proceed with your desire to become a Marine Surveyor. Change your screen name from "Nautically Challenged". It doesn't portray a confidence to a prospective customer.
 
Years ago now I wanted to be a "marine surveyor" I made application to chapmans school of seaman ship " small boat survey" in florida. Would have costy me about $10,000.00 US. That would have included the housing and two of the courses they offered at that time. Google search will bring up the school. It was recomended to me by a bud in the CCG.

I felt this would have given me what I needed to become a good surveyor. Along with years of owning, restoring, converting boats.

I do not have any formal education so it was a no go.

Just an option ?
 
There really isn't a licensing requirement. There are a few organizations out there that most good surveyors belong to. NAMS and SAMS seem to be the most respected. I think there's another couple that when you join you get their certificate, with some minor through the mail testing, and Voila, your now a surveyor. No such luck with NAMS or SAMS. I always try to recommend to my customers that their surveyor belongs to one or the other. SAMS has different levels of membership and I've heard they're the tougher of the two to keep up your standing in the organization, I'm not familiar with recent NAMS rules and requirements. Rumor from years ago that some NAMS members spun off and started SAMS, I don't know the validity to that. Maybe a SAMS or NAMS member on here can add their input. I'm sure we'll all read it, well I will!
 
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