So I'm discussing staffing issues with one of the engineering VP's (a long time big client on the engineering & inspection/testing end of our business asked if we wanted all of their construction lay out, but I don't have capacity) and he throws out "why don't we just buy a small 2-3 crew surveying company".?ÿ Okay...I didn't know that was an option ??ÿ
We have crews on the east coast....just sayin' ??ÿ
If you have a long time "big client" offering you all their work it is an option.?ÿ?ÿ
Beware putting all your eggs in one basket.?ÿ I personally lost 30 grand due to the bankruptcy described?ÿ below.
"They also gained a reputation as hard-nosed businessmen who didn't shy away from forcing their subcontractors and suppliers into waiting for payment while they used their cash to buy more land and pursue other deals.
A year ago, when a cash crunch hit the company, more than a dozen subcontractors filed almost $1 million worth of claims for non-payment against Baldwin and its affiliates in less than a month."
Beware putting all your eggs in one basket.?ÿ I personally lost 30 grand due to the bankruptcy described?ÿ below.
"They also gained a reputation as hard-nosed businessmen who didn't shy away from forcing their subcontractors and suppliers into waiting for payment while they used their cash to buy more land and pursue other deals.
For that very reason I'd rather have 100 little clients than 1 big client.
We??re pretty diversified....a dozen business groups (both professional services and construction) other than survey spread out over five states and the Caribbean. ?ÿI was already bouncing around the idea of acquiring companies in two markets outside of DC/Baltimore in a year or two anyway. I just thought I??d have to be there more than four months before I went business shopping ?ÿ
Plus if this client goes under (they have their own short line railroad and the largest private rail yard on the east coast just to serve the 2,500 acre site they??re developing) we??re probably all in 2008 kind of trouble. ?ÿ
I personally lost 30 grand due to the bankruptcy described below
At a difference company five or six years ago the CFO stopped me in the hall and asked if I knew I had $300,000 in accounts receivable on a big transit project. ?ÿI just replied ??do you know what kind of stud you have to be to land survey contracts where you have the ability to rack up that kind of A/R backlog?? ?ÿHe just said ??you??ve got a point there.?
We??re pretty diversified....a dozen business groups (both professional services and construction) other than survey spread out over five states and the Caribbean. ?ÿI was already bouncing around the idea of acquiring companies in two markets outside of DC/Baltimore in a year or two anyway. I just thought I??d have to be there more than four months before I went business shopping ?ÿ
Plus if this client goes under (they have their own short line railroad and the largest private rail yard on the east coast just to serve the 2,500 acre site they??re developing) we??re probably all in 2008 kind of trouble. ?ÿ
I am hearing that 2020 will bring a correction not quite as rough as 2008, and 2030 will be worse.
I personally lost 30 grand due to the bankruptcy described below
At a difference company five or six years ago the CFO stopped me in the hall and asked if I knew I had $300,000 in accounts receivable on a big transit project. ?ÿI just replied ??do you know what kind of stud you have to be to land survey contracts where you have the ability to rack up that kind of A/R backlog?? ?ÿHe just said ??you??ve got a point there.?
Was the transit project a contract with a governmental agency?
That alone would cause a $300k deficit in AR??s. And why I won't work for bureaucrats.
I only work for production home builders. Never had AR??s higher than 1% ever. Of course we are a small firm with billing around 1.3-1.7M per year.?ÿ ??ÿ
In 2030 I'll be retired and sitting in a taverna overlooking a harbor in Greece.?ÿ
It was a government project, but I was working as a third tier sub so it took forever to get paid. ?ÿ Still, that was only around 12% of my backlog...it was a very good year. ?ÿ
"In 2030 I'll be retired and sitting in a taverna overlooking a harbor in Greece."
In 2030 I will have already been reincarnated into a Great White Shark terrorizing the bejesus out of tourists along Florida beaches.?ÿ ??ÿ
Beware putting all your eggs in one basket.?ÿ I personally lost 30 grand due to the bankruptcy described?ÿ below.
"They also gained a reputation as hard-nosed businessmen who didn't shy away from forcing their subcontractors and suppliers into waiting for payment while they used their cash to buy more land and pursue other deals.
Manager of a small city once told me about a seminar class for contractors he had just attended. He said the seminar was about contractors making lots of extra money by deliberately holding on to payments to subcontractors. He said the instructor gave lots of tricks the contractor could play to keep the subs money as long as possible. Never pay a sub immediately upon receipt of the subs invoice. Let the sub know you (for example) pay on the 10th, and that it is essential that the sub submit his/her invoice before that date. Then, after the 10th goes by (the sub doesn't have his money because the contractor still has it) and the sub calls about his money, just tell the sub that the accounting department overlooked it but he/she'll get it the next month on the 10th. Then, after the 10th of the next month the sub will call (because you are still holding his money), just tell him/her that accounting has been unable to find the invoice and ask that he/she resend another invoice. After the 10th of the next month when the sub calls (because you still have the money) tell him/her the check is the check was mailed and you have no idea why he/she hasn't got it by now. Tell him to wait a few days and see if the check?ÿ gets there.?ÿ
This can go on for months the instructor tells them. The instructor told them various things they could do with the pile of money to enhance their profits. And, best of all what are the subs gonna do besides gripe?
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Beware putting all your eggs in one basket.?ÿ I personally lost 30 grand due to the bankruptcy described?ÿ below.
"They also gained a reputation as hard-nosed businessmen who didn't shy away from forcing their subcontractors and suppliers into waiting for payment while they used their cash to buy more land and pursue other deals.
