Well, I've been in the surveying business in rural North Carolina since 1976 and I have never seen business so slow. I feel like the Maytag Repair Man. I'm been trying to come up with an idea of starting some kind of related service to offer the public to generate some income, since my phone is not ringing. Anybody have any ideas or suggestions that they might have come up with?
Thanks for any input!
Lease Hound.
> Well, I've been in the surveying business in rural North Carolina since 1976 and I have never seen business so slow. I feel like the Maytag Repair Man. I'm been trying to come up with an idea of starting some kind of related service to offer the public to generate some income, since my phone is not ringing. Anybody have any ideas or suggestions that they might have come up with?
> Thanks for any input!
Not sure about NC, but here in NH there lots of work dealing with wetlands; i.e. Wetlands Crossings, Erosion & Sediment Control Plans, Dredge & Fill Permits, etc.
Septic Design is also a sideline of many surveyors around here.
Also, visit some of the local realtors. As much as surveyors whine about them here; if you develop a relationship with a few realtors and help them find a corner now and then (or provide a map) they will push some work your way.
Considering what people are willing to pay for survey services and how they see us as "professional" and the way they treat us in general, the IDEAL second job is perfectly obvious. Pimp.
I have no new business ideas, but just wanted to offer some encouragement to hang in there. Things were dead here for a few years, but this summer has really improved. Homes are selling again and even some new home construction.
What about marketing your surveying services more? As someone else said, visit local realtors, banks, ect.
Don't take this wrong way, but if you have been in business since 1976 are you keeping up with the New marketing tools? YOU MUST have a web page and internet presence! Half the jobs I quote are from people who got my name off the internet.
Scott
You can make outgoing calls on a telephone and it's not unprofessional to call long time customers to discuss any upcoming needs they might have, or just to chew the fat and let them know that you are still around. Any new equipment, software, or other new capability is a good reason to contact them also.
Public utility work, whether a rural electric co-op or Duke Energy is good work and you can offer a variety of services. Most of them have title research issues coming up regularly. Many surveyors are well qualified to do this work yet they don't think to ask. Since you have been in business since 1976 you are probably as qualified as the most senior title examiners in your research skills.
Just talking to your current customers will improve your attitude, whether they have immediate work for you or not. Even if they do not, they may be able to refer you to someone else who could use your services. You have to ask.
There is no way you could have been in business since 1976 without doing good work and having high customer satisfaction. Hold on to that and move forward. I was licensed in 1979 and I have used the described approach successfully whenever I was in a business downturn.
I knew a Texas surveyor who retired as a millionaire in North Carolina.
When the savings and loan crisis took place in the early 1990's, he bought
distressed properties for dimes on the dollar. When he asked bankers what
the price of a property was, the bankers would say, 'Name your price."
Back in the day, late 80's when the oil bust came... I know of one locally respected professional land surveyor who took up driving a cement truck. Survey work was non-existant.
Pablo
I think real estate would be a good horizontal business for a surveyor.
Their sales fees certainly seem adequate.
We've been busier here the last two months than we have been in two years. I'm in central Virginia, it's coming your way soon I expect. Hang in there!
Title insurance.
No risk. Big fees.