I was thinking the other day as I was flying solo, about the cost of the robotic vs. the cost of an instrument man and had the following question:
Does anybody charge extra for their robotic instrument when they are flying solo?
> Does anybody charge extra for their robotic instrument when they are flying solo?
I do. My rate for a 1-person crew is $20 per hour higher when using robotic or GPS equipment.
Your overhead is different when using such tools as a robotic or a scanner, so you should be calculating different rates based upon time, equipment costs, amortization, etc.
We have a seperate rate as well for an L.S.+ robot/GPS.
You dang well better or you will be joining the list of people with high dollar equipment to sell for a low-low-need-the-cash-now price. Same thing as going from a $500 clunker to a $30,000 survey chariot. Somehow, somewhere you MUST include the extra overhead in your rates.