A gent contacted me last week inquiring about my services.?ÿ He owns two adjoining tracts, described by metes and bounds with a nice house just barely on one of the tracts.?ÿ His desire is to whittle some off of the vacant tract to give the residential structure a larger buffer from the deed line.?ÿ He also mentioned he had other quotes but thought they seemed high.
I'm in possession of my recent section boundary.?ÿ Other tracts I've worked on in that quarter all fit well.?ÿ Whomever it was (I can't remember)?ÿthat did the original surveying (2001) of these tracts did a good job.?ÿ?ÿ Most of time with the client was explaining to him I couldn't be responsible for making sure the laterals would fall entirely within a new boundary, but it would be nice for him to attempt to indicate to me their location.?ÿ?ÿ There is no municipality involved (for any lot split requirements) and the parcels are all a good amount larger than the county's minimums.?ÿ?ÿ The work should be a cake-walk.
Without even asking?ÿthe amounts of?ÿother quotes, I gave him a good estimate for bounding both parcels and preparing a plat and descriptions to place the new property line to his liking.?ÿ And trust me, I wasn't anywhere near "low" with my quote and made it worth my time should he choose for me to perform the work.
He not only jumped at my price.?ÿ He also had to?ÿverify the quote was for BOTH parcels, as opposed to a "per each" scenario.?ÿ This was an indication to me my price was somewhere near half of other quote(s).?ÿ I still haven't asked him, but I'm thinking the other prices are near or exceeding 5K.?ÿ
I did some digging on my own and my guess of "who is the other guy?" is a local surveyor that use to work for the highway department.?ÿ Several clients have related to me some of his fee quotes and to me they seem lofty also.?ÿ His work that I've followed seem adequate and he's free to charge for every penny he can get.?ÿ My client had tentatively agreed for this surveyor to perform the work but fell short of giving a notice to proceed.?ÿ He said he would contact this "other surveyor" and tell him to stand down in my favor.
I'm wondering if this surveyor is going to contact me or accuse me of low-balling.?ÿ I hope not.?ÿ I figured my price on available records, my experience in that specific section and what it worth for me to do the job.?ÿ I still don't know the amount of his quote...but by the way the client jumped at my quote they weren't even close.?ÿ We'll see how this pans out. 😉
Scary. ?ÿRight? ?ÿDon't worry. ?ÿI have been known to give very high estimates when I am too busy or otherwise have no interest in a job. ?ÿHopefully, it makes the next person called seem like a great guy.
Just don't brag to him that you underbid him and snaked a client.?ÿ I know we usually have higher fees than others, but we also do a bit more than the minimum required.
?ÿ
If you adhere to the rule of 72, have your fees doubled every 7 years??ÿ It is a hard question to answer as the equipment, software and standards have all changed.
There are places out there that are a walk in the park to me that would certainly be an unending nightmare to other surveyors.
Why, because I am very familiar and have everything at those places located already and know it well and others have not been there before.
Then, there are those places that I know nothing about either.
Just because he jumped on your price doesn??t make you a low baller. Maybe the time has finally come where other Surveyors are charging properly. Now you can raise your prices too! ??ÿ
If you adhere to the rule of 72, have your fees doubled every 7 years??ÿ It is a hard question to answer as the equipment, software and standards have all changed.
I admit that I don't completely comprehend the Rule of 72, but are you saying that if I charged $100 for a one-man crew in 2010, I should be charging $200 for a one-man crew in 2017?
The rule of 72 that I heard about was an easy approximate calculation of the doubling time at a given uniform growth rate per time period.?ÿ
It would say that doubling in 7.2 years requires an annual growth of about 10%.
But inflation has been much less than that, so why did you pick that number?
@paden cash
"I'm wondering if this surveyor is going to contact me or accuse me of low-balling."
If he were to know all we do from your post, I doubt it. If a client calls me about a survey in an area I am unfamiliar with and I know of another surveyor who is, I send the client to them. I already know his price will be lower than mine.
Yeah.....every time someone gives me the immediate thumbs up to proceed I know I left some money on the table.
Or.................another surveyor has done something really bad......................in the client's opinion.
I know just enough of the rule of 72 to look for it.?ÿ There are things out there going up in price, are our fees going up as well?
I had a proposal rejected this week.?ÿ Apparently the real estate investment fellow chocked on my proposal for an ALTA, LOMA and Coastal Structure report?ÿ (by a sub).?ÿ It was 0.25% the transaction fee that he was paying in cash.
He hired some inland surveyor and I made sure to mention to the realtor that it would be good to apportion the flats.?ÿ You really want to know how much of the intertidal your client owns.?ÿ I was ready to perform the analysis.?ÿ I know it won't be done...?ÿ it's just apples and oranges.
