Can someone give me an estimate on preparing an estimate??ÿ
I have read that some charge by the pic??ÿ
Anyone willing to share how much??ÿ
An hourly rate doesn't seem appropriate here.
tia, JTS
It all depends on what you are doing. Charging per pic would, in my view, only be applicable when somebody just wants a view of the property. If you are mapping then the pricing is much the same as for any ground mapping: charge by area, charge what you think it is worth, charge by time, equipment and materials.
I've charged by all three methods, depending on the job. Where jobs could be done equally by ground or by SUA I tend to charge based on the ground survey estimate: then if the weather is unkind I can do the job conventionally and not loose out, if the weather is suitable I can fly it and save some of the walking around. Giving the customer an orthophoto is then a bonus for him and might encourage further work offerings.
Chris is on the right track. Charge what the survey is worth. Establishing and maintaining a UAS program isnt terribly expensive, but it isnt free.?ÿ
IMHO hourly rates for professional services are never appropriate. Charge what the work is worth to the client...
I, for one, endorse hourly rates like these:
http://fortune.com/2016/02/09/lawyer-hourly-rates/
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Last week a client ask what I charged per hour.
I told him that I really did not have a per hour rate and that instead, I charged a fee for my surveys depending upon what I am surveying and what it takes to accomplish the task.
When he ask what that amount was for him, I said that on some days I answer a $10k situation with one step and on others I find nothing to work with after the first day, I will have to finish your project to know the final fee.
I did let him know that for marking his 900+ft boundary should not exceed $1k and we would be finished by end of the day.
Years ago, thru experience, I found out that if I quoted a fixed price and accepted payment before going to the project, it took forever to schedule going there and then it took twice as long to finish.
Now, I usualy give a range to fall between and I get the job or not, in the end I am busy all the time and do not have to solicit work.
IMHO hourly rates for professional services are never appropriate. Charge what the work is worth to the client...
When I figure up what something is going to cost, I start with how long it should take me to get it done. How do you know know what it's worth to your client? Ask them, how much will you pay me to do this? I've asked before and got the response "drone stuff is cool but shouldn't it cost less since it's less walking and faster for you to do?" Or "if it costs the same or more than traditional methods, I'll take what we've been getting over something I have to learn how to use."
IMHO hourly rates for professional services are never appropriate. Charge what the work is worth to the client...
When I figure up what something is going to cost, I start with how long it should take me to get it done. How do you know know what it's worth to your client? Ask them, how much will you pay me to do this? I've asked before and got the response "drone stuff is cool but shouldn't it cost less since it's less walking and faster for you to do?" Or "if it costs the same or more than traditional methods, I'll take what we've been getting over something I have to learn how to use."
I often find that when I estimate how much of my time and effort is involved in a project, and multiple that by what I believe my time is worth per hour, that the resulting sum far outpaces what the potential client perceives as the worth of the task at hand.?ÿ
However, to be honest, I do have a pretty high opinion of myself.?ÿ ??ÿ
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However, to be honest, I do have a pretty high opinion of myself.?ÿ ??ÿ
Don't we all?! It'd be nice for the general public to have that same opinion.?ÿ ??ÿ ??ÿ
IMHO hourly rates for professional services are never appropriate. Charge what the work is worth to the client...
When I figure up what something is going to cost, I start with how long it should take me to get it done. How do you know know what it's worth to your client? Ask them, how much will you pay me to do this? I've asked before and got the response "drone stuff is cool but shouldn't it cost less since it's less walking and faster for you to do?" Or "if it costs the same or more than traditional methods, I'll take what we've been getting over something I have to learn how to use."
As we move into an "imaging" age then this is something where we are going to have to educate clients.
On simple imaging the client gets far more visual information: this doesn't always translate into more data detail but it does provide an invaluable "background" of information for him - once he understands how to use it.
Example. we recently had to provide building elevations to either side of a city centre development site. The buildings were ornate 19th century, but only needed for showing how the new development would fit it. After discussion we provided 1:100 orthophotos of the street with additional linework to give all the main structural levels and string course heights. Looked fine. However, the planning authorities wanted it all drawn out as linework, because that is what they were used to.
On extracting data from aerial imagery there is a long path of education. Two ground surveyors take the same point - same answer, must be right (although it says nothing about the 25ft between that and the next ground point taken). Data from point cloud AT THAT POINT differs by 0.1 ft, so it must all be wrong! Experience shows that overall volumes have little difference, but getting the client to understand that absolute height accuracies can be worse whilst giving an overall better result is going to be a long educational process.
Before somebody comments on vegetation problems, basically the same argument applies - a ground surveyor waist deep in brambles has no idea what the ground does 10ft away from him. We've found that taking a few ground sample heights within heavy vegetation enables filtration of the point cloudl to give a good match with the subsequently cleared site - again individual point matches are not wonderful, but the overall result is.
I wish you lot would learn metric, so I don't have to keep thinking back into feet!
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