A few months ago I put in a bid for the staking on a gas station job out in Chandler for a cost of $6,500. This cost is smaller than I would normally bid but like everyone else I have had to sharpen my pencil and adjust accordingly.
I received a call informing me that my company had been awarded the contract.
So, me being the diligent guy that I am I told them I would be at their office at 7am the next morning for a pre-con.
I show up and the door is locked and no one is to be seen. I call the guy and he tells me he will be right out.
After a short time his boss comes out and tells me that a mistake was made and that the contract had been awarded elsewhere. That is actually ok in my mind, people often make mistakes.
I am curious so I ask why and of course it was the cost. So I ask how much the other company is doing it for and he told me 13. I said “wow I beat that by a lot” and he promptly got indignant and told me $1,300 and started to justify the other surveyors existence while trying to make me feel like a jerk for giving him such a high price.
Needless to say I was shocked beyond belief. I calmly thanked the guy for the opportunity and left.
Now my big question is this: Who is the major scumbag here, the client or the other surveyor?
I personally think the other surveyor is a total bottom feeder that is doing nothing but killing our industry by whoring himself out for a quarter of the cost and hurting his colleagues.
If surveyors would just pull their heads out and get an industry pricing standard going, the client would be forced to choose by preference instead of being given the privilege of being able to choose by price.
Also the surveyor would be forced to produce good customer service above all else in order to retain the client.
