Herein lies the problem.?ÿ More and more the clients expect us to be working from data that is 'modern' data while we are following the work of our 'ancestors' in the field and in the office.?ÿ The amount of work to take the 'antiquated' data and create a 'modern' product takes more time and effort than manipulating 'modern' data into the latest version.?ÿ THE VALUE OF THE PROJECT IS THE SAME TO THE CLIENT.?ÿ They either accept our offer or they don't.?ÿ Say doing it the hard way will require an effort that would normally be billed out as $3000.?ÿ The projected cost to the client should be no lower than that $3000 regardless of the time and effort going into the work.?ÿ The client either agrees or not.?ÿ If someone else is hungry for work and offers to do it all for $2800, let them do it and learn why they should have said $3000.
THE VALUE OF THE PROJECT IS THE SAME TO THE CLIENT.
Yeah, this is really what it comes down to.?ÿ A jug of Tide isn't any cheaper just because they've sold a billion bottles of it.
What I want to know is why the companies are pushing liquid detergent, which mus cost more to ship due to weight, and the plastic jug would itself cost more than the old cardboard box. But finding the cardboard box in a store has become difficult.
Maybe it lets them dilute whatever cleaning chemical they use which in turn makes them more money.
I formerly used 1/2 cup to a full cup of powdered laundry detergent per load. Nowadays I use a liquid pod maybe 1/8 cup in volume. I formerly bought powdered detergent in a 5 gallon plastic bucket. Now I buy enough pods for the same number of loads in a plastic bin of about a gallon. The weight and volume per load?ÿ of laundry is much less.
Rule of thumb - anytime something like this seems, on first glance, to not make sense accept as true that it is because it is cheaper and more efficient. That is how economics works. Then set your mind to figure out how that is so.?ÿ ?ÿ ?ÿ
@wa-id-surveyor?ÿ ?ÿ Why would you charge them full price for the hour field time and half hour office time that it would take. Do you get much repeat business? I do updates ALL THE TIME. I charge them half, they are happy, I make more than I did the first time and they tell everyone to use "their" surveyor. Win-Win. How long have you ran your business that way??ÿ Curious?
@norman-oklahoma?ÿ ?ÿ Yep, Business is Business. You can't get your feeling hurt from a future client wants a deal because they know you did the survey previously. Maybe when they invoice that 2002 survey for a third time, they will realize what a treasure they actually have to be mined.
But the client really shouldn't be criticized for having expectations in line with common modern practice.
Well, the surveyors should be retrained, not to do this
A lot of times powdered laundry detergents are not recommended for use with septic systems.
Licensed Land Surveyor
Finger Lakes Region, Upstate New York
If we could getfolks to quit eating tide pods
@nate-the-surveyor agreed surveyors need be retrained. You also need to be retrained to not make a piss poor unprofessional response to the realtor. You missed an opportunity to provide a response that was clear, concise and educational not degrading. That realtor learned nothing from your response, all they digested was your attitude.
We get the same kind of calls weekly. It??s hard to bite your tongue but you have to.
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Going on 30 years now @oldpacer.?ÿ In the first half of my career your scenario is exactly what we did at the 2 places I worked.?ÿ These places never made money.?ÿ They were not ran well from a business perspective but were good learning experiences.?ÿ Repeat business from public one-off survey clients is rare but does happen.
After learning the actual 'business' part of surveying I realize how to actually charge for my services.?ÿ If we conducted a survey on the same piece of property 1, 2, or 10 years ago and nothing has changed from the property perspective we charge them full price and always Lump Sum.?ÿ Sometimes they bite, sometimes they don't. It's a Win-Win either way as there are plenty of other profitable lump sum projects to work on.
my dad did the work. It is 3 days of work to update it properly. Minimum.?ÿ
It is very probable that several mons have moved. I can send you a copy of dads plat. And, his crew did make errors or blunders. Some of those blunders are significant.?ÿ
here, you update it!!
We need to charge enough to make a good profit, but charging the same amount you charged to survey the same property 1 year ago when nothing has changed goes way beyond that.?ÿ
We'll certainly agree to disagree on this concept.?ÿ I have no relationship with 'new owner', why do they benefit from my knowledge??ÿ It's the other way around.
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If you bought a home in 2015 for 400k and the value in 2021 is 600k would you sell your house for for 450k? No, because that is bad business practice.?ÿ?ÿ
If you can sell old data to a new client for full price go for it. It's legitimate. But when you want to be sure to resell the old data and still make a handsome profit it may behoove you to cut your price a bit, lest you get underbid by a competitor and end up with nothing. Your floor price is the current charges to perform the necessary due diligence, plus some amount for the renewed liability. You do have the ability to deliver more quickly than the next guy, so that's a selling point, also.
Whatever else you can get is gravy. If you have profitable work coming out of your ears you may need more gravy than the next guy.?ÿ?ÿ
If you do not believe that the original work is reliable, or that there has been significant site changes & monument disturbance, then that is quite a different matter. In that case, it's not an update at all.?ÿ ?ÿ?ÿ
I don't get your analogy at all. You can't sell the house twice.
By all means cover your liability and make a profit, but charging to do the research, field investigation, drafting,?ÿ monument setting, and materials twice is not a a good way to engender good feelings.?ÿ
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The goal should be to remain to be the requestor's surveyor for any future projects.?ÿ That does not mean you should do it at a low price.?ÿ It means you should do it at a fair price.?ÿ Perhaps 20 to 40 percent lower than what your charge would be today for the job that was done previously.?ÿ You will still make a fair profit for the time invested to be certain the previous information is still valid and update a few items you find.
Well it is...putting aside economies of scale, new products either cost more to cover the R&D (i.e. electronics and pharmaceuticals) or the cost of R&D is spread over what is expected to be many sales (i.e. a new flavor of coke). In the second case the producer is taking a risk of losing money if they don't sell enough of the product.
The tide analogy only works if you charge less than break even on the first survey of a property in the Hope's you will be able to charge the same price to survey it again.?ÿ
A better analogy is the detergent sold at natural food coops. You buy a jug of it, but when you need more you bring the empty jug back and fill it up again. You pay less the second time because they don't charge you for the jug more than one.?ÿ
