Holiday Hiatus

Ever notice how an unbearable demand for political correctness and sensitivity has been rammed down the throat of our society?

Well I am here to tell you that it is my personal belief that people of today need to re-grow the thick skin of their predecessors.

I am personally of the belief that a person is of free will to believe and practice anything they want as long as it does not bring harm to anyone and as long as they keep it to themselves and refrain from trying to ram into others brains.

I have an immense amount of respect for a person’s individual beliefs and their personal space.

Therefore I want to wish the following:

Happy Holidays

Happy Hanukah

Have a Crazy Kwanzaa

Rock on, with the Pagan’s Yule celebration

and any others that I have missed because at times I am culturally challenged.

Now for my personal favorite, Merry Christmas!!

Let's all give it up once again for the Surfing Santa.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

End of Year

It seems to be the basic consensus that the cash flow slows during the month of December.

For many years now it has been quite the opposite for my company but for the last week little has been happening.

I have a bunch of estimates out there that have been confirmed, we are just waiting on a go.

So I have taken this time to drop back and clean up my year. I started with the books. The books is the essential part of any business and tells the true story. I have reconciled everything from accounts to credit lines etc. QB has been sent to the CPA and now I am awaiting changes and year end strategy advise.

I have moped up little things on jobs, gotten a bunch of filing done, archived jobs, fixed some red lines and other little things like that.

I have an awesome girl doing some revisions to my website which are long over due. I am really excited about this as the site is dated and has not been updated in 5 years. I still have people listed that have been gone for a long time.

I bought some cheap website software and did an updated layout along with hyper links and other goodies to create a more professional, informative and user friendly site and then handed it off to the pro. If anyone needs a good website person let me know.

In a nut shell I have been doing everything that I have been complacent about all year and it feels good.

I even have my Christmas shopping done. Usually I am one of those bleary eyed men running around on Christmas Eve.

I am thankful for the down times as well as the busy times. Although the revenue suffers a little all that other stuff is done and I can let it pile up again. Besides the plate is now fully clear for a charge.

As a business owner even when the GPS is sitting there I am always busy and that's a good thing.

Hosed

Today I lost a job and I have to tell you that I got temporarily angry about.

I lose jobs all the time for various reasons and over the last couple of years it is all about cost. Clients could care less about good work, reputation and loyalty and that's okay. They'll be back.

In the case of today however I almost nuked out.

I bid a project recently that requires an ALTA and a re-plat. This project is 4 lots, 1 with a big custom home on 1 lot.

In 2006 my company did a topo on the 4 lots and later on staked the house so I was able to give a really good price for the ALTA.

I bid this project at $1800 for the ALTA and $2500 for the plat. These are very good prices and some may consider them to low, which I actually do but I have sharpened my pencil like everyone else.

I am a huge believer in the follow up call. I start with a call the next day or even the same to make sure that the contract was received and then I call every 48 hours for a status until I get an answer. PR is important and people will remember how eager one is to work for them.

I did my diligent Monday follow up today and my client told me that I had been beat so bad the he would have been embarrassed to call and ask if I could match. He was having a very hard time understanding how the guy could do it for these prices but his client went with it.

The other surveyor bid it as such, $1000 for an ALTA on 4 lots that he has never been to and $1200 for the plat.

To this I say "hey genius" you could have bid it 1.5 times and still got it. You totally screwed yourself and created more long term damage to surveying.

Guys like you are the reason that surveying is having such a hard time becoming the profession that most want it to be.

My cost was cheap, but this is ridiculous. Based on how long it would take me to do this job I figured this person will actually pay out of his own pocket before this is done.

I hope you are a follower of this blog and are actually brave enough to leave a comment.

Until there is a basic price structure in place and we are all working on quality and service and reputation as opposed to cost, surveying will never be a profession. We have to start acting like pros and start realizing the importance of getting paid a professional rate.

People that run on a fear factor and do jobs for super cheap are killing us and have zero regard for the overall big picture. They do sub-par work and continue to give us a bad name.

I know that they will one day weed themselves out, but right now it is hard to swallow. Sometimes anyway.

So I'll just move on to the next project which will most likely be better. Usually when a door closes another one opens and things turn out great.

Leadership

On my last post I mentioned the Surveyor's leadership or lack of role in the community.

A couple of people commented about it and I want to touch on it briefly and then move along.

Regarding the persons comment about the APLS and if someone wants to form leadership they need to essentially shut up and get involved in the survey world to make a difference.
I agree 100%

Now to my main man Dane's comment of a lack of leadership. He was touching on the lack of Surveyor leadership in the public community. This is my fault for failing to clarify my statement, however Dane knows me very well and understands that I think about the big picture not just the little survey world.

OK, all that said lets talk about leadership.

I use to define a leader as someone that I would personally follow into battle. I have recently discovered that this is a very poor way to gauge a leader especially since there are so many in different fields.

Are there many that I would follow into battle? Hell no, because most industry and field leaders are not the people behind the scenes driving the truck.

