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[USER=10211]@FrancisH[/USER] you mention that 50 crews can each be 40% profitable,
No I said it is possible for 50 crews to have a profit. Profit will go down to maybe 10% for each crew. But even at 10%/crew x 50 crews will be greater than your 40% for 3 crews.
Marketing will not increase proportional to the number of crews. With the internet, I think fewer and fewer companies are using the yellow pages or newspaper ads or other traditional marketing venues.
I think for past 5 years, 75% of my clients were pointed to me through the internet. while the 25% from personal & previous client referrals.
The advantages of having 50 crews is the ability to get large contracts. These are the multi year retainer basis work. You know the highway or pipelines that run for several hundred kilometers that needs support from surveyors all year round.
Now that the wall in Mexico will be built, I guess they will be needing several survey companies for several years.
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Sounds like we are in agreement. My only thought regarding three crews vs 50 crews (or whatever the magic number is) is that there is a point of maximum profit margin. It might not be the point of maximum profit, but of maximum profit margin.