Shawn Billings, post: 377985, member: 6521 wrote: It doesn't matter what the name of the company is, so long as it isn't the name of the actual surveyor. Any name that doesn't include the name of the principal(s) is unethical without any need for further consideration.
Well, of course it's unprofessional to use a name like "LAZER TOUCHLESS MAPPING". That's not the point. The point is how is Shawn Billings going to be able to build a major brand that he can sell for a large profit and retire in just a few years? Developing patented processes and business models is obviously your best shot. That way, you can franchise your brand to other surveyors for some percentage of the gross and never have to break a sweat.
Using proprietary fonts and mesmerizing trademarked N-E-S-W arrows is part of the franchise package that you have to offer. If you can figure out a new way to fold survey maps and patent that, so much the better! We want to see you succeed and are here to help with these and other useful suggestions.
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TXSurveyor, post: 377896, member: 6719 wrote: Last thing you want to do is print to a pdf so the client can turn layers off.
For certain institutional clients my deliverables for topo surveys now consist of a DWG and a digitally-signed PDF -- no hardcopy. They never used the paper prints anyway, and it saves me the time and trouble of producing and mailing them.
Instead of using all that ink, just provide a certified KMZ file and the client can print out the Google Earth screen shot. This would be a superior approach as the Client could check the measurements the same why the surveyor got them. This could be an up charge for the wow factor.
Bruce Small, post: 377885, member: 1201 wrote: I realize the original post was tongue in cheek (and rather well done at that), but the topic is actually a serious one and efforts have been made to get people to switch to a font that is less ink intensive (true).
Truetype fonts print the same nicely proportioned look regardless of pen weight/layer color, reducing the amount of replotting after screwups. That's going to save money in several ways.
My informants in Texas tell me that a certain Austin area surveyor (no names, please) prints all his descriptions in Comic Sans....you know, because he's humorless.
I really don't think you guys are providing the proper compass heading to Shawn so that he can walk back to the Walmart parking lot where the search and rescue people have set up their command post. Using a few micro-liters less of ink is not what makes a successful brand. It's a kindly old Kentucky Colonel promoting pressure-fried chicken or a big idea like the enchirito. In the case of surveying, I would think that what Shawn is looking for is something of that caliber that will allow him to open a whole chain of surveying franchises across East Texas, Arkansas, and Lower Oklahoma within the next five years, each owner operated, of course, and paying him a percentage of the gross as a franchise fee.
Instead of a really BIG idea like making videos of perambulating the boundaries instead of those old-fashioned maps that nobody ever understands, anyway, you try to save him a thimble of ink. No, it is the video, complete with gunfights and other suspenseful action, that will make his brand in East Texas and it will take off from there.
Shawn Billings, post: 377873, member: 6521 wrote: As I consider my mega-venture, Pendulum Surveying, I realize that I've spent too little time really contemplating fonts.
Obviously my main goal is to select a font that reduces ink costs, thus maximizing profits. Since my business is targeted to the survey mill, producing as many surveys in a day as possible, I think this is going to be a more substantial issue than most would give credit.
Have any of the other unethical bast_rds on the board that operate under a quickie Dickie (whatever that is) business filosofy (I know it's spelled with two ph's, but look how much time and ink I saved by using an f instead), considered the costs associated with their font choices?
If only there was someone who had a knack for offering advice on minute, seemingly inconsequential details that could proffer some direction... Some will probably drivel on about legibility or something. Clearly I'm in it for the money (didn't you see the name of my company?!) so those concerns are trivial to me.
Shawn Billings, post: 377882, member: 6521 wrote: That's brilliant, Dan. Effing brilliant.
Fer cripes sake Shawn re read that..... "Effing" should have been "f-ing", it convey's the same message and would have saved you a bundle in ink/toner.
Some tips for your new venture. Drive around construction sites and take all the re-bar that gets thrown out you"ll save $$$$. Same thing with hubs and lath you can just mark out anything on them. It might be confusing to the general public, but hell, who cares? We're in this for the money.
And this bidness of setten corners, baloney, just stick a used lath where ya think the corner looks like it should be and spray it orange so it looks official. And, for God's sake don't put anything on your truck that identifies you. That way you won't get caught and screw the whole f-ing thing up for the rest of us.
Welcome to the club, we are everywhere.;-)
spray paint camo the boundary corner, that's fantastic.
You'll notice that my price matrix had spray paint as free and flagging at $3.50. I thought about charging for paint, but we both know that the field crew is going to use paint.
Jim Frame, post: 378026, member: 10 wrote: For certain institutional clients my deliverables for topo surveys now consist of a DWG and a digitally-signed PDF -- no hardcopy. They never used the paper prints anyway, and it saves me the time and trouble of producing and mailing them.
