Prior to the COVID scenario our market sector provided us with good insulation from cycles and steady workflow.
I am working for a mid-sized city. Concerns about revenues have caused about 75% of planned projects for this year to be put on hold. But those jobs haven't gone away, they are still there waiting to bust loose.?ÿ ?ÿ
Concerns about revenues have caused about 75% of planned projects for this year to be put on hold.
A few counties around here are emptying their coffers thinking that when infrastructure bill money tickles down from the state, they can plead poverty
I get a lot of work from clients frustrated by surveyors who won't work more than 40 hours a week, if that. I'm more a make hay while the sun shines guy.
I've almost always been one to work extra if the work was there.?ÿ Some of my key people work 40 hours or not much more.?ÿ We're buried with work and I'd like them to work more, but on the other hand, they each have kids at home and as I look back to that period in my life, I wish I had worked a bit less and spent that time with them instead.?ÿ Can't blame them for their decision and won't hold it against them.
Now that my kids are grown, I'm OK with working extra hours again.
Today, I'm looking at a 100k job and thinking I may not want it. That's how crazy it is right now.?ÿ
In August I was contacted by a nearby surveying and engineering firm about doing a small height modernization project (one of their development project clients knocked out a height mod mark and the county was requiring that it be replaced and bluebooked).?ÿ The firm didn't have the equipment or expertise for that sort of work, so they asked me to get them a proposal.?ÿ I developed a draft plan and budget and offered to do the work on a T&M basis.?ÿ Weeks later they got back to me with a contract full of ugly boilerplate (things like "duty to defend" and other we-win-you-lose clauses), and they had turned my draft budget number into a not-to-exceed figure.?ÿ We wrangled back and forth for a couple of months (!) over terms, and I could tell that they were getting frustrated, but in the end they refused to move on the dollar amount.?ÿ The last email I got from the principal engineer said "We've decided to do it ourselves."?ÿ I was relieved by not having to deal with the jackhammer-and-concrete aspect of the job, but was kind of surprised by how little I cared about waving goodbye to $30k worth of work.
The only thing I'm still wondering about is how they're going to get the job done without the equipment or expertise.?ÿ But I'm content to sit back and see how it turns out.
Working 50+ hours a week over break. Plan to work 35 or 40 a week when Vincennes starts next week. We are turning away way more work that we are completing.?ÿ Calls don't get answered. The three of us work 50 hours a week. We seem to be turning down mostly lake lots. The Amish are subdividing, building,?ÿ and starting business. These require a boundary survey, and most are in the planting process with a commercial site plan.?ÿ
Can not complain.
@eagle1215 I was visiting family in Washington for Christmas Eve and the Amish have gone crazy around Montgomery.
get the job done without the equipment or expertise
They'll get it done; I'd be surprised if it wasn't crap and over budget...
I'm content to sit back and see how it turns out
Pop some corn...
?noredirect
They'll get it done; I'd be surprised if it wasn't crap and over budget...
They're going to have to get the work approved by both the county and NGS, so it's not going to be a cakewalk.
They'll get it done; I'd be surprised if it wasn't crap and over budget...
They're going to have to get the work approved by both the county and NGS, so it's not going to be a cakewalk.
Perhaps they figured they would have the equipment and expertise by the time it was done.
@jflamm?ÿ
The Amish are driving land prices to 30k per acre for farm land. I wish we could take a percentage like the realtors.?ÿ
In early 2016 I started a survey department with one field crew and one drafter.?ÿ Things have changed significantly, I now have 24 people in my department and am running 6 crews.?ÿ Sooner or later it's going to crash, just like it did in 2008, I just hope it holds out for 7 more years so I can retire when it happens.
@jflamm?ÿ
The Amish are driving land prices to 30k per acre for farm land. I wish we could take a percentage like the realtors.?ÿ
Those puppy mills they are hiding on the back 40 are quite lucrative.
Gents, what I'm seeing is crazy.?ÿ The interest rate being so low is causing an explosion in ALTAs.?ÿ The fed is talking about raising it an I believe that will cause a push to buy more now...
I'm not a surveyor, I'm a designer who owns and operates a drafting and design firm.?ÿ Two of my clients are both PE/PLS, and they stopped taking on engineering projects due to the ALTAs coming in.
My professional opinion, find you more draftsmen and crews... Suck up as much as you can this year...?ÿ It's a wave that will eventually pass, so don't go in debt trying to get on the wave.?ÿ
