SLOW TIMES

Start marketing your company.

I agree on the marketing during slow time. I usually recommend to people that even during busy times they should spend 15-30 minutes every day or so and learn something new. With a group of staff that new thing should be shared with a group and everybody gaining from those experiences. It is amazing how much can learned this way. I don't do it as often as I used to, but it helped a lot.

I would go out and run levels through high potential markets. bring business cards

I would go through my files and scan anything important... toss the rest

I would look at my organization with an outsider perspective and try to streamline anything possible

I would put all my project database into google earth or an open source GIS.

Slow times are inevitable. And while marketing is always a good thing, be careful what you wish for. Piling a bunch of tender on campfire embers and then getting real close and blowing hard can produce unpredictable results. Point is, just because you current clients are screaming and hollering for a crew, don't discard them for some project that might make them feel a little 'unwanted'.

Over the years I had several "projects" that we would mess with when times got slow. They were always survey-related things that didn't have much to do with any billable job. One I remember was an inaccessible five mile piece of a north-south township line south of here that just happened to be our Indian Meridian. Certain times of the year it's nice to get the crew out and attempt to recover some original stones with no heat or pressure from cost constraints. Pure surveying for surveying's sake. Keeps the guys sharp and on point. Everybody has a good time and learns something too.

I always thought that sharpening machetes and tying nails fostered a little indifference in the ranks.

I'll add that in my situation as a field surveyor for transportation design engineering firm, my clients are actually the design engineers that work for my company, we are engineering support. Most survey work comes from engineers gaining relationships with municipal employees. As we don't do much in the way of private work, marketing becomes more difficult.

I have been somewhat where you are at now. You CAN market to municipalities. I made it a practice to drop in on Public Works Directors, City/County Engineers, City/County Managers, etc. when I was in the area. Just ask if there is anything they need while you're in town. I got us a sewer design contract because we found a manhole that the Public Works Director had been searching for for years. It just keeps your face/name in front of them which can't hurt.
Andy

Last time, during the slow period of 2008, I took the CFedS course..... Expand your horizons!

Working private,I never had time to do anything unbillable, that was frowned upon. My superiors told me the best time to market is when you're busy, then you won't have slow times.

Working public, I hammer out my corner records.

Work on CAD templates, symbols, F2f setup.

Cross train. Sit at a work station with a CAD operator for a couple of days and observe how they put together a drawing from the field notes/data.
Take a CAD operator into the field and show them how to set up an instrument, take shots and collect data.
Mutual respect may ensue.
I would say repeat with an engineer but that would never happen.

Daniel Ralph, post: 454585, member: 8817 wrote: ...I would say repeat with an engineer but that would never happen.

There was a very successful old school engineer around town here a number of years ago that felt everybody in his employment should "start in the field", engineers included. One day in late '71 he hired a young engineering graduate that had grown up "hay seed" right here in rural Oklahoma named "Glen". Glen showed up for his first day on the job in "the big city" dressed to the nines in a suit with a starched shirt. No exceptions buddy; you start in the field.

And so Glen tail-chained wearing his "Sunday best" for the first day. I think I remember him telling me it was also muddy that day. He didn't paint a pretty picture. He also told me he spent nearly a month in the field.

Glen was unique in the fact that he had suffered with polio as a child and has a pronounced limp. Some of us old timers can remember the days before the vaccine came out, and I bet there's a number of us that knew someone just like Glen. But he was a scrappy white boy and didn't let things get in the way. Four years later Glen passed his PE and a year after that passed his LS. Not bad for a "hay seed gimp" (Glen's own words, btw).

Glen went on to be a one of the more successful engineers and surveyor in the area. He spent a number of years as a member of our State Board also.

"Cross training" can produce some fantastic results.

btw - To this day Glen can, on crutches, outrun every two-legged opponent in a 50 yard dash that was foolish enough to try. 😉

paden cash, post: 454536, member: 20 wrote: Certain times of the year it's nice to get the crew out and attempt to recover some original stones with no heat or pressure from cost constraints. Pure surveying for surveying's sake. Keeps the guys sharp and on point. Everybody has a good time and learns something too.

Really dig that, Paden. Seems there is always mandatory time for the required safety meetings, but when was the last time you scheduled any type of mentoring project ? How many complaints have there been about the lack of mentoring, and the quality of field personnel ?
I had registered say once; 'You're only as good as your last job' That's something to ponder when the well runs dry.

'I command a king's ship, not a private yacht! WE DO NOT HAVE TIME FOR YOUR DAMNED HOBBIES, SIR!' 🙂

I find solace and relaxation in the input of plans. I download the image, insert into a DWG , enter the plan, wblock the image, XREF it as an overlay, align it to the linework, XREF the whole thing into a drawing of the area where it is located, align to control or other plans or gis.
Zen and preparedness.

Densify your control network.

Phil Garcia, post: 454635, member: 301 wrote: Densify your control network.

That's actually a pretty good idea Phil.

Nowadays I do a lot of solo work. I do a lot of work for a utility company with a 2200 sq. mi. service area, mostly rural. This area is criss-crossed with at least 5 state highway routes and 2 interstates.

A couple of years ago, out of necessity, I used some control from a previous job just to keep my pink butt out of traffic (most of these highways occupy the section lines). It went so well I have spent a good amount of time setting convenient control points for my base and I keep a control file in the DC. This can reduce a 3 hour job into a half hour cake walk. It also keeps my grandkids from having to attend Papa's services because I got plastered on the front grill of a Peterbuilt.

That's money in the bank.

Good ideas and stories so far. I am doing similar work in FL and there are no slowdowns in sight. Now I've got surveying envy from reading suggestions for fun learning and skill sharpening activities that amplifies the awareness of monotony in my day to day routine...:unamused:

Expanding our control network is our plan this winter assuming we slow down. Plus folks who want to study can study during a static session.

Actually, the best time to market your business is when you are already busy. You shouldn't wait until the well is dry. The point is to minimize the dry spells.