Should I go solo

Far be it from me to really know. But I simply have a couple of thoughts. One is that if you have something going these days that appears to be working, I wouldn't advise messing with it. There are too many surveyors out there that are out of work or quit their 'gravy train'. (A side note on this too, is that in these tough times you would be putting some (presumably) good, hard working surveyors out of work in a tough market to find anything.)

I had a friend that quit working for a larger company and went out on his own and did very well. After several years he went back to the same company. (I think they were actually hurting pretty bad without him). He told me that one thing he missed when he was solo was the comradery and friendships of working with other people. I know for myself, being able to discuss some survey problems and get other imput can be extremely helpful.

I'm just saying that if I have a job, it's a bad time to think about jumping ship. It sounds like you the kind of guy that can make things work in any circumstance, so maybe my above comments don't really pertain to you.

Good luck, Tom

The grass is...

always greener....

The grass is...

Pretty much what I was thinking, Joe! I've been solo for 6 years and occasionally daydream about having a crew and office help, but I know that doesn't fit my personality! (right now) That is the big question. No offense to the OP, but my gut reaction would be that if you've been operating as a firm for this long, it might be tough to actually get back out in the trenches and do all the field work, drafting, marketing etc. I personally know two surveyors who came to me for advice, went out on their own to be "solo like me" and are now either back with full scale firms or quickly grew themselves. It is NOT for Everyone.

I started out solo. It was too much for me, physically and business wise. I came to the conclusion that I was worth more in the office full time than I was in the field. At this point (8 years into my own shop) I could not go back to solo unless that was the only way to survive. I like being able to go to the field when I want to or need to - not every day.

No. I say that because of your question, should I? If the question was about advice on the transition, from 2 crews to solo, you would have indicated that you were ready in your own mind. Give it time to settle out and talk about it with family, then ask for advice about the transition if you have made the choice to go single. As some have noted, some aren't cut out for it, and need the social contact of others.
jud

Should I stay or should I go... solo

Lots of good advice so far…. Here’s my 2-cents….

After reading your post, my first impression is you’re experiencing burn-out with a problem employee(s) and maybe just need a break and/or need to replace an employee(s). There are LOTS of qualified people out there these days…

I’ve been surveying over 32 years now. I’ve owned a small business such as yours; I’ve been a VP for a regional and a corporate firm; I’ve had 23 employees; I’ve had 1-2 employees. Now I’m solo…

Solo isn’t for everyone. I’ve been solo for approx 3 years now and love it. I owned another firm from 1992-2003 and it was solo the last couple years too. I’m a true solo; I do everything from marketing, research, field & office ops, billing, etc. Solo doesn’t work for everyone. It works for me because I’m a self-motivated individual who doesn’t require daily social interaction.

I occasionally feel overwhelmed and think about returning to the corporate environment (happened a few weeks ago), but that quickly falls to the wayside after I’ve had time to reflect. In addition to Surveying, I also own 2 other small businesses and having that variety gives me the welcome break we all need from time to time.

Instead of asking us “Should I…” ask yourself what do you want to accomplish? Will you continue to make the 700k? I seriously doubt it, but most of that currently goes to employee payroll & overhead, right? Will your current client / workload base work with the solo model? I’ve been eliminated from quoting some projects because the client wasn’t comfortable with a “solo business model” firm (although I can turn out a better product & more efficiently). Other Clients swear they will never hire a traditional firm again after using my services. Are you OK with non-traditional business hours? I work days, nights, weekends, holidays…whatever it takes. I do maintain a 1-room office space and an office number, but I have no listing in the yellow pages and most of my calls go to my crackberry.

Go to the old RPLS site and search previous posts by Bruce Small & “Nobody Special”. There are a few others that escape me at the moment, but these guys are a wealth of business information and have nailed the solo business model. Then again, if you’re a regular poster, you already know this….

I’m not trying to talk you into it or out of it. Like I said, Solo isn’t for everyone. Take a break & do some soul searching. If you have any questions, let me know, my email is in my profile.

Good Luck!

-David

Should I stay or should I go... solo

> Lots of good advice so far…. Here’s my 2-cents….
>
> After reading your post, my first impression is you’re experiencing burn-out with a problem employee(s) and maybe just need a break and/or need to replace an employee(s). There are LOTS of qualified people out there these days…
>

I don't think that's the case at all. The OP has cut and trimmed to point in which he is working 50-65 hrs every week. Able to somehow pay the bills every month but he is not banking any of the revenue.

He watches his crew do an $8K ALTA, knowing that he could have done it by himself in half the man hours that it took a 2 man crew. He wonders, WTF? really? What the heck am I doing here? (read my post last month concerning 'man hours worked')

He goes in the office every day to calc points and coordinates for the crews, who won't arrive for another 1.5 hours. He trys to respond to the e-mails from the night before and trys to get the RFP's that should have been sent out yesterday. -- Oh crap, the phone begin ringing at 7:15am, the superintendent from the staking last week calls and says he needs a form check today before the Concrete shows up at 11:00 (sorry he says)

He sits behind his computer during lunch, just like he done for the last 3 years doing cad. He answers the phone and tries to explain to his banker why his credit limit should not be called. He returns a VM from a client that is on the way over to pay a bill and talk about the survey (as if he has time for that).

The last crew gets in at 4:40pm and tells him that they didn't finish and will need another 2 hours on a simple city boundary. Oh BTW, the DC was dropped and won't download todays data. And the client called and expects the plat Monday Am (looks like he will be working (again) this weekend).