Manager of a small city once told me about a seminar class for contractors he had just attended. He said the seminar was about contractors making lots of extra money by deliberately holding on to payments to subcontractors. He said the instructor gave lots of tricks the contractor could play to keep the subs money as long as possible. Never pay a sub immediately upon receipt of the subs invoice. Let the sub know you (for example) pay on the 10th, and that it is essential that the sub submit his/her invoice before that date. Then, after the 10th goes by (the sub doesn't have his money because the contractor still has it) and the sub calls about his money, just tell the sub that the accounting department overlooked it but he/she'll get it the next month on the 10th. Then, after the 10th of the next month the sub will call (because you are still holding his money), just tell him/her that accounting has been unable to find the invoice and ask that he/she resend another invoice. After the 10th of the next month when the sub calls (because you still have the money) tell him/her the check is the check was mailed and you have no idea why he/she hasn't got it by now. Tell him to wait a few days and see if the check?ÿ gets there.?ÿ
This can go on for months the instructor tells them. The instructor told them various things they could do with the pile of money to enhance their profits. And, best of all what are the subs gonna do besides gripe?
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We get clients like this from time to time in the construction side of surveying, they usually try to hold on to 10% of what they own and it's always something like when the job is finished you have to contact us to get the last 10%. We just tell them we are a professional service and we do not do the 10% game. Our part is done months before the inside of the buildings are finished.?ÿ Also clients pay fast when they need the asbuilt?ÿ Survey to close, get a loan, or selling the property.?ÿ If you pay me slow during the construction of the project, you will not get the finial survey till you pay the last invoice.?ÿ?ÿ
I am hearing that 2020 will bring a correction not quite as rough as 2008, and 2030 will be worse.
I don't want to sound critical or insulting in any manner, but if you (or others) understand that 2008 was a market correction. Then maybe you haven't the slightest conception of what occurred and were and still are drinking some sort of Koolade. A very quick $450 BILLION ATM?ÿ deposit from the U.S. Treasury into the banks and other financial institutions by the outgoing admin prevented economic collapse. That "correction" needed 6 -7 years of recovery unfortunately and there are still ripples in some business sectors. Four years of obstruction?ÿ or dragging heels by Congress didn't help.?ÿ
Beware putting all your eggs in one basket.?ÿ I personally lost 30 grand due to the bankruptcy described?ÿ below.
"They also gained a reputation as hard-nosed businessmen who didn't shy away from forcing their subcontractors and suppliers into waiting for payment while they used their cash to buy more land and pursue other deals.
Manager of a small city once told me about a seminar class for contractors he had just attended. He said the seminar was about contractors making lots of extra money by deliberately holding on to payments to subcontractors. He said the instructor gave lots of tricks the contractor could play to keep the subs money as long as possible. Never pay a sub immediately upon receipt of the subs invoice. Let the sub know you (for example) pay on the 10th, and that it is essential that the sub submit his/her invoice before that date. Then, after the 10th goes by (the sub doesn't have his money because the contractor still has it) and the sub calls about his money, just tell the sub that the accounting department overlooked it but he/she'll get it the next month on the 10th. Then, after the 10th of the next month the sub will call (because you are still holding his money), just tell him/her that accounting has been unable to find the invoice and ask that he/she resend another invoice. After the 10th of the next month when the sub calls (because you still have the money) tell him/her the check is the check was mailed and you have no idea why he/she hasn't got it by now. Tell him to wait a few days and see if the check?ÿ gets there.?ÿ
This can go on for months the instructor tells them. The instructor told them various things they could do with the pile of money to enhance their profits. And, best of all what are the subs gonna do besides gripe?
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?ÿ
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We get clients like this from time to time in the construction side of surveying, they usually try to hold on to 10% of what they own and it's always something like when the job is finished you have to contact us to get the last 10%. We just tell them we are a professional service and we do not do the 10% game. Our part is done months before the inside of the buildings are finished.?ÿ Also clients pay fast when they need the asbuilt?ÿ Survey to close, get a loan, or selling the property.?ÿ If you pay me slow during the construction of the project, you will not get the finial survey till you pay the last invoice.?ÿ?ÿ
That's the typical 10% retention contractors suffer from the project owner.?ÿ That is what I didn't like about the private business, that and having to be strung out 3 months, got tired of it.?ÿ Stopped doing private business, never been happier.
I wonder how much of the 10% does go unclaimed.
Got a call last week, dude wanted to hire me for two hours Monday morning to make a level loop thru his concrete boxes on a superfund detainment site and fillout a completion of project and accuracy report. I give him a price and he hits the roof and complains. Apparently he has exhausted his call list or everyone has rejected his needs on such a short request and timing. Couple of days later he called back beggin for me to show. Had to let him know that my Doctor had ordered me to stay inside and out of the sun for at least 7 days.
Waiting 40?ñ days minuimum to get paid was one of the many reasons for not missing DOT and major construction projects.
Then some obscure typo can add another 30 days before payment.
Also, anyone can slip some complaint into the box and cause a 3 month delay, usually because they did not get the contract.
Being under contract to be onsite always made me feel like I was taking part in financing the project and getting pressed to hurry up and finish the staking and then being forced to sit idle on the jobsite and not able to move over to another project that needs us just as much.
Nope, don't miss it at all.
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??my Doctor had ordered me to stay inside and out of the sun for at least 7 days.?
Are you okay?
