WOW!! I thought that Florida had similar rules as Mississippi concerning advertisements like this. We cannot advertise like that here.
Is this really legal in Florida??
Just seems to me that if you compete on price alone you may win the battle and lose the war. Now if it was me I wouldn't be sending potential customers emails touting how LOW my prices are. I'd be cheapening my services when I want to be placing value on them. If these are potentially repeat customers that can generate referals, I'd make an appointment with them to discuss their survey needs and listen to them. If at the end of the conversation I conclude the only concern they have is saving a few dollars upfront on their survey, I'd throw that fish back. The focus on price and not on relationships with these people is a mistake. It's just been my experience that the best source of business is word of mouth and reputation. Let the bottom feeders scrap over the penny wise, pound foolish clients. You don't want them. I get asked regularly, 'I need a surveyor, who is the best?'. My standard answer is, ' by best, do you mean the cheapest? Or the one that will get the job done quickly, efficiently and right the first time. I'm not the cheapest, I just aim to deliver the most bang for the buck. 😉 '
I did that once when I started my business. I advertised a low introductory rate just to get in the mix with the other surveyors. Didn't work. It got me couple of jobs, but that was about it.
By the way, I wish I could get that rate down here in Marion County. They start around $250 for a small lot and if its in The Villages, I hear it is even less. Acreage isn't much better. I have done a few proposals for 20 acre horse farms for like around a $1000 and not gotten the jobs. I think the fact of the matter is here in Florida there just isn't enough survey work to keep everyone occupied let alone busy. In the neighboring county that I used to work in there have been 3 long running survey companies that have closed or are in the process of closing. And this is supposedly a recovery. I haven't seen it yet. And until it comes, we will just be stealing clients from each other.
Can't believe some of these prices. We wont even take on a project unless its $1500 or more (which is our lowest day billing rate for a crew).
I wouldn't want to be known as the cheapest surveyor.
1. I'd like to see the rule outlawing that sort of advertisement.
2. I'd like to see an example of it actually being enforced.
Have some fun with it.
that would be awesome.
😀
Ignore that sh%^$#%#$
Seriously... DO NOT GO THERE. I wouldn't try to compete with that kind of bs. I WOULD send a letter to the people that I might lose a proposal to... thank them for the opportunity to do business, and if anything ever comes back that you would love to work for them in the future.
I can't tell you how many projects I lose to crappy surveyors, only to have the client come back asking for help fixing the mess they made of their projects. win win.. I get the proper fee, AND I look like a hero doing it right.
Seriously, I should send one of my competitors a christmas gift, he has driven more work my way than some of my regular clients!
Andy
Ignore that sh%^$#%#$
> Seriously, I should send one of my competitors a christmas gift, he has driven more work my way than some of my regular clients!
Exactly right Andy. Clients who get burned by a "cheap" so called professional service too soon learn the real cost of not doing things correctly the first time.
Larry P
10% if they do all the legwork to furnish an updated preliminary title report, obtain copies of their deeds and their adjoiner's deeds, ask them for copies of previous surveys and any other reference material and deliver that to me.
I let them know that they may have to make more than one trip to get all the information I will need because not all deeds contain enough information by itself.
I now have clients that have gathered most of this information by the time they call me.
B-)
Never have I lowered my rate to get the work.
Instead, I have raised my rates and now work less making the same money.
I tell callers that express my fees as being too high with "they apparently know the value of their service".
SD
"I have done a few proposals for 20 acre horse farms for like around a $1000"
Seriously, you are kidding, right?
> Our fee for a lot with a house in a subdivision runs $325.00 to $400.00 on the average.>
This above statement is simply a marketing con!
As "on the average" can simply be determined this way....
Say firm does 50 jobs in a year , 25 easy, with the fees range $325.00 to $400.00 and 25 with fees $401 to thousands of dollars! The average of job's fee is in range $325.00 to $400.00! The overall fee average completely different!
Similar con as "9/10 dentists use ZX toothpaste" They do not mention they may have asked thousands of dentists until they found nine in a row who said they used that brand.
RADU
> "I have done a few proposals for 20 acre horse farms for like around a $1000"
>
> Seriously, you are kidding, right?
Unfortunately not. Had a 10 acre rural parcel that I put a price on a few months back. Meets and bounds, POC at the section corner, then to the 1/4 corner and a couple of courses to the POB. The back of the parcel was wooded and there was a large pond on it with a house. Oh, and they wanted it in 3 days. I said $1200, it went for $800.
Competition is fierce in this area.
The real point of the fuzzy math is that if you want to talk how much you make, try getting a more realistic picture. Gross sales means nothing. What good is grossing 180,000 if you spent 200,000? I know within a dollar or 2 how much I grossed last year. I also know how much I took home, what my expenses were and that time is the most valuable commodity. especially time with family. Take a vacation, every year. Hell take 3. i pride myself on doing quality work, I never even considered trying to compete by doing the most work.
>Price Wars...how low do you go to compete?
$149
Ignore that sh%^$#%#$
and if you are running around spitting out 4 or 6 surveys a day, no matter how good you are, You will miss something. Find a niche and work it. Develop relationships that survive beyond the lowball.
He'll probably throw in painting the windows for free.
Ignore that sh%^$#%#$
> Seriously, I should send one of my competitors a christmas gift, he has driven more work my way than some of my regular clients!
>
I have one of those guys in my neck of the woods too. The most recent example was a 21 acre tract. We estimated $2500, the competitor did it for $600. It was all wrong and no where even close to complying with the board's minimum standards. We then got hired to do it right and also got the 80 acres adjoining it.
It's not really that cut and dry when you run a business.... sure, I pay taxes, but your 30% off the top idea makes no sense at all. It doesn't really work that way ... not even close. You only pay taxes on business profit at the end of year and what you take home in paychecks..... And for me, my real tax rate is like 10% on take home, and my accountant makes any business profit disappear. IIRC, paid $62 in taxes on my business income last year, after the accountant did her thing, so your $30k taxes per $100k of business revenue is a real head scratcher for me. You may need a new accountant 🙂
Sure, I buy healthcare now as a tax free company expense ... I had to pay for that out of pocket at my last job after the boss cancelled it ... Win. Sure, I pay my cell phone bill with tax free money .... I'd have to pay that out of pocket otherwise ... Win. Sure, I pay for a truck, gas, insurance, maintenance, etc., with before tax cash ... How is that a bad thing? If I buy something with tax free dollars, that's an asset that I Now own and control ... and I don't have to pay personally income tax on that cash to own it.
The only really true expenses are things like gas and printer ink. Most of the out going cash is either going towards an asset or going towards something that also benefits me personally.
So yeah, I'm obviously not taking home in paychecks everything I take into the company, but so what? Point is, I pretty much control how all the money is spent and how much I want to pay myself.... But, since you are so interested, I've found that I normally pass about 60% of my business income to myself in the form of paychecks and "dividends" (which, BTW, are free from SS and Medicare tax).