This year I was accepted into Scottsdale Leadership which is a community program that educates one on every aspect of city and the shows different kinds of leadership roles one can assume from sitting on boards to public office to volunteering. This program also puts one in touch with community and business people that are generally hard to gain access to.

The reason I am going through this program is to further my understanding of the big picture, further myself and to of course meet the people I desire to associate with.

A well rounded sense of community is very important to any business person, this is impossible to emphasis enough.

Now comes the Surveyor role or lack thereof.

I belong to some organizations and aside from myself I have never seen nor heard of a surveyor getting involved in the community at any level except to suck up to townies to get contracts. (Note: This is in my world, others probably know more.)

Is this a bad thing? Absolutely.

Why? Because no one knows what a Land Surveyor is, they are completely unaware of what we do, what our value is and how important we are to society and order.

This ladies and gentlemen is our fault. Yes that's right our fault.

Is it any wonder that society has taken on the image role of the surveyor as the scruffy guy with ripped jeans that come their house and appears to be doing nothing because they can't see it, or how it has become OK for for some donkey to charge $50 an hour and totally screw an entire profession, that people are stabbing colleagues in the back by filling complaints instead of talking, that designers and engineers that used to be great clients are now trying to push jobs through without a survey, this list goes on and on and on and on.

Landscapers get more respect than we do and we are often mistaken for one because people hear "land" in our job description. We are at the bottom of the barrel for recognition because no one knows what we do.

To this I say WHAT have we done to ourselves? This situation should be the polar opposite and a survey should be an expected part of life just like consulting a doctor or an attorney.

I think it is time for the Land Surveyor to put themselves in the public eye. This will make it a more respected position in society.

Join a chamber, networking group, go through leadership, sponsor an event, volunteer, do a job fair, do something.

We are at a critical time in our profession and it has become imperative that we advance or we will regress. We will be left behind by others that seek advancement and yes technology. We can no longer be stagnant if we want to be a "Profession" as opposed to a technical skill.

Associating with other surveyors is a great mirror and a great learning tool but it is not enough for us to progress. There is a whole big world out there that needs to know how awesome most of us are.

I personally refuse to be part of all that negative stuff and am striving everyday to become the surveyor that is expected to be a part of things. I am working toward being a leader in the community and establishing associations with successful people that can help me advance in every aspect.

Bottom line, we as individuals have a lot to offer but we are doing a really bad job of execution and I personally think all of us can do much better.

Do I have all of the answers? No. I can only take responsibility for myself and encourage others to do the same.

So now it is time for this leader to wrap up for a 4 day weekend and prepare to eat and drink to much.

I highly suggest all of you do the same. Monday we can all do it again and again.

Happy Thanks Giving

Marketing

For as long as I can remember word of mouth has been the best friend to the surveyor that owns their own business.

I have always puzzled at the lack of marketing the profession of surveying does.

I have done a lot of things from sending letters to people I want to work for and following up with calls, pushing my website, joining networking groups, belonging to the Chamber of Commerce (which I recommend for any small business), placing myself in positions where there are opportunities to meet new business colleagues etc.

After all of this, it still seems that nothing compares to word of mouth.

Now I am going to speak of recent times.

Throughout the last 3 years a lot of us have had our balls handed to us with a major decline in business, old faithful clients are using the cheapest surveyor they can find, clients are trying to get out of having a survey done and guys are doing things for $50 an hour. Yes I said $50.

Oh I also have to mention the roadside marketing genius who is posting signs all over town who is the $50 and hour person.  I could go on for hours about that guy but it will be a waste of breathe. As things come back he will go away. Essentially he will run himself out.

Now the big problem we have in front of us is that we offer a skill that is undesirable to anyone that needs us and if they could get out of using us they would in a second.

So now I say this. Right now is the time for us to set the bar for pricing.

 I will fall back on the word of mouth thing. Since word of mouth and reputation is the best friend of any surveyor in business, why is it a lot of you are afraid to maintain or raise your prices? I will tell you why, because you are afraid that your clients will leave you because of cost.

It’s a good worry, so how are you going to combat it?

I personally have sharpened my pencil, I have cut my staff so I can do things cheaper but I still bill myself out at least $125 an hour and I often can do more circumstance depending.

Have I lost some business? You bet I have. I’m glad to. Those clients that have been with me for years that have jumped ship because of price are all starting to humbly come back. Why? Because the cheap person they went with has done mostly damage and it ended up costing way more in the long run because of extras.

These people always knew where they stood with me because I am honest. Cheap? Ha!! Never!! But they always get quality.

So does quality rule over price? In my world it does.

Bottom line, we are in a profession that is extremely hard to market.

I am going to explore new ways to hit my target market which I know will be different than most of yours, but at least I have one. I have decided to concentrate on certain areas instead of wasting time bidding things that I know someone is going to beat my cost.

This is a topic that I am going to be writing about as I progress and hopefully some of you will learn from my experience even if I fail.

If anyone has marketing tips or stories, please opine.

My next post will be about leadership and the surveyors lack of it in the community and my new found experience with Scottsdale Leadership.

