Average Work Day

Travis Caldwell, post: 409338, member: 12234 wrote: Not getting into money, I know that's sensitive although I think needs to be better addressed as surveyors are underpaid, what is your average day/week like?

6:00 - 3:30 +/- Monday - Thursday
6:00 - 2:00 Friday
Might go into the office on a weekend two or three times a year at most.

At the office 7am, almost always there until 5pm or later. I rarely take a "lunch hour". That's for office days. Sometimes do some work on the laptop at home in the evenings. I spend too much time in between on RPLStoday. So it's not that I have my nose to the grindstone all that time.

Mark Mayer, post: 409345, member: 424 wrote: At the office 7am, almost always there until 5pm or later. I rarely take a "lunch hour". That's for office days. Sometimes do some work on the laptop at home in the evenings. I spend too much time in between on RPLStoday. So it's not that I have my nose to the grindstone all that time.

I am much like Mark, but I am here by 6:30 AM most days. I leave sometime between 3:00 and 5:00, depending on what is going on. I almost always have something to look at in the evenings, but not always. I usually do look at some stuff over the weekends as well. I get pulled many different directions throughout the day, and at times, am easily distracted. I work more than most everyone else in the office, but that is more of a personal thing for me. I am a perfectionist, and get really involved in what I do, and probably spend way more time on things than I probably need to.

I do jump on this forum quite frequently to "clear my head".

Having said all of that, the 100K per year is going to be relative, depending on your location. $100k in one location is like 75K in other areas. I doubt there are any surveyors in my area that are breaking 6 figures, and if so, they are probably working more than 40hrs a week.

I am days away from signing paperwork for a partnership at my new firm, and we are a DBE and offer both surveying and engineering. No one here makes 6 figures, but we do take good care of our employees with retirement, health insurance, and vacations. We also have an above average bonus at the end of the year. It's all relative to your area. The cost of living here is not as high as many other parts of the country.

FWIW - When I was in my mid 40's I used to work the hours that Mark & Jimmy described (and had an annual compensation package well in excess of $100,000). YMMV, but all it got me was some nice vacations, a Porsche, and a stent in my left anterior descending artery.
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2014/06/how-stress-can-clog-your-arteries .

Now the only thing I work at after I get home on weekdays or on weekends is avoiding my phone and email at all costs. The company I work for (and especially principal who oversees the survey departments) actively stresses that the workday ends when you leave the office. I'm still probably compensated substantially more than most surveyors outside of markets like NYC, the Bay area, etc. and could probably make 10%-15% more in my market if I was willing to work 50+ hours a week at a firm that does a lot of land development work (we do a lot of municipal & DOT work), but I've had a taste of the freedom of a life outside of work...and I like it 😉

[USER=91]@Jimmy Cleveland[/USER] I'm in NE Ohio. $40-50k is average for full-time union trades (my previous job and my only real comparison). DOL has engineers at $60k average and Architects at $80k Average in my area. We're a start to finish company with engineering, architecture, and of course, surveying. Seems to be in that order to the company also. Ohio is pretty cheap living.

With or without my PS at my current job I'll probably cap around $75k a year with my average 50 hour weeks, 6am-4pm. I get excellent benefits (health-care, vacation, etc...). I too try to avoid weekends if I can and breakfast/lunch and sometimes dinner are usually eaten in the truck to and from the job. In the office, I eat while I work.

[USER=424]@Mark Mayer[/USER] I love RPLS. It's been an excellent resource and I probably spend more time reading this during the day than I should.

90 plus percent of my time is office. Those days are 730 to 500 with an hour to read and eat lunch.
Field is a different deal. Start at light and go until we are done. If we are on the road it's dawn to dusk with download and QC in the evening.
100k for a 40 hour week won't happen here for a Surveyor. The few I know cracking that level of pay will be dead by 60.

Travis, Your value to your employer is more about the value that you bring to the company than how many hours you work. Many people have the mindset that working hard will solve every problem. People that live to work are often less efficient than those who work to live. Before I learned this, I was the one in the office by myself most Saturdays and many Sundays fixing other peoples mistakes and shortcomings. When I learned that I was more effective teaching people and holding them accountable for their work, the profitability of the Department increased dramatically. 40 hours doing the right thing is more profitable than 60+ hours doing everything. However, you are much smarter than me if you can get there without paying your dues.

lmbrls, post: 409366, member: 6823 wrote: Travis, Your value to your employer is more about the value that you bring to the company than how many hours you work. Many people have the mindset that working hard will solve every problem. People that live to work are often less efficient than those who work to live. Before I learned this, I was the one in the office by myself most Saturdays and many Sundays fixing other peoples mistakes and shortcomings. When I learned that I was more effective teaching people and holding them accountable for their work, the profitability of the Department increased dramatically. 40 hours doing the right thing is more profitable than 60+ hours doing everything. However, you are much smarter than me if you can get there without paying your dues.

