solo
Back to the salt mine to make vacation money for the engineers.:-P
Geo
I will give an example of what I go through on a job.
Say they want a 10 acres of topo with a boundary. You ask what for? They say subdivivision. You then tell them how much it costs and how long it will take. If its a situation where they tell you how long it will take, what equipment to use, how much time you have to complete it, what kind of grid to do, then I'd say run away.
You already know how to do the job, how to estimate it, how to complete it, and how to schedule it, if they take that away from you I'd pass on the offer.
I think a LOT of it depends
on WHAT type of business you're getting into. I ran the surveying department of a Civil Engineering firm for over 10 years before they were bought by a national firm. Admittedly the majority of our work was not cadastral work but rather surveys for engineering projects. I was NEVER told how, or how not, to perform boundary work. I answered directly to the president of the company with input from the principals (primarily as to scheduling). If you are working mainly as a support for the engineering that is a totally different situation from running a surveying business as a totally separate department. As is usually the case personalities can make or break any business.
Andy
Worked out great
Several years ago I left North Florida and private practice to become a VP/Director of Surveying/PLS principle in responsible charge at a South Florida based engineering firm (CCL Consultants, Inc.). One of my many regrets today is that I could not stay due to family responsibilities. All engineers I have ever worked with/around have treated me top notch.
ubenhavin(?)