Hola Señor Tortuga

Just a little something I found.

Crazy Things 2

On March 15 of this year I did a post talking about some of the crazy things I have seen while working in the field.

I just remembered something that I forgot to mention in that post.

One early morning I was walking down the center line of Baseline Road in the Laveen area and just before I got to the monument I wanted to shoot I look down and what do I see?

A blood covered tube sock with a brick in it. How do I know it was a brick? The sock had a couple of holes in it and sure enough it was a brick.

Now let me ask you this. How many directions can your mind go with that??? Mine went all over the place as it still does to this day.

What did I do? I promptly looked around, shot the point and got far away from there. I do realize that whoever tossed that thing was long gone and I found a weapon that was obviously used for something bad. I scanned the news and internet for reports of a sock/brick beating but nothing ever came up.

Working in the city does bring some strange things to a surveyor.

Obstacles

So there I am out in the middle of nowhere with my trusty eye man “Big Hig” who was actually a little guy but obtained the name by a circumstance we will not mention here.

Big Hig is set up on a ridge across from me and we are spinning out points when he turns one out that hits the only obstacle in a 2 mile radius, a shit house.

I am standing there wondering what this house is doing there to begin with, how long has it been there and just why in the bloody hell is it in the way of my second to last point on a 112° day.

Big Hig tells me that the house is in the way so I tell him to go move it. He obediently goes to move it but is unable, he yells over “this *%^%# thing is heavy and I can’t move it”.

At this point I am becoming agitated and walk a few hundred feet and proceed to help him move it. He was right it was really heavy.

After we break even more of a sweat than usual we talk for a moment and then I begin to head back.

Right as I am starting to walk away the door to the house opens and out walks the biggest Indian I have ever seen. I mean this guy was so big I still don’t know how he fit in there.

As we stand there wide eyed with mouths open, he just simply walks away without looking at us and disappears into the desert. It was like we did not exist and nothing had happened.

I don’t know if he was doing his business or sleeping or what. I was mortified, mesmerized, bewildered and just flat freaked out.

I think it had a huge impact on Big Hig to. He never spoke of it again.

Moral: Always knock on the shit house door, even when no one should be in it.

Colleagues

This last week I had the privilege of meeting new colleagues and got reacquainted with some from the past.

These were exceptionally nice experiences in that I have lost touch with my fellow surveyors over the last couple of years due to the fact that I am now an army of one.

It reminded me that I have to be more cognizant of my professional relationships especially with my peers. A mirror image on a topic or a different outlook is always appreciated and always makes me better.

It is so easy to lose touch with my peers mostly because I am so business oriented that I concentrate all of my efforts on my clients and only talk to other surveyors when I need something or need an opinion.

I have decided that this will stop and at least once a week I am going to reach out to a fellow surveyor albeit through email or telephone just to hear how things are going and get a general outlook on things.

As a small business owner my clients are far more important than anything else, however it is my peers that keep me in line and remind me of the rules and remind me to keep my head out of my ass.

The Big Machines

I was visiting a large engineering firm today. It was my first time to this particular outfit. It was very professional and I really liked what I saw.

However instead of being the hustle bustle type place it was constructed to be it was a ghost town.

The Big Machines have slowed way down to.

The thing that I find the most interesting is that companies like this ones client base are the ones that spend most of the money but the smaller companies like mine are busier.

Is this the dawning of a new age of surveying?

Yes I believe it is.

I have been saying for years that big firms will eventually only staff in house RLS that only handle legal and the rest will be done by contract labor.

This is something that is an awesome and sustainable fact for the small survey business. The companies that only handle surveying will grow while the big machines develop into engineering and legal only. They will no longer be the mass production of yesterday but instead will spearhead technology and efficiency.

We are seeing a huge shift in surveying and where the dollars will go. The big guys will always be on top just in a different way and the small guys revenue will grow as they hire surveyors. (Notice how I said surveyor, not staker?)

Yes let's talk staker for the moment. The big contractors will all have their own stakers and will hire out to the big firms for their legal. Asbuilts etc.

I say let them have it all. I love legal stuff.

The new world of surveying is here and it arrived a lot quicker than I anticipated. Be ready boys and girls. This is huge and if you aren't ready you are going to get squashed.

This recession that we are now coming out of is really one of the best things that has happened to Surveying. It has added a corrective measure that will be hard for us to mess up and it has also shot us in a new direction.

Oh yeah!!!!!

Virtue of the 1 man crew

The other day this friend of mine called me to ask if I can refer a gun runner to him. I promptly sent him to a guy that used to work for me that aside from exceeding the gunner skill he is also a fantastic person who I believe will fit well at this particular company.

Before referring him I asked the guy if he needed the body or if a 1 man crew would do the trick therefore cutting the payroll and improving the bottom line. He said that a set of hands was really needed for tasks that could be easily done by one guy but in his mind could not be. He is obviously still an old school thinker.

Back when I had a bunch of employees I did an experiment. Utilizing technology I broke people into 1 man crews. Almost right away my crew production jumped 30%.

