Rates?

we submit our rates from our tech's, to project managers, to RPLS's, to PE's for every proposal/contract we prepare for our clients(generaly larger projects). going to have to verify with upper before I post... might not be the thing to do...

I know a few companies that have a fee schedule.

My way is to estimate a high and low and try and keep it within that margin.

I have $500 days and $1,500+ days depending upon what the client wants and what tools an number of helpers I use on the job.

Charge enough to make a profit.....;-)

Not the thing to do. Posting such things can incur the wrath of the Feds with respect to conspiracy to fix prices. I seem to recall just such a thing happening in the past 10-15 years concerning surveying.

I think it cost some major bucks to defend that in Federal Court.

> Not the thing to do. Posting such things can incur the wrath of the Feds with respect to conspiracy to fix prices. I seem to recall just such a thing happening in the past 10-15 years concerning surveying.
>
> I think it cost some major bucks to defend that in Federal Court.

You recall correctly:

http://www.umaine.edu/set/svt/Articles/PriceFixing.pdf

thanks Cliff... mmm184, if you want to come down to Texas and buy some property, i would be glad to give you a proposal along with our rates.;-)

Check company websites, sometimes they post their fee schedules.

inquire of your non-client

> Would anyone be willing to share their billing rates? (PLS, GPS crew, etc.)
>
> ...just curious where we stand

I've found that the best method to keep a handle on market based fees is to actually ask the people who you do not get the project from, what fee they are paying and to whom. Always preface it with a statement that you are just trying to remain competitive and that asking is the best way to stay that way. And point out that you like to know who is doing the work. Keep it all polite and professional!

Most of the time they will tell you. Whether or not it's the truth is up to your discretion, but it seems to hold true. And they will likely call you back for the next one.

Then adjust your fee schedule based on all the variables that dictate an appropriate fee for that project.

inquire of your non-client

Good advice guys...I didn't really think about the can of worms I was opening.
Never-mind on the rate request...I'll figure it out.

> Check company websites, sometimes they post their fee schedules.

Gosh I hope most people are not doing that. Please people never ever post hourly fees on your website or anywhere else.

Your clients do not care how long something will take you to do. They only care about the results of your work. So why in the world would you charge by the hour. Please, please, please. We need to get away from charging for our time.

Larry P

inquire of your non-client

Who cares what someone else is charging? A much better question to ask is: "What is this service worth to this client?"

The good news is, often the client will tell you what it is worth to them. If you are not locked into predetermined rates you are then free to help the client at a price they are willing to pay.

Larry P

Unfortunately our larger clients require an hourly fee (and rate schedule)...I know what you're saying though.

We tend to make out better charging by the hour. When it was just me, I charged by the job...but as we've grown and gravitated toward the oil and gas industry, we charge by the hour. In fact our largest client actually dictates our rate schedule (they tell us what we bill/hourly). I think they got wind that the field rates are a hair low...so they asked for the going rate. That's what prompted this thread.

> We need to get away from charging for our time.

Unless you're rocking hourly rates like these guys 😉

Way back when, we were doing a survey for a local business that provided prosthesis equipment.

Owner walks out and strikes up a conversation with my party chief. Owner asks party chief if he knows how much the survey will cost.

PC answers......................

Yep, you guessed it.....

"An arm and a leg".

My suggestion is that you base your rates on your overhead. If your overhead is real low, you might need to bump it up like you had equipmment payments and truck payments. Around here, the normal multiper is 2.5 to 3.0 times pay. Figure out what it costs you to operate, add a reasonable profit on that and set your rates.

I disagree Larry P...to a point

but I see your point.
I find charging hourly puts us on the same 'professional' field as others in the legal world.

Joe

> Your clients do not care how long something will take you to do. They only care about the results of your work. So why in the world would you charge by the hour. Please, please, please. We need to get away from charging for our time.
>

Larry - While I would agree with you that this is the way to price boundary work, it would not work for alot of projects that we do.

A current project that I have is the staking of 1,000 piles on a pipeline processing plant, as well as performing QC over the entire jobsite for various sub-contractors and their surveyors. We are expected to be onsite at 6:30am and not leave until all contrators are finished for the day. Some days we work 12 hours and some 15 hours There would be no way to charge this except for an hourly fee. This also goes for the pipeline and well location surveying that we provide.

inquire of your non-client

Larry, I totally agree with that concept. However, most small surveyors are not in a position to expand fees past market price. It's nice when you can, but that is the exception.

Bigger firms, yes. As they tend to service the clients needs on bigger projects and in a variety of ways. As opposed to little guys, who tend to service the needs of that particular job, which is often a one time opportunity.

I won't even go into the current market in this current econonomy.... because at the end of the day we are only worth what somebody is willing to pay.

There's nothing illegal or unethical about posting your firm's chargeout rates. The Arkansas boys got in trouble because they conspired to fix prices, not because they discussed rates.

I don't think there's much to be gained by looking at rates outside of your own marketing area; there are too many variables across the nation to make comparisons between markets useful. However, here are my nominal hourly rates:

==================

Survey Field Work

2-person field crew (with vehicle and equipment) $ 215.00
1-person field crew (conventional equipment) $ 145.00
1-person field crew (robotic or GPS equipment) $ 165.00

Field work rates shown are portal-to-portal and pertain to normal business hours. Add $50.00 per hour for work beyond 8 hours on a weekday and for all work on weekends and holidays.

Survey Office Work

Boundary research and analysis, data reduction and compilation: $ 145.00
Dispute resolution and litigation support (portal-portal): $ 270.00

Other Charges

Mileage: $0.50 per mile or as allowed by the IRS.
Materials: Cost + 10%
Subcontractors: Cost + 15%

==================

Relatively few of my jobs are actually charged at these rates -- most of my clients want a lump-sum contract so they know what they're on the hook for. However, I do use them in developing cost proposals.

Don't you know your overhead? Crew wage/hour + Overhead/hour + fee(profit) = How much you charge a client per hour. If you don't know how to calculate your overhead, google it.

The real trick is accurately estimating the number of hours to do a job. To low, you go out of business, to high, someone else comes in below your bid.