I declined to participate!
I chased that work as a new surveyor, had about the exact same experience. The few times I did work for the USFS it was as a subcontractor for construction companies. Way better.
How do the good people of the board respond to potential clients that are in a big hurry, but they're price shopping?
First, you key delivery date as being x days after NTP and receipt of the required deposit money - not some specified date. Second, "this proposal is valid for x days". You have a window of availability that you can't hold open for long.
we anticipate completing the survey (weather/workload dependent) on or before 08.31.2023.”
Yo Brad, I'm playing devils advocate here. If I were the client and saw "workload dependent" I would assume my project would be put on the "back burner" when and if something more important in your workload demanded attention. As a client I want to be your most important workload. You have to make them think they are the first in line for everything even though they may not be.
@flga-2-2 appreciate your thoughts, but I would disagree when it comes to price shoppers. Plus, rather than implying some sort of “guaranteed” deadline, I am just being honest.
price shoppers
I'm so old I forgot the topic before I replied, sorry my bad.
@flga-2-2 word, brother, no bad, all good.
why not specify dates?
Simple. On 8/3 you send a proposal promising delivery on 8/31. The client delays giving NTP until 8/25, but your proposal still specifies delivery on 8/31. Now you are behind the 8 ball. Instead, say delivery will be 4 weeks after NTP. Then when he gives the 8/25 NTP, you have until 9/22 to deliver. Knowing all this, the client is motivated to not delay the NTP. Without this, the client pays no penalty for shopping things until the last minute.
we anticipate completing the survey (weather/workload dependent) on or before 08.31.2023
Suppose you take your truck to the shop for maintenance. The mechanic says it will be ready at 5pm, workload dependent. You show up at 5 and he says, "we got busy, your truck isn't ready. Tomorrow doesn't look good either". Are you going to use that shop again?
@mightymoe I actually had several previous contracts with the USFS. The best was a 3-year with Dennis Mouland as the C.O. Very profitable, educational and downright fun.
How do the good people of the board respond to potential clients that are in a big hurry, but they're price shopping?
When people say they are in a hurry, then ask for anything at all other than T&M, "Let's get going!", they are lying to you. Flat out lying. (Don't feel offended, they are lying to themselves as well.)
In another life, I worked for a mid-sized engineering firm. We spent at least 80 man-hours developing a scope and budget for an 80 mile RR ROW job for the Navy, in Bremerton. Shelton to Gorst; they gave the job to somebody else.
I once wrote an elaborate scope and fee proposal for interior building survey of over 3,000 points inside multiple multi-story buildings for a government agency to test building interior navigation systems for first responders.
The engineers I wrote the proposal for were then told by purchasing that they couldn't sole-source the project and had to issue it publicly. The RFP specification language looked very similar to my original scope. AND it was issued as a small business set aside contract and we didn't qualify.
The happy ending is no small businesses submitted proposals due to the technical complexity and when it was issued as an open solicitation nine months later, I eventually got the job.
If the scope gets too complex, I have often considered being like our engineer cousins and charging for that sort of work.
@norman-oklahoma maybe you missed this detail in my post earlier, underline added here:
“If we receive the signed contract and non-refundable 50% retainer fee on or before 07.31.2023, then we anticipate completing the survey (weather/workload dependent) on or before 08.31.2023.”
And regarding (weather/workload dependent), this has not hurt my business yet.
Sometimes I feel all I do is try to manage expectations for a living.
My system works well for me. I shared it here in hopes it might help someone else.
As our friend Dougie says, I hope you have a good weekend, I know I will.
Happy Friday!
Instead, say delivery will be 4 weeks after NTP.
I prefer to nail these down to current timeframes, when I have a better handle on current workload. I don’t want a proposal hanging out there with an estimated (not promised or guaranteed) timeframe of say 4 weeks. Then when the client finally issues the NTP months later, who knows what my workload will be then?
Instead, say delivery will be 4 weeks after