My idea proved itself true, people in pairs screw around but when left alone they do more work simply because there is nothing else to do. And yes, I know this is not a genius idea and that people have been doing it for a long time.

From then on I went with only 1 man crews unless two were absolutely needed and then I would pair a crew for the day. I was able to thin my staff, have less administration, less headache and still bill the same rate therefore improving the bottom line.

Here in Arizona technology has made possible to run single person crews 80-90% of the time condition dependant.

I believe it is the wave of the future and yes even on big construction sites. Anyone been watching the Kiewit stakers on the 101? Notice how I said staker and not surveyor?

To all of the worker bees that may disagree with my thought process I will say this. Wake up, the future and technology are going to eat your job up unless you take action now and improve your position and skill set.

Personally I use a few people when I need a hand. This week I have a tree covered house topo to do. I will bring in an LS that has his own company and insurance as contract labor for this project. This is the direction that I am going in the future. Payroll employees are a thing of the past. Even office staff will be contract.

1 man crew is the future of Land Surveying.

Big Changes Coming

I am starting to see more job posts on Topica and am hearing rumblings of people getting busy again.

It's about time!!!

Those of us that have survived this whole thing need to take a moment of gratitude and celebrate ourselves because we as individuals are the only reason we did.

I to am getting busier again. I am seeing a lot of new starts in custom homes, remodels and boundary surveys.

Anyone that tells you that commercial is coming back is extremely naive. Commercial is 5 years out. Tract housing is longer and I would be glad if it never comes back.

2012 is going to be a much better year, especially since most believe that we will have a new President elected in November. That right there is easing nervous feelings and causing people to spend.

Let's all try and keep a positive attitude. Ever notice when the world hands you a fistful of shit, if you keep a positive attitude things usually end up being better and when we let it kick our ass it gets worse?

Chin up fellow surveyors. This thing is almost over and those of you who are still in the game you will kick some ass and make some serious bank.

I am currently working on a project that will help change surveying for the greater good. If I can get this particular thing through the hoops it will be one of the biggest things that has ever happened to us.

I will disclose more information as time goes on, but right now I want to plant the seed that big stuff is coming.

We are responsible for so much. We have to know 10 different ways to 1 things. We are extraordinary in what we do.

Let's make this the worlds most respected profession once again.

We can start by speaking of the un-speakables. If  it makes you uncomfortable it is probably worth discussing.

I am inviting any and all that read this blog to post any topic about this profession and I will post it in front if you really have something worth while to say.

It all starts with communication and I know that most of you hold back. Stop! It only holds everything back.

Super Hero of the Week

I don't know who this person is but I want to thank them for an awesome comment. I truly appreciate what they said.

Thanks for calling how it is.

 

See below 

Anonymous said...

I don't know about the global ramifications of our new economy but I do know this. This recession is the best thing for the surveying profession. I can see positive changes already. The slackers amongst us whom have been dragging us down have or will flee the profession before it is all over. If a surveyor is not working right now it is because somebody better is in his/her place. Life is not fair and this is survival of the fittest. Last time I checked. I know this is coming off as harsh but consider this thought for a moment. When we were booming a few years ago; we put equipment in anybodies hands just to get the work done. Now, only the guys who truly want to be surveyors are struggling to make it. This is called paying your dues. When the economy swings upward again; the surveyors who stuck it out and survived will do the best. It is times like these that separate the chaff from the wheat.

The New Economy

How many of you know someone that has changed careers in the last 3 years? I’ll bet that most of you do.

The world is becoming the place of independent consultants. Let’s use Wells Fargo as an example. Big companies like that laid off thousands of workers and a lot of the middle to upper management people ventured out on their own and became independent consultants.

Some of you may agree or disagree with what I am about to say.

The last 3 years are one of the best things that has ever happened to this country. Yes that’s right the best. Some of you may be wondering how that can be, well please allow me to elaborate.

This recession that we are slowly clawing our way out of marks the absolute transformation from the Industrial Age to the Information Age.

The Industrial Age is the era of big companies taking care of people and spurring total reliance of people to the company. Pension plans and social security were assumed as retirement.

We are learning that the Information Age is going to be an entirely different story. With all of the stuff people have gone through over the last 3 years it is my personal belief that the overall condition of the American people has become stronger. We are no longer reliant on the big company for security, we have been forced to get off our asses and really work for a buck, in many cases the sense of entitlement has been blown out the window, personal accountability has been forced down our throats and the bottom line is that we have all had a giant wake up call.

Those of us who have learned from it will never suffer again even in the event this repeats itself.

Personally I learn the best from getting my ass handed to me and let me tell you I have had it handed to me several times in this business and every time I have gotten better for it.

Our profession is forever changed. We have to embrace it and adapt or get out. The big machines are now competing with the small guy which I think is a good thing. We will be chosen on a service basis instead of cost. The big machines have wheels to keep moving and will never lower the cost.

For those of you that are having a hard time seeing a light at the end of the tunnel, look a little harder, it is there if you focus and decide it is there.