It's the only way to go and i see it being the norm in the next 5 years with everyone except your average landowner.
Kent McMillan, post: 377900, member: 3 wrote: Yes, while I obviously do not share your enthusiasm for "Pit & Pendulum Surveying" as a name, I do think you are onto something in the font department and should be encouraged. I'll bet that if you work on it, you'll be able to find the right variety of fonts which, in combination with a sufficiently decorative North Arrow, would enable a surveyor bent on building a profitable franchise operation to sell maps that are so incredibly fascinating that the actual paying clients don't notice that there is no evidence that any field work was actually done.
Can you imagine what a stunningly profitable business model this will be, particularly if you copyright the fonts and mesmerizing North Arrow design?
It is self evident that you need to have in your marketing message that your plotter ink has XR-41 in it.
While others have nibbled around the edges of Shawn's problem, some of us see the solution. What he really should be contemplating in building a BRAND is something along the lines of the Mortgage Electronic Registration System (MERS). I mean the reality is that land title insurance companies don't really want to have their examiners waste valuable time examining survey maps. They just want someone to certify that everything is A-Okay. This is where Mortgage Electronic Survey System comes into play.
Franchisees in good standing will be able to enter their surveys of a particular property into the Mortgage Electronic Survey System (MESS) and then all subsequent transactions will only need to have a certification that "nothing has changed" entered into the record of certifications.
This will allow lenders and title insurance companies to spend vastly less time examining actual surveys and reports of findings and to concentrate upon the activities that they do best, i.e. closings. The value of such a necessary service is potentially in the billions of dollars. You're welcome.
Kent McMillan, post: 378098, member: 3 wrote: While others have nibbled around the edges of Shawn's problem, some of us see the solution. What he really should be contemplating in building a BRAND is something along the lines of the Mortgage Electronic Registration System (MERS). I mean the reality is that land title insurance companies don't really want to have their examiners waste valuable time examining survey maps. They just want someone to certify that everything is A-Okay. This is where Mortgage Electronic Survey System comes into play.
Franchisees in good standing will be able to enter their surveys of a particular property into the Mortgage Electronic Survey System (MESS) and then all subsequent transactions will only need to have a certification that "nothing has changed" entered into the record of certifications.
This will allow lenders and title insurance companies to spend vastly less time examining actual surveys and reports of findings and to concentrate upon the activities that they do best, i.e. closings. The value of such a necessary service is potentially in the billions of dollars. You're welcome.
This wouldn't be much different than the current environment we are in. A bit off topic but title insurance is a joke, not many people pay for the extra owners policy because it is never brought to their attention that it's the actual policy that protects them
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Or, more to the point, not many buyers realize that (in Texas) for a quite reasonable sum they can purchase coverage that will extend beyond the survey exception. That has to be one of the greatest bargains of the entire land title insurance industry.
Dan B. Robison, post: 378104, member: 34 wrote: Franchises now available...
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Let us worry about your boundaries...You have more important things to do.
You're off to a good start, but why not pursue it all the way to the cash register? Shawn's market will be folks who need to have a survey for some transactional purpose, but don't ever want to have one again. He could be selling SURVEY INSURANCE, which amounts to guaranteeing that if any of some predetermined needs ever arises, he will arrange to have a survey made of the property. It should cost less than 50% of what an actual survey would cost and should be enormously popular.
Kent McMillan, post: 378107, member: 3 wrote: You're off to a good start, but why not pursue it all the way to the cash register? Shawn's market will be folks who need to have a survey for some transactional purpose, but don't ever want to have one again. He could be selling SURVEY INSURANCE, which amounts to guaranteeing that if any of some predetermined needs ever arises, he will arrange to have a survey made of the property. It should cost less than 50% of what an actual survey would cost and should be enormously popular.
Careful some insurance agent might be watching this. Next thing you know we will all be out of a job
TXSurveyor, post: 378108, member: 6719 wrote: Careful some insurance agent might be watching this. Next thing you know we will all be out of a job
Not if Shawn gets there first and makes it a part of his BRAND. You won't be troubled to make mortgage surveys any more, but at least you'll know that under his brand franchising arrangements,Shawn will be collecting a fraction of the fee you could have gotten. Isn't that good enough?
Kent McMillan, post: 378107, member: 3 wrote: You're off to a good start, but why not pursue it all the way to the cash register? Shawn's market will be folks who need to have a survey for some transactional purpose, but don't ever want to have one again. He could be selling SURVEY INSURANCE, which amounts to guaranteeing that if any of some predetermined needs ever arises, he will arrange to have a survey made of the property. It should cost less than 50% of what an actual survey would cost and should be enormously popular
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