Trying to get set-up or the new system.
Do you guys bill diffeently for the use of the GPS system?
I bill much more per hour, and get many more jobs done. The client is getting at least as good, if not a better product. He should not be paying less than he did before.
Mike
I don't bill by the hour, I bill by the job.
The price doesn't change whether I use GPS or not and sometimes I use up to 7 units at a time.
Using GPS get's the job done much faster.
A $2500 dollar job that would've taken 10 hours of traverse(swamps, etc.), now is covered in about 2 hours with the use of a 4 wheeler. I just take a couple units into the back and set them up in an opening(or openings).
So now that 10 hours becomes 2-3 hours instead . . . next.
I have a GPS charge. You will not recoup your cost on volume because you are now much faster. I am around $50 an hour extra for two full RTK units.
SHG
First off you're trying to recoup about 10 times my cost in equipment.
Secondly I would assume that the work you charge extra, per hour on, is work that is directly GPS related.
I, on the other hand do boundary surveying, almost exclusively. My clients have no interest in anything but the final product. What sense would it make for me to do a boundary in 10 hours and charge $2500 the more "old fashioned" way, as opposed to doing the same job in 3 hours and still charging $2500 without charging an extra hourly fee to the client?
Of course I never bill on an hourly basis for a boundary survey. No doubt that makes things different.
Well, John, I'm like you. I do boundary exclussively and I base my proposals on a fixde fee rather than an hourly rate. Guess what, It makes a hell of a lot of sense to get the job done in 1 day instead of 3 and still charge $2500. The additional $1300 goes a long way to paying for GPS stuff. Oh, I'm on to the next job or two while I would have been stuck on the first one.
Old way:
2 jobs per week
5 days in the field at $2500 per job= $5000/week
New way:
3.5 jobs per week
5 days in the field at $2500/job = $8,750/week
My clients benefit from my efficiency, I benifit from my efficiency. We all win. I get GPS equipment.
'Nuff said?
Ian Wilson, LS CA
Modified By D. Ian Wilson on 2/9/2004 at 11:26 PM