Ring Ring Ring...

Sounds like they will get a ridiculous survey.

😀

>
> Question? As a professional, would you ever feel proud to know that your price was "ridiculously" lower than everyone else?

More proud than I would having my house foreclosed on.

I feel your pain but people are still hurting. It sucks to get beat out on a job, but it sucks even worse to not be able to feed your family.

I'm always wary of assuming that dramatically lower means ridiculously lower. Quite often I've done something for substantially less than the competing quotes simply because I had lots of pertinent data on file and perhaps a lot of control points in the area. At an extreme, I once did a small parcel that, except along the road, was entirely surrounded by a large, messy parcel we'd done a few years earlier. Any competitor would have still been at the Registry of Deeds while I was typing up the bill. Conversely, I never hesitate to refer callers to other surveyors who I think may be similarly situated and who can thus perhaps do the job faster and cheaper.

My hunch is that this is not the case in Ga's situation but we can't be sure from the fact set.

From that conversation, I can't tell if they hired the guy with the ridiculously low bid. Did they say that? The low-bid guy probably either left something out of his scope, had a lot of prior knowledge for the job or is just plain desperate. If the scope was specified by the client with no modification by the low-bid guy, the client can stick it to him to complete the job but they might be surprised when he comes back for extras or just flakes out when he runs out of money.

They went with low bid and I can tell you that the research alone is going to take a very long time in the courthouse. The two tracts date back to 1909 and have no survey on record. I was told by the client to add "a lot of research time" to my estimate.

I have stopped giving prices to third party (Realtor, banker, title companies, etc...) that call.

They are price shopping and putting together a package deal they are trying to sell to the actual client.

In all instances, the surveyor will loose revenue by dealing with anyone except the actual client.

All things being equal, a savvy client looks at the proposals, and should be curious as to why there were one or two outliers that are really high or really low. He should wonder why one was drastically lower or higher than the rest of the proposals. There has to be a reason, and if he's worth his beans, he will find out why. Sadly, there aren't enough savvy clients out there, and everybody is looking for Cadillac work at Yugo prices. All we can do is deliver quality work at a fair price. It's tough out there.

Dale Yawn
Savannah, Ga.

I just learned about one that we put in to do design surveys, construction staking, Pre & Post construction RS's etc for a new Rail bridge over 5 lanes of freeway here in So Cal. Our proposal was in line with three other firms and fit with the expected cost of the construction of the bridge. The one they went with was 70% less than the rest of us. Since our client was the contractor, I am not really surprised they are basing everything on fee.

Holy Smokes

70 percent lower

That is insane. Something is very, very wrong.

Holy Smokes

When the contractor is involved in hiring the survey, cost is generally the first and only factor. They usually get the jobs based on fee and so do their subs. We have worked with this contractor many times, big one, but how could they pass that much savings up? Of course it will end up a paperwork and accounting nightmare when their new surveyor "change orders" them up the a$$.

Things are extremely slow down in God's waiting room (FL). I hear good things from friends in the N.W. however. 😛

"In all instances, the surveyor will loose revenue by dealing with anyone except the actual client."

I cannot agree with this statement. I bet more than 80% of my work is third party clients and I do not feel a loss of revenue do to that fact. Actually it's quite the opposite; Third party, or peer professionals have a better understanding of your profession than the average homeowner. If you are not giving proposals to third party requests then you are losing revenue.

I have found that the third party makes their decision upon price alone and does not really care what the quality of the product is. They are mostly accepting lowballers or get survey exceptions not to have it surveyed.

I am not going to pay or break even to survey someone's property.

How do you like a third party deciding what your fee is for you?

Do you also just do what that third party wants and not what is sometimes necessary?

Do they call you back and ask that if your price was below x$ that they would let you get started today if you will be finished tomorrow?

If not, then your third party isn't from around here.

😐

I work for lawyers, engineers, architects, landscape architects, as well as a few other surveying firms on occasion. Obviously Cape Cod isn't anywhere near TX except in spirit so I can't compare with your experience's.

I do know, as a fact in my business, that your issues are not issues for me. I do not work with survey brokers but directly with the peers that understand the complexities of the surveying profession. The ones that I work with do not price shop, they understand quality; they do not argue fees but simply pay the invoice.

I do not do construction layout, i have found that to be the world of cheapskate third party clients with high liability... you can have that aspect of the profession.

Most of my third party clients are long term clients of mine, some going back over 20 years.

I suggest that you might consider your client list if that's what you have to worry about!!

Same here Don: except I seldom get work from the engineers, architects, or landscape architects.
(80% is in California and Arizona)