Equipment and Software

Since this whole uproar about Light Squared I have been doing a lot of thinking about GPS and one thing I have never really given a lot of thought to is why we as surveyors use the particular brand of GPS and other equipment and software that we do.

In the field I personally use Topcon with Topsurv software. The reason why is simple. Topcon was the brand used by my predecessor and I walked into it. Topsurv came later. When I saw how simple and effective it is and discovered I could easily use networks and cor stations with it I immediately dumped TDS and picked it up.
Topsurv has come a long way since I started using it and I believe it is because Topcon listens to surveyors.
I also use a Topcon robot and total stations.

In the office it is AutoCad. I use Corpscon to compute Lat-Longs and Topsurv office for data processing.
I have tried Carlson and MicroSurvey and am less than satisfied with their functionality.

As I said I use all of this stuff because I have never really been exposed to anything else other than different total stations and the infamous TDS 48 way back when. Before that a T1 and a chain.

I want to ask everyone that reads this blog to please leave a comment and tell me what equipment and software you use and why.

I want to know everything from the field to office.

Please share. Your educational comments are greatly appreciated.

I will be posting a taste test comparison in a week or so.

Damn the Man, Save the GPS

I have said it before and I will say it again that the whole Light Squared thing will never happen.

The economic impact of such a thing is crazy.

I will be honest and tell you that I am unaware of all of the facts but it seems to me that other industries with have a lot to say as well.

Auto
Agriculture
Aeronautics
Machine control
Handheld
Marine
Surveying

and a whole lot more.

Light Squared is but a small piece of the puzzle. I see a lot of talk on a forum that I belong to but am not hearing of any action except for a sight called "saveourgps".

I am having a hard time believing that Light Squared has the lobbyists that can convince the government to over ride all of these industries when the others combined most likely have more.

These "save our" sites are neat, but the real action should come from the individual states with people contacting state senators and representatives with a mass amount of people putting together a big package that says "find a different frequency".

It's action like this that will get the governments attention. If they see each state and all of these businesses pitching a complaint they will think twice.

My 2 cents........

Conspiracy???

This is an email from a surveyor that is one of the most common sense people I have ever conversed with.

He poses an interesting theory.

Someday we may have to pay a yearly due to use GPS. Just another cost of doing business.

See below.

"I see Light Squared and their proposal as a way to end the "free"
broadcasting of GPS DATA.  The FCC, by issuing this permit to Light
Squared sets up the eventuality of a "provider" to come in and setup
subscriptions to the new GPS transmissions or the Military channels.  Look at the
revenue generating potential for the GPS equipment providers at all levels, look
at the revenue generation potential for the signal "providers".  Finally
look at the revenue for the US Government, the Russians, the European Union,
and China.  I haven't heard anything from Magellan, Garmin, Delorme, Lieca,
Trimble, act.  Maybe they have voiced their objections but I believe
there are larger forces at play here.  And once again the truth is not forth
coming."

Light Squared

OK. it is my personal opinion that the impending doom of the Light Squared thing is never going to happen.

I completely understand what they want to do, but they are way out of line on a Global scale.
They are obviously going to have to go to plan b.

If the governments allow this to happen they will be setting many sectors that rely on GPS back years. Essentially these sectors will have to revert back to time consuming and less accurate methods. The long term global cost will be astronomical.

Never going to happen. Sorry Light Squared.

Below is an article that was sent to me.


Europe Fights LightSquared

The European Commission has added its name to the long list of those opposed to LightSquared's plan to use satellite band frequencies for a ground network of broadband transmitters. The proposal, which is now before the Federal Communications Commission for comment, has been widely condemned by pro-GPS companies and organizations in the U.S. because it could disrupt GPS service. The European Commission is now officially worried the broadband signals will obliterate signals from its Galileo satellite-based navigation system, which will deploy in three years, and Heinz Zourek, the director general for enterprise and industry, says the signals may have an even greater impact on Galileo equipment than the interference being reported on GPS receivers. "Interference effects have been determined to occur in the range [of] 100 [meters] to almost 1,000 [kilometers]," Zourek said in a letter to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski.
The main concern is that Galileo receivers operating in the U.S. will be affected by the signals but Zourek notes GPS users will also be affected by the interference caused to Galileo signals. He said Galileo is designed to work hand-in-glove with GPS to improve accuracy and reliability. Zourek acknowledged that individual countries can allocate radio spectrum as they see fit but international conventions don't allow interference with the systems of other countries.

The Todd Survey Poster Boy

Return

I always feel a little dread when I have to go back to work after having a superb vacation.

I could honestly never do another survey again and be very happy.

However after being in the office for an hour or so I fell right back in and it all came together.

So there I am in Newport Beach driving out on the peninsula and what do I see but a survey crew. It occurred to me that surveying at the beach must be a great perk to the job.

How can you go wrong with all of the curvy scenery?? But then here comes the guy with the banana hammock and that makes the gun lens explode.

I think that surveyors are the same all over and depending on how they deal with their circumstance dicates how they survive.

Is life the hot G-string chick or is it the guy in the hammock.

