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Selling old survey to another client
Hi guys
About four years ago I carried out a topographical survey of a site for a client. They sold the site on last year and the new owner has asked me to quote for a new topographical survey. What a coincidence!
I sure you guys have come across this type of thing all the time. What should I do?
How do others charge when this kind of thing happens?
Cheers
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20 Replies
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No matter what approach that you take, you will still have to update your survey and check to see that nothing has changed before re-issuing the survey with a new certification. Since you already have done the work, I would be very leery of charging the full cost of the work again.
Depending on the size of the job, my approach would be to quote half the cost of the original work and bump that up a little to cover increased inhouse costs over time. Explain to the client that you already did the work but will need to verify that nothing has changed and let them know that some field and office time will be required to update the plan, however, if things have changed over time, your quote will need to be adjusted to cover the extra work to reflect the changes.
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O come on. 2x the original price.
Because new trucks have doubled in price.
Tell em prices have went up.
Then take a vacation to the Bahamas. To think about your business model.
Grin
Nate
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I had a survey firm call me up about six years ago about a topographical survey I had performed about four years earlier. They wanted me to hand them my CAD file. I said NO. They could not seem to grasp that every square inch of the property in question had been altered in that four year gap. Beyond offsite benchmarks, there was nothing of value left from the data I had provided.
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Of course ‘it depends’. Do you want the new owner as a client? How much would it cost him to hire someone else to do the project? Quote him a lump sum price slightly under that and get it done and make some money.
If a realtor sells the same house within 2 months do they provide a discount? Extremely doubtful.
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There are limited situations where I share my CAD files to anybody, unless they are current and that was part of the of the contract that I had with my client.
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It’s time to stop thinking about what a realtor does or what they get paid for, that’s not within our control, we need to start thinking about our pricing, without gouging. I have no concern about what a realtor gets paid, I’m only concerned about I get paid.
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Ever the contrarian, and thinking long term, I have provided the AutoCAD file without charge but with the caution that it is now XX years out of date. It has been my experience that pretty much guarantees me the update.
Short term, which is not how I run my business, hold out for the maximum you can get, but don’t depend on that strategy for repeat clients or referrals.
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Thank you Chris. Well said.
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This reply was modified 6 months, 2 weeks ago by Bruce Small.
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This reply was modified 6 months, 2 weeks ago by
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Does the new owner know you did a topo on it 4 years ago? I’d say get as much money as you can, but be careful about the site having changed obviously…
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Thanks for the replies guys.
The new owner doesn’t know I carried out a survey there.
I worry about my reputation though and if I got “found out”.
There is some additional work on the site to do which I’ll be quoting for. I think I’ll come clean and say I can offer the original survey for a reduced price as its already done but that I’ll have to check it thoroughly to the current state of the site. The other work will be on full price.
I might not get paid as much but I’ll sleep better!
I really appreciate the discussion, thanks.
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What is the new lot owner using the topo data for? How many parties will be basing their work off it? What value do you assign to the risk you assume for this topo survey? How will your former client feel if he finds out you gave the new guy a discount?
I’m not a fan of determining the value of a survey solely from the number of man hours needed to accomplish the task. You’re not selling fieldwork, you’re selling high quality technical data backed by a professional. Lenders, attorneys, and contractors are increasingly using us for a liability scapegoat and we continue to provide this service nearly free of charge. No one cares about your measurements or the time spent acquiring them, they’re paying you to say, “Build here not there.”
Your work provides the foundation for all other improvements for the site. Assign a high value just for your certification as it’s a statement of quality for which you may be obligated to defend through no fault of your own. Dan Beardslee discusses this in better detail in his book, A Business Management Handbook for Land Surveyors.
As a curtesy, I would consider speaking with the initial owner first, then I would recalculate the cost as if starting from scratch. If it would be a wise marketing move, I’d charge the new client around 80% of the full cost with the remainder going to marketing. If the new owner is planning on building some elaborate structure, I might charge more than the original survey. As the number of parties using your data increases, so does the value of your work.
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Well said Murphy. I’ve learned way more about business and $$ from Engineers than I ever have from the numerous Surveyors i work with. No disrespect to them or anyone, but we simply aren’t charging enough for our work products in most cases. And yes, i cringed a little inside when referencing realtors in my earlier post. But it is a valid point, you charge for the product and it’s value to the client.
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This reply was modified 6 months, 2 weeks ago by WA-ID Surveyor.
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This reply was modified 6 months, 2 weeks ago by WA-ID Surveyor.
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This reply was modified 6 months, 2 weeks ago by
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That last sentence is it. Our products have value. Every time we stamp a map we extend our regulatory and civil liability to another party or group. We really need to abandon the pursuit of the lowest possible price.
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“The new owner doesn’t know I carried out a survey there.
I worry about my reputation though and if I got ‘found out’.”
If you do not redo your field work, the date when the field work occurred will appear on the survey (or at least it should, in my state).
But we get paid to be open and honest. I always fully disclose that sort of thing.
-All thoughts my own, except my typos and when I am wrong. -
Some do value pricing, lump sum. It is a good model. Our attempt is to be a valued consultant and to be our client’s surveyor. I want them to point at me and say, “That is MY surveyor.” or say, “I will need to call MY surveyor.”
So our attempt is to bill for actual hours worked on a project, because it reflects that relationship.
No matter how you do it, remember: TRUST is the difference between having fun and making money and losing everything.
-All thoughts my own, except my typos and when I am wrong. -
We have a similar goal. I simply don’t see charging a client the value of a product as a violation of trust…
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All good responses here. I will add this: if you give the client a discount on the fee for this project, tell them why you are doing it.
Once you provide a product for less than market value, the client will always expect a “cheap” price on the next project, or else they will think you are overcharging them.
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Amen, Brother Scrim, Amen. Yea verily I saith unto you that the truth is evident in your speech.
I had a classic example of that happen to me with a good friend and former co-worker of my wife. I gave him a heck of a deal on a fairly simple boundary survey where he was building a new house. Six months later, his lender insisted on a mortgagee title inspection to verify construction was complete and that the house, etc. was on the correct spot of Earth. I gave him my standard price for those when he called. He immediately reacted badly (a red hair thing) and said that was more than I charged for the survey. The lender had assured him it wouldn’t run more than $100. Long story short, I did not do the MTI and we made a point to avoid each other for quite a while.
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In the first instance, that old data is yours to do with as you see fit.
That said, a topo isn’t much good if you can’t lay out the design based on it. If your 4 year old topo work was monumented with wood hubs and MAG nails you may not have any solid control that survives, rendering your old product with only an appearance of value. At best, recovery and rehabilitation of the control is a cost of an update. At worst said rehabilitation may not be possible.
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I thought I’d let you know what I did in the end.
I concluded that an agreement I have with a client is confidential. Would the old client want me to go around telling others that I’d carried out a survey for them on the site? This is not for me to decide, so I did disclose that I’d carried out work there before.
I put in a reduced price so I wouldn’t look too dodgy in case my previous work there came to light.
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This reply was modified 6 months, 1 week ago by Fobos.
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This reply was modified 6 months, 1 week ago by
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