Last week I received a call from a commercial property developer wanting to know if I had done a survey on a tract of land. I had done some work on other tracts in that subdivision for another client (who has not paid for prior work) but not on the tract the developer was interested in. He informed me that the contract between him and the seller (client that had not paid us for previous work) stated the seller was to order and pay for the survey. Let the developer know that the seller had not ordered the survey from us and if they did order one we would not be able to do it until we received payment for previous work. At this point the developer said he needed survey A.S.A.P. and he would pay for it. So I sent him a proposal and 3 days later received the signed proposal and a check for complete payment! Went out today to the site and there were indications (fresh flagging and pin flags) that the tract had been surveyed recently. So I called the other surveyor (company info was on the pin flags) to verify that he had surveyed the tract in question rather than an adjoining tract. Surveyor informed my that he had surveyed the tract as well as a couple of the adjoining tracts but had not submitted his survey to his client on the tract in question. After verification I called my client and let him know that the tract had been surveyed by another company (gave him the company info) recently and I would send the check back if he did not want me to proceed. The client asked me to send him the check back along with an invoice for the time I had put into gathering information and contacting the other surveyor. Even though I lost a decent size project today two good things came out of this. The first is I gained a bit of trust and respect from a fellow surveyor and he truly appreciated my call. The second is we have a new client that appreciates how I handle business and he pays up front!
I had an large engineering firm as a client for a number of years. There were at least a dozen engineers that officed there and they all used different surveying firms for their projects. It kept the surveyors competitive and the firm was shelling out PLENTY of work.
I asked one of the engineers once why he gave me so much work and not the "big boys" who had a number of clients under that roof also. He looked at me and said, "Because I like you".
He continued to tell me that most all the surveyors provided adequate work in a timely fashion and everybody's prices were within a fairly predictable range. He just liked my honest attitude and looked forward to my jokes.
I had never considered the fact that being personable or pleasant had anything to do with obtaining work. I always thought you had to be the sharpest knife in the survey drawer to get work.
Live and learn...and smile.;-)
Is this development in your southern service area?
Fresh flagging always sets off an alarm to call the client.
Andy,
The project was within my local area. The first surveying company I worked for would tell us to complete jobs even if there was evidence that the property had been surveyed recently. The reasoning was if we could submit the survey first we would get paid and not the other company that had already completed the work.
Cy
> The first surveying company I worked for would tell us to complete jobs even if there was evidence that the property had been surveyed recently. The reasoning was if we could submit the survey first we would get paid and not the other company that had already completed the work.
>
I'll bet that company did a lot of work they didn't get paid for.
> I'll bet that company did a lot of work they didn't get paid for.
You are correct. Not going to elaborate on here about it though. I really did like the surveyor I was working under and learned a lot about what goes into preparing/doing a survey in a very short amount of time I was with the company.
Cy
Interesting to say the least. I think there are a boatload of seasoned self employed people who will attest to the fact that "not every potential client is a good client". Even in these hungry days. I am amongst that boat load, and hungry.
I'd be going with your fellow peers, take care of this guy, and keep your head on a swivel. Sounds like you at least got paid up front, and that is a very tough sell nowadays. But sticking with your peers is paramount, if for nothing other than advancing our profession.