Happy surveyor or unhappy surveyor?? I know which one I am. Do you?

                                            Todd the lens killer!!

Holiday

OK Everyone it's the holiday weekend. Time for us to light the grill, slam a few beers and celebrate our country.

Please let's all take a moment to be grateful and proud to be an American. I always am.

If any of you need me I will be in Newport Beach all week doing the following below pic's (in any given order) so please refrain from contacting me.

Happy 4th to all and God bless America.

Survey Hero of the Week

Earlier this week I posted a problem I was having on Topica and several people responded with some great opinions and advice that helped me realize a mistake I had made and confirmed how I want to correct it.

FYI: for those that read this blog and do not belong, Topica is a discussion forum that Surveyors utilize.

After all was said and done Jason Foose posted this comment.

I am nominating Jason for the Survey Super Hero of the Week. He expresses some great insight on this situation and I believe his words should be taken to heart by all. I believe if more people thought and observed like Jason, things would go a lot smoother. See comment below.

John,

I want to thank you personally for sharing your "situation".

I believe that I have just witnessed the exercise of the following:

1.) registrant query,

2.) professional courtesy and exchange of experiences,

3.) peer review,

4.) professional judgement,

5.) professional development

6.) and corrective action.

All of this occurred in "real-time", on a message board, under the current minimum standards, less any mandated continuing education, and without A.Z.B.T.R. interaction. It appears that our colleagues offered respectful constructive advice not only to you, but also on behalf of improving our profession.

Few people will think much of this event. I suppose it's because there's nothing to argue about. Thanks again for sharing!   

  

Jason E. Foose, R.L.S.

Assistant County Surveyor

Mohave County Public Works

P.O. Box 7000

Kingman, Az. 86401

O 928-757-0910

                                        

                                    Defender of common sense Jason Foose

Section Corner

Today I saved a section corner.

First I want to express my utter dismay toward the surveyor that did the topography on this particular lot where an original 1919 GLO cap is located.

First this person did not locate the monument when doing their topography and second they did not utilize the vertical datum on this monument but instead chose an arbitrary benchmark that checked 1.5 feet off to the lot design, therefore forcing me to go into detective mode and figure it all out.

To this I say, WHAT THE HELL MAN???

I am grateful for guys like this. He spends all of his time being a bad surveyor so I can spend mine being a good one.

Enough of that, let me tell you how I saved a piece of sectional history.

I have been hired to do the staking for a new custom home. During the calculations I pulled the plat and checked the boundary in the cad file and noticed that a section corner lands in that lot. Sure enough I found it.

Now the good part, the civil engineer being unaware that the monument was there, designed a retaining wall so the footing would be right on the cap. I quickly noticed this and placed a couple of extras points in the ground to be sure.

I promptly got the builder on the phone and asked him to come over. Upon his arrival I showed him the monument and promptly began to tell him why he needed to save it.

I told him that it is illegal for him to remove it and that he would be killing a piece of history.

Needless to say the idea of breaking the law made him uneasy and I think he liked the the idea that it was placed there in 1919.

I told him I have a simple solution. I took him to the truck and explained that we could move the wall a foot or so in 1 direction and it would not take away from anything. He immediately agreed, gave me the green light to move the wall and right then history remained in tact.

I took a 4' lathe and wrote " Government Section Corner Save" and placed it next to the cap. I also wrote a TBM elevation on the lathe to also ensure that they will save it.

Hopefully this old guy will be here forever. If it survives this nothing else can touch it and it will actually be protected.

RJ Fish

I saw the announcement by Brian Dalager stating that RJ Fish an icon in Arizona Land Surveying has gone to visit that big triangulation point in the sky.

RIP RJ.

I never personally met RJ, but what I understand from the people that knew him he was extremely passionate about surveying.

I can honestly say that I never missed an RJ monument more than a tenth or two and I enjoyed reviewing his thorough maps and most of all loved that he did them all in azimuths.

Anyone that ever looked at RJ's work should have automatically known what a fanatic he was. I am wondering if RJ was a dying breed or far ahead of his time. Guys like RJ both help a profession with their zeal and also hinder it by being a hammerhead. So I think it will be up to us as individuals to decide.

I also noticed the interaction between Jeff Andrews and Brian about RJ's records which brings me to a spot of thought.

Someday I will quit surveying and at that point what the hell am I going to do with all of these years of records? Essentially they are completely worthless and all they do is take up space.

I find it incredibly disheartening that all of these years of work mean nothing except for keeping a hard drive and a file cabinet occupied.

The only thing that is worth anything is a results of survey or plat or description or piece of info that has become public information, but at that point it becomes worthless to us and useful to the world which is something that I enjoy.

I love the idea that my name will be on those certain documents until the end of time and no one will ever have my number of 37937. I own that stuff in name and that will never change.

Because of this particular factor we as surveyors are far more part of history than any profession and we should be very proud of that. We get to literally have our name on maps and documents that will be here until that day when the earth either implodes or explodes from an alien blast and no one can change that once it is recorded.

