from the ad at the bottom of the page

Agreed. That is quite sad.

The car with the magnetic sign next to the spiffy aluminum tripod shown on their Facebook page fairly screams "full service professional surveying firm."

Ugh.

just curious Andy

How much does a new pickup truck cost in Florida?

Can you buy brand new survey equipment for pennies on the dollar?

Even if you buy all used equipment from EBAY, thank several thousand dollars, right?

How much time does it take to do an elevation certificate? I do not suggest that time alone is the basis for setting fees just curious?

Wow if you could do them in 2 hours including field and office you'd gross $45 per hour, now that is pulling down killer fees

Just think 1,000 elevation certificates and you would gross 95K.... wow

I think some folks do these for $50 a pop

Has anyone downloaded their app ?

OHHHH fabulous

just curious Andy

I didn't know that Hub got out of jail and relocated to Florida.

> The car with the magnetic sign next to the spiffy aluminum tripod shown on their Facebook page fairly screams "full service professional surveying firm."
>
> Ugh.

What in the world does having a magnetic sign have to do with being a professional or not?

just curious Andy

I can tell you that just the other day, a lady told me my fee to come out and UPDATE her FEMA certificate {that my firm had done years ago} was more than what a company on the east coast was going to charge her. I thought she was trying to get me to lower my fee, but it seems she was probably just being honest. After a few minutes on the phone, she hired me, at my fee.

just curious Andy

Interesting. A search the company resulted in finding the same surveyor of record owns this company too. Some prices are even cheaper. First time I've ever seen advertising on the front of a motor home.

http://www.knowitnow.com/

On at least one of their related sites, they've got this:

BEST PRICE GUARANTEE!
We will BEAT Any Quote by 10% Guaranteed!
Simply Send us the Quote and we will deduct 10%
off the Quoted Price. It's that Simple.

Nice...

> What in the world does having a magnetic sign have to do with being a professional or not?

The sign by itself isn't especially significant. If I wanted the company name on my own truck I'd probably use a magnetic sign, but I prefer not to attract attention when in the field.

My remark was more about the whole package: use of a car, with its very limited cargo capacity, suggests that only the bare minimum (if that) level of equipment is carried by the crew, and that the company is more interested in work volume and profit margin that in investing in the range of tools required of a well-equipped survey field party. The aluminum tripod, another sign of a willingness to sacrifice accuracy in favor of low cost, adds to the effect. The gun looks like a Topcon GPT-series instrument; its reflectorless capability, while certainly useful in the hands of a professional, may be an indicator that a one-man crew is de rigeur for the outfit, and if that if he can't shoot it reflectorless he may not shoot it at all.

No real diss meant to magnetic signs, I just found the overall effect of the photo to proclaim "slipshod."

> > The car with the magnetic sign next to the spiffy aluminum tripod shown on their Facebook page fairly screams "full service professional surveying firm."
> >
> > Ugh.
>
> What in the world does having a magnetic sign have to do with being a professional or not?

We often take my 94 Escort to the jobs. It take $20 worth of gas just to get my pickup to get more gas.

[sarcasm]Awwww come on, didn't you see the part where they give you "full color" plats?[/sarcasm]

In and of itself, the lack of a real person's name to contact tells me all that I need to know.

just curious Andy

:good:

> We often take my 94 Escort to the jobs.

But do you have a high-glitz website designed to generate a large business volume while claiming that you'll beat any quote by 10%? There's a difference between a quietly frugal but professional operation, and one that has "cheap and shoddy" written all over it.

> On at least one of their related sites, they've got this:
>
> BEST PRICE GUARANTEE!
> We will BEAT Any Quote by 10% Guaranteed!
> Simply Send us the Quote and we will deduct 10%
> off the Quoted Price. It's that Simple.
>
> Nice...

We have a "Surveyor" nearby that is doing the same thing.

When someone contacts him for a quote, he tells the person to secure 3 quotes in writing and he will beat the lowest by 5-10%...

And I thought it was bad when a website here offered Certs for $350 with a 48 hour turnaround!

If you can make any sort of living with those kind of prices then the cost of living in Florida must be a whole hell of a lot cheaper than it is in this part of the country. If prices end up at that point here, I'll have to find another line of work. Just having a crew leave the office to a site and come back is about $400 and about the lowest I can go on boundary work is $600-$800 in a nice fully monumented plat with small lots and few fences or other ownership indicators.

I did see that the ads put in fine print that the prices indicated were "starting at" ones. Shoot, I could make the same claim I suppose. But $275/$95? I'd rather do a LOMA than a FEMA Cert, and the I have done 3 in the last few months for around $900-$1200.

I suppose if you are semi-retired and working out of your RV with little or no overhead, charging out at $45 may work, but my costs are closer to $200 an hour.. This kind of stuff just hurts.

That's nice. He wastes three other surveyor's time in doing proper research to price the job.

It's a free market out there.

You can sell your license for whatever you want.

If you do substandard work, you will eventually get caught and punished in some way. I have seen it happen in my own state. It takes some time, but the end result is inevitable.

That does not help any of us who have to compete in real-time with these folks.

I always try to remember that the process with any prospective client is:

sell yourself, sell your company or operation, sell your service, and finally, sell your price.

> No real diss meant to magnetic signs, I just found the overall effect of the photo to proclaim "slipshod."

Thanks for the response. I chose magnetic signs mostly so that I could remove them when I wanted. I also don't like the way the "permanent" signs fade and peel over time.

> > No real diss meant to magnetic signs, I just found the overall effect of the photo to proclaim "slipshod."
>
> Thanks for the response. I chose magnetic signs mostly so that I could remove them when I wanted. I also don't like the way the "permanent" signs fade and peel over time.

I use magnetic signs because I can have them made up that say "Fenton Land Surveying". That way I can park on peoples lawns, toss beer bottles out the window, not stop for school buses, etc. without fear of recourse.