I am a one man shop, mostly in boundaries and small subdivisions, occasional commercial and ALTA's, but won't touch construction layout. Like most, I am busy and booked, even as I raise fees to control demand, I still am quoting 8+ weeks out.
Here's the "problem", I will have clients who will come back to me for either a new project completely, or for additional services (such as staking a boundary line for fence construction) on a current project.
I am unsure how best to price this. On the one hand, I want to be loyal and provide competitive pricing to those I'm happy to work with again, on the other hand the volume of demand is so high that I want to be able to continue charging at a premium to keep my schedule from getting too far out. Repeat clients justifiably believe a second survey of a similar property should cost the same as the first.. how can I not harm the relationship while pricing it higher? Or do I just honor their loyalty and the fee?
Further, when it's additional services on a project, I wonder if I have an ethical obligation to provide 'fair' pricing; having completed work already, even at a premium my price would be less than them having to call in a completely new surveyor, but I don't like the feeling of having my clients over a barrel.
An obvious piece of advice might be to hire help; I'm working on it. Beyond that, advice is welcome.