Maybe he can get a deposit made from all the checks that have piled up in his desk and maybe he can post all the paid invoices in QB because he needs to send out monthly billing statements.

Oh crap - today is the beginning on the month - He is starting all over again and if he does not bill out $50K+ by Dec 31st, he will have to cover any losses with personal money. Which he has done several times over the last 5 years. --

Should I stay or should I go... solo

LMAO...amazing the way you put that into words

Should I stay or should I go... solo

> I don't think that's the case at all. The OP has cut and trimmed to point in which he is working 50-65 hrs every week. Able to somehow pay the bills every month but he is not banking any of the revenue.
>
> He watches his crew do an $8K ALTA, knowing that he could have done it by himself in half the man hours that it took a 2 man crew. He wonders, WTF? really? What the heck am I doing here? (read my post last month concerning 'man hours worked')
>
> He goes in the office every day to calc points and coordinates for the crews, who won't arrive for another 1.5 hours. He trys to respond to the e-mails from the night before and trys to get the RFP's that should have been sent out yesterday. -- Oh crap, the phone begin ringing at 7:15am, the superintendent from the staking last week calls and says he needs a form check today before the Concrete shows up at 11:00 (sorry he says)
>
> He sits behind his computer during lunch, just like he done for the last 3 years doing cad. He answers the phone and tries to explain to his banker why his credit limit should not be called. He returns a VM from a client that is on the way over to pay a bill and talk about the survey (as if he has time for that).
>
> The last crew gets in at 4:40pm and tells him that they didn't finish and will need another 2 hours on a simple city boundary. Oh BTW, the DC was dropped and won't download todays data. And the client called and expects the plat Monday Am (looks like he will be working (again) this weekend).
>
> Maybe he can get a deposit made from all the checks that have piled up in his desk and maybe he can post all the paid invoices in QB because he needs to send out monthly billing statements.
>
> Oh crap - today is the beginning on the month - He is starting all over again and if he does not bill out $50K+ by Dec 31st, he will have to cover any losses with personal money. Which he has done several times over the last 5 years. --

Been there, done that.... I prefer to enjoy life 😉

Above Story....

If you do that I'm sorry but you might be a GREAT surveyor, But you're a LOUSY business man/woman.

Be careful to not base your anticipated field time on nostalgia. I have seen a couple of gentlemen come out of the office in this economy and it turns out that they really can not "do it faster than these button pushers now a days".

Maybe you should just train your crews to stake boundary instead of firing them.

0.02

check out a book called "starving the monkeys" by Tom Baugh, which contains, among other things, the following plan (that Baugh, an electrical engineer, implemented sucessfully):

fire everyone, then sit down for lunch with the top producers, tell them you would like to continue to do business with them B2B, if they would be so kind as to incorporate. Introduce them to your attorney and accountant and help them get set up. sell them the equipment they use daily. productivity will go way up.

so the answer is "Yes, but ..."

Being solo does limit the kinds of fieldwork you can do. Solo with a network GPS rover is pure freedom (if you have sky). Solo with robotics can make you into a human pack mule. It's always safer to have someone watching your back. I have done a fair amount of solo robotics but these days I am wishing for a network rover and some recruits to carry everything.

I made this decision in my Austrailain business about 12 months back, appears we have the same problems the world over.

I had a business about the same size as yours doing about the same turnover. Was doing 80hr a week while staff worked half that and got hoildays sick days and paid too much to give me crap day in day out.

So I had choice go small or go bigger couldn't keep going the way I was. If you go solo which clients do you say no to, when you've got good regaular clients - really only once choice in the end and the answer was not solo. I did have the advantage of having way too much work, but here is what I did.

Without letting my staff know.

1. Hired a town planner to take care of the planning applications for subdivsions
2. Hired a civil engineer to do design work and look after my construction set-out survey crew.
3. Neotiageted to buy out the surveyor in the next town and bring his 25yrs business experinece in to split the load.
4. went robotic for all field crews
5. Got a really good accountant to give me some advice (surveyors are great at what they do but in my experience we are generally crap at running our businesses)

and most important.

without notice fired the three staff members that used all my time and produced the least, then had meeting with other staff memebrs and explained what I was doing and that if they didn't all pull their socks up and increase their productivity the next step would be for me to go solo and they would all be looking for new jobs.

Result - 12 months turnover doubled to $1.5m ,profit way up and best of all only doing regaular hours and taking hoildays over Christams with family for first time in 4 years.

Take a good look at your business and fix the real problems I don't think the amount of work is the problem but who you have doing it.

Best of luck.
Mick.

Mick,

Thanks for the input.

In a lot of ways, it appears that firms that are 'small' are having a tough go at it. It's either go big or get smaller. (obviously a broad brushed generalization, as there are way too many factors to consider & each situation is unique.)

From what I have seen and from what I've witnessed in the little circle that I'm in (mostly small firms, 5-10 employees that conduct residential property line surveys and commercial & industrial ALTA Surveys for real estate transactions) that these companies have not been able to keep their head above water. Maybe because it's inefficacy, maybe the economy, maybe it's the competition (certainly it's all of the above).

One curious fact that has remained constant over the last 4 years is the number of real estate transactions, both commercial and residential. The number of sales of real estate in my area on a month to month comparison is the same. Therefor one could conclude that the market and the need for land surveys should not have changed. ---> Where's has all the work gone?