Just curious; in your market what would you estimate the number of surveying firms serving it and the amount of work available is now compared to five or six years ago?
In the two counties where I predominately work 3 or 4 companies started up at the tail end of the housing bubble (2005-2006) and the same number (myself included) started up after the 2007-2008 crash. On the other hand only two firms have shut down. So I'm looking at 15% more firms vying for 30% - 40% less work. (FWIW there are about 25 other surveying firms within 30 miles of my office).
That data alone isn't necessarily a meaningful metric.
As they got laid off from bigger companies, many people started out on their own. So most areas used to have at least one large firm (and usually more) which employed a large number of people. Most of those companies laid off significant portions of their staff, and now employ far fewer people.
Of course, it's not necessarily a trade-off... One-man operations can't handle bigger construction projects. So as soon as we start seeing bigger projects again, expect consolidation of some of these "little guys" back into bigger shops.
That is exactly what I saw happen in the Atlanta market. I left in 2007 and had a pretty good idea of the number of companies in operation. Last year I was looking for someones number and googled Atlanta Land Surveyors. Amazing the number of companies that blossomed up on the Google map. I reached the same conclusion; laid-off, can't find employment LS's. Solo operators with a robot.
These appear to be hurtin' times for surveyors.
Stephen
> That is exactly what I saw happen in the Atlanta market. I left in 2007 and had a pretty good idea of the number of companies in operation. Last year I was looking for someones number and googled Atlanta Land Surveyors. Amazing the number of companies that blossomed up on the Google map. I reached the same conclusion; laid-off, can't find employment LS's. Solo operators with a robot.
>
> These appear to be hurtin' times for surveyors.
>
> Stephen
You nailed it. And it has driven the bottom out of fees. I run a small office out of commercial space that we own (well, we are paying a mortgage). The one man shops are about the same price as me on medium sized project (5 acre shopping mall ALTA) but I can't make any money at the prices a one man solo act can do a lot survey for ($350 for a .5 acre lot is average around me). Most don't carry E/O or workers comp. I'm not complaining, I am still viable but the market has changed in the last 3-4 years. On the positive side I believe time will bear out that the level of quality of work on those small jobs will be better. You kow have a PLS with 20 years of experience running the field work vs 10 years ago when it was a warm bodied button monkey out there collecting data and a PLS stuck in an office supervising 10 crews and cranking them out like factory work. These guys may be more likely to go back and set their pins now too that there isn't the push to do 4 jobs a day. Another 'positive' if you will is that at least these guys are working and contributing to the general good. A PLS that made $60k a year can still keep his family feed doing a couple of small jobs a week with pretty limited liability. I hate it that I can't get $500-600 that I used to charge for a lot survey but I know what it is to have bills to pay. At least these guys are trying to stand on thier on two feet and not sucking off the gov. teat.
Yes I agree with your comments. It should have definitely led to an improvement in the quality of the work being performed. 10-4 on the prices also. Pretty closely mirrors a conversation I recently had with a local survyeor about lot surveys and their lack of profitablity. Around here they go for $400. He and I both agree that it is almost impossible to make profit doing lot surveys. Of course, he and I both try to do them correctly.
Stephen
