Bruce Small, post: 378434, member: 1201 wrote: The $250 an hour was when projects and money were coming in by the wheelbarrow full, I had the very latest equipment, and I was much younger (I have aged considerably in the past few years, and it is astonishing how fast that happens). I just can't work at the pace I once did, when I was one of the fastest walkers around, and always thinking five shots ahead. To be honest, and I always try to be realistic, I'm no longer worth $250 an hour. I am certainly worth $150, so I go with that.
I am glad to see that you are still at it, I am not too many years behind you.
Ed
I don't like not to exceed costs. They only give you the option of losing money. I prefer fixed whenever possible and have recently added a statement that if major boundary problems are encountered, additional work may be required. This operates the opposite of a not to exceed.
Bruce Small, post: 378434, member: 1201 wrote: The $250 an hour was when projects and money were coming in by the wheelbarrow full, I had the very latest equipment, and I was much younger (I have aged considerably in the past few years, and it is astonishing how fast that happens). I just can't work at the pace I once did, when I was one of the fastest walkers around, and always thinking five shots ahead. To be honest, and I always try to be realistic, I'm no longer worth $250 an hour. I am certainly worth $150, so I go with that.
Bruce - with your level of experience I'd think you were worth $350/hr. You should be getting more valuable over time, not less!
Jim in AZ, post: 378465, member: 249 wrote: Bruce - with your level of experience I'd think you were worth $350/hr. You should be getting more valuable over time, not less!
Wait until you get old like me, then you'll understand. The mind is willing but the body is weak. It just ain't there no more. I still love surveying, though. It's still fun to go out and play in the dirt and solve mysteries. Last week a commercial owner told me he had looked for a corner monument for years and never found it. I swept the various blossoms off the sidewalk with my foot and there was the lead cap in the concrete walk, where it had been for at least 60 years. He was just looking in the wrong place. That made my day.
Bruce Small, post: 378434, member: 1201 wrote: The $250 an hour was when projects and money were coming in by the wheelbarrow full, I had the very latest equipment, and I was much younger (I have aged considerably in the past few years, and it is astonishing how fast that happens). I just can't work at the pace I once did, when I was one of the fastest walkers around, and always thinking five shots ahead. To be honest, and I always try to be realistic, I'm no longer worth $250 an hour. I am certainly worth $150, so I go with that.
Gidday Bruce, Can certainly relate ! Agree about how time flies. Here in SOZ many displaced junior jocks set up and charging 1990 prices ebven though gear trbled in price and real estate value times minimum of 5 since then.
My my good value adding clients either fallen off perch, retired or gone terribly slow because we are still in recession.
So those forced to get survey just use me to bounce a second fee.......
RADU
The equipment is so fast these days the hourly rate has gone up to compensate. I'm fast on cad too so if I charged 150/hr I'd starve.
I usually price potential jobs at a fixed lump sum price. I have a lot of calls where they want a ballpark estimate of the price of the job. I take the square root of the acreage times 850 for low price and times 1000 for high. This method is usually a decent starting point until I can look at other relevant information to generate a lump sum.
Bruce Small, post: 378426, member: 1201 wrote: I calculate that fee based upon $150 an hour no matter what I'm doing
I'm glad to hear you say that, Bruce. That's the approach I've taken, too. I have one hourly rate for my estimates regardless of what I was doing. I haven't heard too many use that, so I wasn't sure if it was a good approach. Knowing that you work that way gives me more confidence. I do think that in most cases (not all) a solo surveyor is worth a single rate. I know what I'm doing when I research. I know what I'm doing when I do the CAD work. I know what I'm doing in the field, whether it's digging holes or collecting points or taping a building. But I keep looking at this like a science experiment. I'm mixing chemicals to see what the reaction will be. I have some hypotheses, but...
Bruce Small, post: 378489, member: 1201 wrote: Wait until you get old like me, then you'll understand. The mind is willing but the body is weak. It just ain't there no more. I still love surveying, though. It's still fun to go out and play in the dirt and solve mysteries. Last week a commercial owner told me he had looked for a corner monument for years and never found it. I swept the various blossoms off the sidewalk with my foot and there was the lead cap in the concrete walk, where it had been for at least 60 years. He was just looking in the wrong place. That made my day.
I helped a friend find monuments at a Baptist Summer Camp in the mountains just as a favor. Emerson Smith (an excellent surveyor) had done a Record of Survey in the 1960s where he found all 8 original GLO corners around the Section then he broke down the Section. There was this one rebar with Emerson's copper sleeve in a non-descript dirt area some distance from the main camp. He had looked and looked and couldn't find it. I didn't figure I would find it either but walked over there with my Subsurface locator, waived around, kicked the dirt and there it was. He was so amazed, how did I do that? Wow, etc. It was just luck, but he would hear none of it.
