Business Practices, Ethics, and Iowa Statutes and Rules
Domain 7 tests the legal and professional frame around Iowa practice: licensure under Iowa Code ch. 542B, the Board of Examiners for Land Surveyors rules at 193C IAC, responsible charge and sealing, ethical limits on fees and testimony, and business essentials such as contracts and One Call.
Licensure and scope
- Surveying for the public requires an Iowa license; firms offering surveying must meet the Board's certificate of authorization requirements.
- Responsible charge means personal professional direction and control of the work; a licensee may not seal work performed without it. Plats and reports carry the seal, signature, and date.
- Exemptions in 542B are narrow - know them rather than assume a title or an engineering license covers surveying.
Ethics
- Compensation contingent on the outcome of a survey (for example, a bonus if the client "gains" acreage) is prohibited; it attacks the independence of the professional judgment.
- Disclose conflicts of interest, decline work outside competence, report errors to the client and affected parties, and testify truthfully on measurements you have actually evaluated.
Business
- Contracts should define scope, deliverables, exclusions, fee basis, and limitation of liability; carry professional liability coverage; know Iowa lien and collection basics for private work.
- Iowa One Call (Iowa Code ch. 480) requires advance notice before excavation; utility locating is not optional on staking jobs.
- Retain field notes, calculations, and correspondence; they are the defense for every boundary decision.
Worked example
A landowner offers a $5,000 bonus if your survey shows the parcel contains eight more acres than the deed suggests. Accepting converts a measurement into a purchase. You decline the contingency, keep the fee fixed, and let the evidence - monuments, adjoiner deeds, and possession - determine the boundary. If the evidence supports the larger area, you report it anyway; the fee never depends on it.
Traps
Sealing work you did not direct; accepting contingent compensation; practicing on a lapsed license; skipping One Call; promising a particular boundary outcome before fieldwork; discarding field notes after delivery.