So let's all take a moment and lift a drink to RJ Fish, an old school surveyor that loved what he did and believed in a better world for surveyors and a better world because of surveyors.

RJ is probably solving a boundary problem around the perimeter of the Pearly Gates as you read this.

Something from history

(sər-vā'ĭng) noun.
"The measurement of dimensional relationships, as of horizontal distances, elevations, directions, and angles, on the earth's surface especially for use in locating property boundaries, construction layout, and mapmaking." - Merriam-Webster Dictionary



Mount Rushmore, featuring 3 surveyors and another guy. Said by some to be the second oldest profession, land surveying has a long and storied past. In relatively recent history, in 1803 Merriweather Lewis and William Clark were directed by United States President Thomas Jefferson (who was himself a surveyor) to investigate the Pacific Northwest in seach of the Northwest Passage:


"… The object of your mission is to explore the Missouri river, & such principal stream of it, as, by it’s course & communication with the waters of the Pacific Ocean, may offer the most direct & practicable water communication across this continent, for the purposes of commerce.
Beginning at the mouth of the Missouri, you will take observations of latitude & longitude, at all remarkable points on the river, & especially at the mouths of rivers, at rapids, at islands & other places & objects distinguished by such natural marks & characters of a durable kind, as that they may with certainty be recognized hereafter.  the courses of the river between these points of observation may be supplied by the compass, the log–line & by time, corrected by the observations themselves.  the variations of the compass too, in different places, should be noticed.
… Your observations are to be taken with great pains & accuracy, to be entered distinctly, & intelligibly for others as well as yourself, to comprehend all the elements necessary…."


Excerpts from the Diaries of Thomas Jefferson

Down Time

Sometimes a guy just has to chill out.

GPS

Senator Mike Crapo on LightSquared

Kim Leavitt, the former ISPLS NSPS Governor and newly elected NSPS Area 7 Director, contacted Idaho Senator Mike Crapo about the issues surrounding LightSquared and possible GPS interference. Senator's Crapo's response:


April 26, 2011

"Dear Kim:

Thank you for contacting me regarding potential disruptions to the Global Positioning System (GPS). I appreciate hearing from you and welcome the opportunity to respond.

As you may know, on January 26, 2011, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) granted LightSquared, a wireless broadband provider, authority to use its Mobile Satellite Services (MSS) L-band spectrum to provide wholesale broadband service. With the accelerated expansion of wireless devices on the market, current broadband frequencies are increasingly being overwhelmed. The FCC’s decision comes as an effort to provide more broadband capability in response to the growing consumer demand.

I recognize the importance of broadband technology and the many benefits it brings to our society. Over the past 30 years, telecommunications policy in the United States slowly has evolved from government sanctioned monopoly provision of all telecommunications services to competitive provision of most telecommunications services. In today’s world, business, government, and our personal lives rely heavily upon broadband technology. However, I am also well aware of the serious concerns that signals sent over the L-band spectrum may interfere with GPS receivers. Individual GPS operators, the Department of Defense, and the Department of Transportation, among others, have all voiced concerns on this issue.

In response, the FCC has required LightSquared to work with GPS makers and users to test the service and examine the interference issue. The group's report is due this summer. Additionally, the Senate Commerce Committee is currently conducting oversight of proposed rules being considered by the FCC. Although I am not a member of the Senate Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over these matters, I support continued oversight in this matter and look forward to reviewing the Committee’s findings. Please rest assured that I will continue to support accessibility, competition, and diversity in the broadcast industry, while protecting the needs of our vital Global Positioning System.

Again, thank you for contacting me. Please feel free to contact me in the future on this or other matters of interest to you. For more information about the issues before the U.S. Senate as well as news releases, photos, and other items of interest, please visit my Senate website, http://crapo.senate.gov/.

Sincerely,
Mike Crapo
United States Senator"

Contract Labor

As I have been predicting things are getting busy again. The big corporate engineering machines are hiring, architects are calling, boundary surveys are up and people are spending money.

I have been giving this topic a lot of thought and have come to a decision.

As the need for employees rises I am going to engage contract labor when possible as opposed to hiring out right.

The main reason for this is liability and cost.

As a business man I constantly thinking of cost and the bottom line.

The recent health care disaster has also greatly influenced this decision. If I keep people as contract labor I can avoid being forced to provide health care. I am an employer that believes in providing benefits, however the rising cost of things has made so I am unable to provide for them and still turn a profit.

Office employees will be 1099 employees and I will be unable to tell them that they can only work for me. This is a good thing because it gives them freedom to make more money, gives them a sense of independence and allows me to hire them on a project basis with pay terms and I won't have to worry about keeping them busy when things slow down.

Field guys are different. I currently use a couple of surveyors that have their own companies and insurance. Aside from professionals, if I need to hire field guys they will be on payroll because of the workers comp factor. I have had a few guys hurt themselves (myself included) while out working and these guys will be provided access to insurance, trucks etc.

The cost of things has made it tough for the surveyor. Prices rise and most refuse to raise their rates because they are afraid that they will lose their client and they are probably right due to the bottom feeders that have made it impossible for us to actually bill what we are worth.