This is some of the best advice I have seen in a long time. Well said

I average 40 hours a week. Some weeks a lot more some less. Pay is highley dependent on location and type of work you are interested in. In lower pay regions $80,000 with close to 40 hours a week is achievable. In higher pay areas $100,000 is achievable, but you will probably be working many more hours during parts of the year than others and their may be frequent travel. If keeping close to 40 hours is important you might want to consider government jobs, the pay will be lower in most areas but the working conditions may be better.

Don't expect to be at those pay levels with a freshly minted licence, it may take a while. Many never get there. Specializing in a highly skilled aspect of surveying can help, and a willingness to move, and take jobs you might not enjoy will too.

There is a wide range within the proffesion. Some work 40 years and never break $40,000. Some are making $100,000 after a few years. It is not a proffesion I would recomended for someone very concerned about income, but it can provide if you play your cards right.

Major construction surveying will pay the most to start off. Highly skilled boundary surveyors probably end up with the highest earning potential, but few have the skills and money motivation to make it there because you will have to start at the low end of the spectrum.

I'm getting rich...
Drinking ez mart black coffee as we speak!

In the greater Seattle area:

Construction Surveyors can make that much but can also expect long hours with less long term income stability.

Owners can certainly make that much but can also make nothing while working 40 hour weeks.

An LS with business connections and the ability to operate as a department head certainly can as well, the hours of a position like that really seems to have the most elasticity with some working sub 40 weeks and others living at the office.

My peers in other industries make more and work less hours; that includes both tech and trades.

I'm in the lower 6 figure income. It took me 30 years to get here. I started as a rod man/instrument man working directly with the owner of a small surveying firm at a whopping $6/hr. I wanted $10/hr as a new tech school graduate. I thought I was PC ready. I thought I knew everything there was to know about surveying. My new employer said, "Well, come work with me for a week. At the end of that week if you still feel like you deserve $10/hr we can talk about it." I don't think it took a whole day for me to realize I wouldn't be asking for that $10/hr. He didn't yell at me nor belittle me. But I knew and he knew I had a lot more to learn than what they taught in school.

Typical day?
Office: 40-50 hours a week. I take about 30-minutes a day to eat and take care of personal stuff. But mostly I eat and keep on working.
Field: 50-60 hours a week. Leave the office or hotel at first light and return at dark. If I quit in the field before dark it is likely middle of the summer when there is 15 hours of daylight.
I almost never work weekends or holidays. I reserve those for family, fishing, and woodworking. Like someone else said earlier, you have to leave the work at some point. So I work my butt off during the week to avoid working the weekend.
I rarely read RPLS Today while at the office. But it is a great place to ask for advice and to find answers to common problems.

The best advice I can give you is this. Find something you love to do that you can make money doing. Do that and you will be successful. Most importantly, you will never work another day in your life.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Travis,
First off, glad to see a new recruit in the Surveying ranks. You will never regret it. I'm retired now after 40 + years in the field and office. Seems I can't go but a few miles and not see something that I or the company had a hand in. It's really gratifying.

My work day always started at 7 and finished at 4ish in the office and in the the field, it depended on distance from the office or if someone in a trackhoe was going to run out of stakes.

Don't try to be Superman, learn how to say " No, I can't take on any more right now ", I wish I had learned that sooner.

Paul Landau, post: 409428, member: 2526 wrote: Travis,
First off, glad to see a new recruit in the Surveying ranks. You will never regret it. I'm retired now after 40 + years in the field and office. Seems I can't go but a few miles and not see something that I or the company had a hand in. It's really gratifying.

My work day always started at 7 and finished at 4ish in the office and in the the field, it depended on distance from the office or if someone in a trackhoe was going to run out of stakes.

Don't try to be Superman, learn how to say " No, I can't take on any more right now ", I wish I had learned that sooner.

That's the best advice I've seen. Learn how to say no. Right now my day consist of getting to the office around 5:30 to 6 am and working until I get done. Some days it's 8 at night while others it's 5pm.

I am still a young buck at 31 and I figure I can work hard now and play later or I can play now and work hard later. I could be wrong.
I've always trusted my gut and my happiness while working for other people and it has treated me well so far.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk