what will be your first business purchase?
Myself, I have several.
I need to upgrade my old surveying software.
I would like to trade in my old but dependable Hiper Lites and get some newer and better gear. It will be Topcon for sure since they were the first ones to offer a tool that the little guy could afford.
But, let me say that the Hiper Lite was the best purchase I will ever make as a small business owner.
If it gets a lot better, I will replace my 2002 Z-71 Suburban. It is a great vehicle, but not very cost efficient and has 200,000 miles.
I have a 16x26 office which is detached and separate from the house which has served me well for the last 10 years, but I would like to build something better and a little bit bigger. I might turn the old one into a "man cave".
I am very busy right now, but not confident enough to buy anything.
Randy
Your list is my list, with the exception of the GPS. I'm happy with my Trimble robot.
I have a lot of hope for 2011. Best of luck to all of you for a productive year.
My want list is long from the simple to the expensive. Prism frame, tribrach adaptor, GPS, the kind with the cell phones, is it VRS, Robotic instrument, new plotter, new van, new boots.
We have not done any surveying in the last 10 days and have no jobs on the list, but a good amount of money owed to us. I have been doing a lot of trading music gear on ebay. Fixing to pick up almost 500 tubes (guitar, radio) and a bunch of vintage electronics tomorrow to resell on ebay.
all i need is the work!
i have everything needed to run 5 crews minus the trucks (sold those when the SHTF). i have plenty of office space, a stack of resumes and everything is paid for. i just need the backlog and i would hire.
i am running 1 crew now and just me holding down the office. i had to let a PLS go that was "partner material". i am ready to be busy again. we have about 2-3 weeks worth of work right now that is good paying ALTA work. i think everyone is positive about the start to this year.
What I would do is buy a robot with refeltorless..
My 802A has been a work horse!
But its lack of a refelctorless feature is causing me some frustration.
I'd like to hire a part-time party chief, but my partners say the cash isn't there 🙁 .
I'd also like to update some of the software we have.
But everything is paid for...so its hard to buy something else, without really being sure about the market.
It is picking up
I've gotten a rezoning, three site plans, and an 85 acre boundary in the last week. Plus a 2 acre industrial lot I've owned for four years just went under contract and will close in three weeks.
I have a Trimble 5603 robot and an Ashtech Z-Xtreme RTK system. I think the RTK will be sold and replaced within the next few months. I leaning towards a Trimble, but still considering a Topcon.
Then I will probably replace the robot before year's end, not because I don't like it, but I've shelled out about $7K in repairs in the last three years. So I'm going to sell it due to age (10 years old). I will probably go with one of the Spectra Precision robots.
Work has been going great since the end of September, and now I'm buried. I should know if I'm getting a site plan for a 100,000 sf distrubtion center within the next couple of weeks. If that happens, I'll be back to picking and choosing my projects like I used to.
I'm think 2011 will a great year for my area.
If it went really gnards out, I'd probably try to buy an RC-II for my Topcon 815A or maybe even go for an upgrade to the robot, something with reflectorless. I can't justify brand new, but I could go for a refurb or one that was out on lease and sent back like the 815A was. Other than that, I'm pretty well set. Maybe a newer chariot in the next few years, but I'm going to try to get what I can out of my shortbus (Yellow 2001 Ford Escape). I'm busier than I was in December, but not quite busy.
Good luck to everyone out there... I wish we all had stuff like Grey Wolfe!!
I will buy some food.....tired off saltines....then purchase a GPS unit or two...L1 or L1/L2, dosen't matter...either would be a big improvement...just need some work...
SORRY FELLAS BUSINESS WILL NOT BE PICKING UP IN AT LEAST THE REST OF THIS DECADE--OBVIOUSLY YOU GUYS DON'T READ OUTSIDE OF CBSNBCABC- DO THEY HAVE ANY REAL PROGRAMMING -REALIZE THESE ARE GOVT CONTROLLED PROPAGANDA CHANNELS ONLY, THE SHOWS THEY HAVE ARE JUST FOR YUCKS NOT MONEY MAKERS--THEY ARE TRYING TO KEEP EVERYONE CALM WHILE THEY FLEECE EVERY THING OF VALUE THEY CAN--
STATES WILL HAVE A 40 BILLION DOLLAR SHORTFALL AND 60 PLUS BILLION IN LOST STIMULUS, THERE WILL BE NO MORE WORKER WELFARE EITHER.. THE US IS BROKE WE ARE OVER OUR GDP IN DEBT--WE CANNOT BECOME SOLVENT AGAIN--ITS MATHEMATICALLY IMPOSSIBLE, THERE ARE NO IMMERGING MARKETS, OUR FOOD AND FUEL COSTS WILL DOUBLE THIS YEAR, TAXES WILL RISE IN MOST STATES THAT DON'T HAVE CONTROLS--NATIONALLY WE WILL LAY OFF 25 PERCENT OF ALL POLICE AND FIRE, WE WILL CUT 20-40 PERCENT OF OUR TEACHERS,, WE WILL LOSE ABOUT 4 MILLION MORE JOBS, HOME AND BUSINESS FORCLOSURES WILL TOP 3 MILLION--THE GOVT WILL LIKELY INCREASE THE DEBT LIMIT AGAIN BURYING US DEEPER--UNREST WILL HAPPEN QUICKLY AS STOMACHES BECOME EMPTY--NOT A GOOD YEAR AND THIS WILL BE WAY BETTER THAN 2014 WHEN A BIG CHUNK OF POSTPONED DEBT BECOMES DUE--
YOU BETTER BE PLANNING ALTERNATE PLANS B AND C----TDD
It is picking up
When I drive down I-81 to go visit my Marine daughter, and turn the corner south from Harrisburg, PA. I don't see much else beside 100,000 sf distribution centers. Target, Walmart yep local folk...that whole corridor is something else, and the closer I got to Atlanta, the more pissed I got!!! Hope you are gettin' a premium for the work that is left...wouldn't want to be sellin' new survey gear now!!!
Perhaps finally a GPS system. I check Ebay quite often now. I want post processing though. I see there are good prices on those single unit, cell phone network types but I do not think that is a good application out here, since the main areas I would really want it would be places without cell coverage.
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> We have not done any surveying in the last 10 days and have no jobs on the list, but a good amount of money owed to us.
That's pretty much the same for me. However, I do have a construction project that needs light poles and a trash enclosure staked Manday.
I guess we are o.k. on surveying equipment for the near term. A new reflectorless would be nice down the road. A few new toys for building renovation would be nice such as new power saw, lithium ion powered drill, and a few small hand tools. We have become concerned about the prospect of inflation against our savings and the bank interest rates are in the tank so we bought a 1960's ranch style house and garage close to town. It should close this week - can't wait to get started renovating it. It will keep the whole family working together for part of this year which will be particularly good for my son with college expenses. The lawyer who did my title search surprised me with good sized tract of land for us to survey (estate settlement) in the spring. Nothing much else going on but we're glad to have that even though it's high and rough going.
I really need to get a new or at least better survey truck. The one I currently working out of has no heat for the winter and no a/c for the summer, leaks more oil than it burns. So its either a better truck or a new silver shield to go onto my personal truck and convert it into one.
I don't know about you guys but the first thing I will do with any extra cash will be to pay off debt. If you've been able to weather this downturn without borrowing, I am proud of you. That's what will delay any quick recovery if money starts flowing again, I think. I'm not going to go out and buy anything I don't absolutely need to survive until I pay off the borrowed money.
I have some substantial reserves that I always thought of as retirement money and I've been hesitant to raid that fund to pay off business debt because I think the upswing is just around the corner. Maybe it isn't. I'm lucky not to be bankrupt. I wonder how many people on this board have gone that way and not said anything about it. I can't blame them.
