Because business isn’t just about what you know, it’s about who you know.
Sam Halberstam of AAA Group
When the building department recently refused to sign off on the CO (Certificate of Occupancy) of a new multi-home construction because one of the bedrooms was missing a sprinkler, the contractor was at a loss. Could it be they’d missed a bedroom? Would they have to break the walls and ceiling to install it? Until one of his workers remembered, “What about those photos from Halberstam?”
Because they’d had the foresight to take computerized photos of the entire building before walling in the wires and pipes, they were able to see exactly where the bedroom’s sprinkler was, and that it had merely been covered up. A simple thirty-minutes’ job later, the problem was solved.
It’s stories like these that make Sam Halberstam so enthusiastic about his job, even twenty-five years in. In fact, it’s the reason he founded the business to begin with. Prior to land surveying, he’d worked twenty years in the jewelry business, while investing in real estate on the side.
“When I needed to get my properties surveyed, I had a lot of trouble finding a company who not only got the job done but actually cared about my needs and made themselves available for me. When I decided to leave the jewelry industry and focus full-time on real estate, I remembered my own frustrations and decided to open a surveying business that would provide not just a high-level professional product, with every test required when buying or constructing a property, but also high-level customer service.”
That means keeping their word about when their projects will be done, maintaining communication throughout the project, and being available to help their customers when problems arise.
For Halberstam, it’s all about helping people. A relatively minor investment in a property survey or documentation photo scan saves so much future time, money and aggravation that, in his words, “It’s mamesh a crime if someone doesn’t do it. You don’t have to use me, but please, for your own sake, get these photos done.”
At the same time, his professional services have been utilized in enough Dinei Torah that he sees it as his mission to spread an even more important message.
“Too often, neighbors fight over a few inches, and they go around in circles for years, going to Beis Din again and again, spending tens of thousands of dollars… and, I’m telling you from my own experience, they’re not going to get anywhere.”
In the legal system, both in the secular courts and in Beis Din, small property encroachments aren’t regarded as serious claims. He recalls one case where someone built upon an entire foot of his neighbor’s property, and since this was a seven-story building, that extra foot translated into a lot of property value. But after a drawn-out and expensive battle in Beis Din, the land owner was awarded only $18,000.
“It’s not worth it,” Halberstam says emphatically. “Why kill yourself with aggravation and ruin your relationship with your neighbor? Just accept it and move on.” Because, at the end of the day, shalom is worth infinitely more than property boundaries.
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