This is crazy! It seems everybody has a little job that they need by about 3:30 today. One lunatic called a couple days ago saying he was dozing out the old fence and needed to know where the true property line was first thing the next morning so he could get the fence crew going. Where do people get the idea in their heads that there are hundreds of us just sitting around with our Number 2 pencils stuck up our butts eagerly awaiting their call? Another fellow called yesterday morning and thought I could whip out his lot survey by mid-afternoon.
This is a one-crew business. We aren't going to be in six different counties all in one day doing three-day surveys in about an hour or so. Seriously, the dam has broken in the past ten days. We are already running at least a month behind and really shouldn't make promises of any kind to anyone, even really good clients. On the other hand, I know how it feels when the phone stops ringing.....and that might be tomorrow.
I realize there are a few of you reading this and wanting to drive a prism pole through my heart because things are way too slow where you happen to be. Sorry. It's nice to be wanted, but, not everyone at one time, please............
BTW, these are all little jobs so it is tempting to say yes because it should be easy to fit them in somewhere.
"Welcome to my world"
It is not always the call or the number of calls, it is the caller's frame of mind.
😉
Another fellow called yesterday morning and thought I could whip out his lot survey by mid-afternoon.
I've been seeing a lot of that lately. I don't know how many times I've heard the phrase "I didn't know so much went into a survey" in the last few weeks. I heard it today. I tell them all the same thing - You might find someone to do it faster, but I'm not leaving until I'm confident that it's right.
Sounds like it is time to hire some help? Either that or raise your prices.
I recently had a call from a guy who wanted to know "how soon." Evidently, he added on to his house, and his neighbor told him that he was over on him, and if he did not move it off his land, he would get a bulldozer and do it for him. So, he tore it down, thought about it, and then decided to have a survey to find out where his property lines are. It was too late to mention estoppel rights. I was "busy" and told him I was tied up until next week. Of course, the first question he asked me was "how much."
Sheesh....! o.O
Rubbing It In
HC,
"I realize there are a few of you reading this and wanting to drive a prism pole through my heart because things are way too slow where you happen to be."
I'm honing the point of my unused prism pole, as we speak.
Dave
Rubbing It In
It sounds like you are in the desert. Coyotes and roadrunners don't need surveys.:-P
I've had dry spells but never anything as you have mentioned recently. What seems to be the top two or three reasons for there being such a lack of work in your area?
kinda self explanatory there HC...
You might be hard pressed to even see a roadrunner or coyote.
Rubbing It In
HC,
In a nutshell, Las Vegas is the heart of Dead Central, and Mohave Valley's fortunes are inextricably linked with that once-robust Gambling Mecca. Any surveying or engineering companies here that haven't gone under are just barely hanging on, praying for work.
I've had two offers of employment, Alaska and Montana, but family obligations won't allow traveling right now.
Dave
kinda self explanatory there HC...
Paden,
You need to pan left. Mohave Valley is "concentrated" along the Colorado River.
Dave
kinda self explanatory there HC...
I know...I was just taking "artistic license" to show the vastness of the desert. 😉
There is a wee bit o' development in the lower left frame.
kinda self explanatory there HC...
Just to the right of center I can see where Ol' Wile E. Coyote landed one time during a failed attempt.
Rubbing It In
I'll take part of the blame. I've never been to Lost Wages and have no plans of doing so. The IRS already knows I'm an expert at losing money without visiting traditional gambling establishments.
Las Vegas
You should go sometime and make it rich like I did.
I went out there in a $5000 dollar Chevy.
I came back in a $200,000 Greyhound bus....
"Where do people get the idea in their heads that there are hundreds of us just sitting around with our Number 2 pencils stuck up our butts eagerly awaiting their call? "
Did you see my post about the constipated surveyor a few days ago?
It is crazy how work seems to come in waves. It is either feast or famine. I have difficulty maintaining a steady pace. It seems we are either sitting around doing nothing or we are so busy we can't keep up.
We did not work a single day from mid December through January and it was not by choice. Having off for the holidays was nice but not a month and a half. Since then it has pretty much been nonstop. I think I have had 4 days off since the first of February and I have had to turn away several projects.
If I could spread a years work out evenly over the course of a year it would be nice. I wouldn't spend half my time worrying when the next job was going to be or worrying how on earth I was going to get everything done I had in front of me.
