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The Business of Land Surveying...continued from previous page
“You really don’t want your services to be a commodity. I’d say you’re going to fall into one of four models. Either you’re the cheapest,
you’re the fastest, you add value, or you make your client feel special. You don’t want to be the cheapest, and being the fastest is a lot of
stress. So I really want to be in that market where I’m going to add value to the client, or I’m going to make my client feel special.

And that’s where you get the most reward, and you get the most money.”

Despite appearances, there are many clients out there where price is not the primary concern. Many clients would rather have work
done, and done well, than go for the lowest rate. That’s exactly what Byrom Hess has experienced. Many of his clients are fixated on
quick turnarounds, for example, and are willing to pay handsomely for it.

“Some of our more profitable clients, it’s because they know, hey, I call you and I need that in 24 hours, you’re going to stay late and
jump through hoops and get it done. And that’s what allows us to have higher profit margins for that client, because they know that.

But each client’s a little different. So that’s why you need to get to know and find out what’s important to them,” he says.

Pursue the right projects

In today’s market, pursuing high-margin projects is easier than ever.

“People are so busy right now, they won’t even answer their phones. They
won’t reply back,” says Will Wing, owner and CEO at Infinity Land Surveying,
LLC.

“So if you just take the time to reply back to them, literally that’s how easy it is
right now. That’s it. They’re just like, ‘oh my God, you replied to my call. Yes. Can
you meet with me?’”

The key to picking the right projects is learning to say “no” to the wrong
projects.

If you fill up your plate too quickly just to keep your team busy, you could end
up having to turn away work that you want.

It’s easy to fall into the trap of saying yes, but saying no will help put you in the driver’s seat. When you push back against bad clients
and unreasonable deadlines, you set the tone for everything that follows.
Dorina has found this to be true in her work at Ritoch-Powell and Associates. “We shouldn’t just go get a job because they can hire us.

We should find the fit. And that’s what we do, is try to find the fit.”

So what kind of surveying jobs have the best margins?

Below are several areas that received special mention from surveying business owners:
● Publicly-funded projects
● Specialty areas like telecom and solar
● Utility projects such as powerline and gas
● Projects that are qualification-based

If you’re only doing construction staking, for example, you’re always going to have a low margin and will need to rely on volume. But if
you focus on a variety of projects where you can charge a premium for your expertise, you can make more profit.

More profit is key if you want to invest in your business and employees.

“We can no longer commoditize this kind of work, because the biggest premium is employees,” says Rich Antonio, VP of Business
Development at Alta Southwest.

“If you don’t invest in your employees in the future and highlight those, there is no growth in the future, because the rest of it doesn’t
matter.”

High-margin projects mean that you can invest in employee training and technology that will help maintain your competitive edge.

Analyze your billing strategy

Once you have your ideal clients, you also need to consider how you’re billing them. There are no right or wrong answers here, and

30 The Nevada Traverse Vol.49, No.1, 2022