In this economic climate it's hard to turn work away, but trust me, you didn't need that job or client. Potential clients that are fulfilling some clerical requirement by having a survey prepared are almost ALWAYS of the opinion it's wasted money. Let him and the lowballer have a wunnerful go at it...and don't look back.
I try to help my clients understand that the Title to their property is no better than their survey. The physical boundary is the most important item of a title insurance policy. A properly researched and executed survey is defendable in litigation, a "cheapy" is not.
Just make sure when he calls back squeelin' like a piglet you tell him it will be $4800 to "fix" the cheapy work.
Dan B
You aptly describe the various mindsets of potential clients. But believe me, they all expect ,that no matter what they paid for a survey or what they think it is worth, that they will get a proper survey for the fees paid. You have an obligation to give them one and when push comes to shove you will be on the hook for damages caused by not meeting their expectation.
Dane
> You aptly describe the various mindsets of potential clients. But believe me, they all expect ,that no matter what they paid for a survey or what they think it is worth, that they will get a proper survey for the fees paid. You have an obligation to give them one and when push comes to shove you will be on the hook for damages caused by not meeting their expectation.
Correct you are...as a professional I have an obligation to give them not what they want but what they need...and IF I do contract with them I will be on the hook...
BUT NOTHING during these conversations obligate me to be their Surveyor.
I can say NO.
DDSM:beer:
Frustrated>Tommy
Tommy is right. All you are doing is pricing yourself out of business.
The other day on here someone said they would charge $25,000.00 for 80 acres. That person would last 1 month in business, if that was what he really quotes.
Frustrated.Dawg
You're right, I've only been doing this for 30 years, with 1 of those on my own, pricing as I said. Maybe this is the month it all falls apart.
Or maybe, you don't know what you're talking about? 😉
Frustrated>Tommy
You can get $2,400 to survey a half acre if the client is willing and able to pay the fee. I got one like that when I told the client "you are about to spend $500,000 on your brand new house, it is important that I be careful and get it in the correct place." He didn't flinch at paying my fee.
He doesn't give a wit for my liability but he understood that paying too little and getting an inferior product could cause him big problems, that he cared about.
The presumption by John Q. Public is that as long as you're licensed, you should be able to adequately perform their specific survey to the requisite standard, pricing being more or less irrelevant.
However in actuality, its like the commercial where one of those fancy 'Super Cuts' type of haircut places goes up across the street from an old school barber shop, and advertises $5 haircuts, about a third of his price.
Whats the old barber across the street to do? Go out of business? Nope, he hangs a sign advertising that he "fixes $5 haircuts". That would have been my response to this price shopper...that when you need that $350 survey fixed, come see me.
> The presumption by John Q. Public is that as long as you're licensed, you should be able to adequately perform their specific survey to the requisite standard, pricing being more or less irrelevant.
>
> However in actuality, its like the commercial where one of those fancy 'Super Cuts' type of haircut places goes up across the street from an old school barber shop, and advertises $5 haircuts, about a third of his price.
>
> Whats the old barber across the street to do? Go out of business? Nope, he hangs a sign advertising that he "fixes $5 haircuts". That would have been my response to this price shopper...that when you need that $350 survey fixed, come see me.
:good:
>Eventually I came up to the conclusion of $2,400.
>
> The guy just called and wondered why the hell I was so different than the $350 quote he received.
>
>.... it's clear that the public has no idea of what we do.
Sounds to me like some of our fellow land surveyors have no idea of what we do.
Stephen
Another thing these days is a lot of folks expect everything for free. From healthcare to housing. In many countries, surveying is a govt. function. And, they also don't understand the technology. Many now expect you to be able to take a GPS unit and go out and set their four corners in a few minutes. That may be a doable thing one of these days, but not yet for the vast majority of properties.