I'm not certain this is the right category but it seems to fit best here.
I don't really know how to word this but here it goes...
I haven't received many job offers to date. To be honest, I haven't really looked either. Today I received an offer from a competitor in our area for a lot more money with similar benefits. So I was wondering what hourly pay for a party chief is around the country from the people who would know.
I know there are a lot of variables. Here is a brief list of my skills if that helps:
Proficient with a wide variety of Trimble equipment and programs, as well as TDS.
Have used Trimble, Topcon, Nikon, and Leica total stations on a fairly regular basis.
Well versed in GPS/GNSS applications.
Have been in charge of Topos, ALTA, Boundary, Subdivision construction, Commercial construction, and a couple road widening projects.
If this is in anyway unethical or stepping out of my bounds, I apologize. I'm just curious of the disparity between my current rate and their offer. The difference is big enough that even a ballpark would give me a good read.
Any help would be appreciated,
Thanks again
I am in the greater Memphis area. The salary ranges for a party chief with those skills would be around $19 to say $23 per hour. That is probably on the low side, but I would say that is a conservative guess.
Check the latest salary survey published by one of the surveying magazines and see where you fit in.
It kind of irritates me that people think that they should be compensated based upon some standard or some statistic.
Instead, why don't you try the concept of approaching the employer that YOU can make the firm money (a lot of it). Due to your abilities of being dependable, loyal, constant, frugal, trustworthy, obedient and friendly. That your enthusiasm is contagious and that you thrive in pressure situations and that you will always strive to do what is expected of you and then some.
Once you convince your employer that you can & will do these things, then he will offer you a compensation package that is fair and equitable.
Sorry Bob, that doesn't always work.
I agree Joe. And that article in the survey rag on pay scale was a load of crap. Those numbers were way off anything you will see around here.
Try to compare apples to apples. If your current employer really values your work, he'll try to compensate you to stay. Sometimes you have to strong arm your boss in order to look out for #1. Sorry to say, but that's the reality.
-V
The very second you go to your boss and say XYZ Surveying is offering me $AB more per hour, what do you think I/we can do - you may as well just give your notice and go work for XYZ. Your boss will immediately start looking for a new PC.
Better to just tell him and ask how much notice he needs. Two to 4 weeks is quite common, but sometimes they cut you short because you pi$$ed them off.
It is common the past 30 or so yrs the only way to really make more money is to move around. Outside of gobment jobs, of course.
I would say a top notch skilled party chief ought to be making at least 25 dollars an hour. More in metropolitan areas.
In the DFW area a Construction Survey Party Chief can get 30-40 hr salary depending on how you sell yourself. Hourly hands aka instrumentmen that call themselves party chiefs, get around 15-20 hr.
I pay my chief $40 hr. bay area California
Roadhand made a very good point. When you say "Have been in charge of Topos, ALTA, Boundary, Subdivision construction, Commercial construction, and a couple road widening projects", do you mean that you were the lead worker sent out to make sure the staking per the info given to you for the day got done, or were you the guy coordinating and working out schedules with the contractors and others on the site, in charge of performing or assuring that the calculations were performed on time and correctly, in charge of checking the plans for adequate & consistent information to enable staking, tracking job progress and budgets, assuring that work performed was covered in the contract and work not covered was covered by executed change orders, coordinating with design engineers for required design changes or RFI's.
There's a big difference in value. I've known many "lead worker measurer" type party chiefs who would say that they were "in charge" of various projects because they were the senior measurer on the site. But when it came down to it, all of the management and judgment calls were made someone else farther up the corporate chain, and these "party chiefs" could be replaced with another measurer fairly easily without a significant disruption to business. The party chief who is actually in charge of the field survey operations on any given job their on is much more difficult to replace, and doing so most often creates a significant disruption to business during the transition period.
Lead worker measurers around here can make anywhere from about $15 to $almost $30 for non-union companies, about $33 or $35 (not sure what current rate is) for union companies. True party chiefs, those who can manage the field operations of their jobs, can make significantly more.
