I disagree most strenuously!
True enough. I keep forgetting that some are stuck in the past. The commodity type of survey has disappeared and won't be coming back. Unfortunately, this was the bread and butter of many operations, and kept them so busy they were unable to adapt to the changing world. Fortunately, there is a large market for regulatory compliance spatial analysis type work that surveyors are in an excellent position to provide if they choose to learn about it. But measurement and land boundaries and staking will not make a business model these days. One has to add value somehow.
Mortgage surveys evolved to inspections and then to owners affidavits at the same time construction staking evolved to machine control. At the same time, measurement technology evolved to where others could do it close enough for their own purposes without the need for a surveying crew. Now, those that add value are performing their own measurements.
At the same time, I continue to hear surveyors say that a surveyor can't or shouldn't perform value/knowledge added services such as wetland delineation (in addition to merely locating someone elses flags). Surveyors can't perform drainage analysis, can't perform erosion/sediment control plans, can't identify soil types or perform perc tests, can't design simple roadways. Basically can't do anything for a client that would help them in the "use" of their property.
Cool stuff is not enough, surveyors need a broader scope of practice.
I disagree most strenuously!
> At the same time, I continue to hear surveyors say that a surveyor can't or shouldn't perform value/knowledge added services such as wetland delineation (in addition to merely locating someone elses flags). Surveyors can't perform drainage analysis, can't perform erosion/sediment control plans, can't identify soil types or perform perc tests, can't design simple roadways. Basically can't do anything for a client that would help them in the "use" of their property.
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> Cool stuff is not enough, surveyors need a broader scope of practice.
True, but many do not want to learn anything new, or feel that they can't learn anything new. I don't know. Above, I mentioned hard-headed old guys. A lot of the younger guys are this way too. I have always tried to learn everything I can from my older mentors. Why do some of the older guys think that their protege has nothing to offer them? I don't understand people that don't want to learn. My whole life, I have wanted to know everything about everything. If I don't know something, I seek the answers; if I can't do something, I learn how; if someone tells me I can't do something, I prove them wrong.
I disagree with your strenuous disagreement!
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> If you want to sale something that people WANT sadly you will have to find a different product to sale.
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That my esteemed friend is where the argument falls apart.
The overwhelming majority of People do not 'want' a survey, the need a survey or a survey is required by some other party. Therefor, as a provider of a service that Joe Q. Public does not 'want', you are already at a disadvantage and Mr. Public will then be looking for a surveyor to give him the cheapest and quickest service out there. - Enter, Lowball Surveying dot com
I disagree most strenuously!
> Why do some of the older guys think that their protege has nothing to offer them? I don't understand people that don't want to learn. My whole life, I have wanted to know everything about everything. If I don't know something, I seek the answers; if I can't do something, I learn how; if someone tells me I can't do something, I prove them wrong.
I am not one of these that you speak of, in fact when I hire a good hand I tell him right up front that I will help him all I can, I am the boss, however I expect him to be faster and better at most tasks than me, and I expect us to help each other stay up to date on technological issues as well as project specific issues, many times I rely on him as my eyes and ears and I expect his thought process and communication skills to be dynamic and informative in a way that promotes the bottom line, keeps me from insurance claims, and keeps me out of court.
However, after 25 yrs. I have phased out of relying on surveying for my bread and butter, so the scene I described is becoming less and less these days, mainly analogous to shark fishing, if there are no sharks biting you won't find me surveying for the most part.
I disagree most strenuously!
Surveying is not a commodity. A commodity is anything for which there is a demand, but which are supplied w/out differentiation across a given market. In other words, a commodity is sought based upon the presumption that all providers will render comparable services. The public may perceive (likely does) surveyors as commodity providers, but its definitely obvious services are seldom comparable across the board.
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> If I can give you a list of half a dozen local surveyors who, in my opinion, will do an equally good job on your project; that's a commodity.
To your argument, if I need to see a doctor, or hire a lawyer, where is the difference from needing to hire a surveyor? Law & medicine are certainly not commodities, though a quick scan thru any yellow pages would seemingly reveal any number of choices that I would perceive would do an equally good job for me. Without a doubt, there are commodity-like facets to any profession.
Seems to me
That if we are talking about the general public, who know little to nothing about surveying, the best survey is going to be the one that costs them the least amount of money.