Contract labor is going to be the key to a lot of small business people's survival. It's keeps the relationship strictly business and keeps the ill feelings out of it if the work runs out and lowers the employer liability.

A good term contract written by an attorney needs to be implemented to keep everyone honest.  If anyone wants one I have a contract written by one of my attorneys that protects the employer to the utmost. Just let me know and I'll send you a copy.

Legal Descriptions

I am going to complain and state facts.

First anyone that does not grasp the English language and how it works should never be allowed to write a legal description and an LS that allows one of their workers that neither grasps nor has the experience should be slapped.

I was reading a legal description yesterday that was written by an experienced LS. The particular description was written in such a complicated and redundant manner that I immediately recognized that this person lacks the ability to portray a description in a simple manner due to the lack of knowledge in the mechanics of the English language and an obvious lack of confidence that anyone other than themselves will be able to interpret the intention. (Long winded and gratuitous!!!)

To this I say what the hell man??? Have you ever heard of Wattles? If you read this blog and have never heard of Gurdon H. Wattles and you think that you know how to write a description, you are seriously mistaken. Immediately run out and purchase a copy of his book and do not write another description until you have read the entire thing front to back.

Now to the LS that let's an employee write a description without a fundamental understanding of descriptions and the English language.
I want you to fire yourself right away. You obviously lack common sense.

A little story about a case just like this. A year or so back I received a project in which a whole bunch of descriptions had been written for several parcels for a land division.
The LS being an obvious genius allowed a cad tech to write these descriptions in a metes and bounds format. Oh wait, I mean a metes format (or something) because there was not a call 1 in any of them while they are all surrounded by existing parcels.
Now the real good part of this is that he wrote all of these course descriptions in a grid format having calculated his section from a GDAC plat and never bothered to apply a scale factor.

Needles to say that this changed all of the square footage and dimensions of every parcel when I fix it.

When I called the LS, I was unable to reach him, however the tech did argue with me and tell me that I was wrong. Once again I say what the hell man??

I am a firm believer than one needs to know English very well if they are to be an LS or write descriptions.

I think an English class should be a required part of the curriculum in a survey program and now that CEU's are knocking on the door should be offered to all of us experienced people.

My biggest problem is that I have probably forgotton more about the basics over the years than I remember. My hand writting is terrible to.

CEU's

"Education would be so much more effective if its purpose were to ensure that by the time they leave school every boy and girl should know how much they don't know, and be imbued with a lifelong desire to know it."
-- Sir William Haley


This was obtained from an article I recently read.

"An estimated 75 percent of all the states across the nation deem it a requirement for land surveyors to undergo continuing education after they have been licensed. It is important to note that the number of hours required is not the same in every state. In the vast majority however at least 24 hours of continuing education units (CEUs) are expected of licensed surveyors in a three year period."


In lieu of all the adversity that everyone is spouting on Topica about ceu's I did a little research and have come to a personal conclusion.

Arizona is an archaic contradiction. In Arizona the primary focus of the BTR is enforcement of rules when it should be educating the masses to avoid getting in trouble and become more professional. The rules are made by big company and government people when small business is responsible for most of the surveying. The old guys fear change and fight it tooth and nail. People spend way to much time worrying about what the other guy is doing and trying to screw him over instead of working with and helping steer them right.
We allow other professions to dictate what we do.

Now on the flip side we are way ahead in some technology areas in Maricopa County and a couple of other counties in things likes GDAC and the information available to us through the assessors offices, recorders, cities, etc.

GDAC alone is such an advancement that it should be used as the example to pave the way for Arizona being a leader in the profession of Land Surveying.

The survey program at Phoenix College is another example. After looking around the USA I have seen very little mentioning that a person can get a 2 year degree in Land Surveying there. How come?? John Rose has done a fantastic job of spearheading that program and more people should know about it.

This state contains some of the greatest minds in the profession and we are doing a lousy job utilizing what we have.

Did you know that the Scottsdale Airpark alone contains over 5000 businesses? That's more than the entire city of Tucson.

Arizona is the leader in so many things and Land Surveying should be another. This is truly a great profession and it seams that all that is happening is people working against one another instead of forming a well oiled machine.

I have said this before "Land Surveying is a great job but is a lousy business to be in". My dream is to be able to say that both are great.

By becoming more professional through education we will finally be able to charge what we deserve to be paid.

Example: My attorney charges $325 an hour and is well worth it. My CPA charges $195 and hour and is well worth it.

I think an LS should be able to charge at least $225 an hour for themselves. A crew charge should be equal to that.

Why are guys out there charging only 50-80 an hour? I'll tell you why. Because they are scumbags that have absolutely zero professional integrity and go against everything that we should be fighting for.

Advancement through education and technology is the future for Land Surveying. We are in the information age. The industrial age ended a long time ago and it is time to progress. Future generations depend upon our actions today. This the only way to appeal to new great Land Surveyors and make the current ones better.

Death of Construction Staking

I was setting a bunch points Saturday morning on a concrete footing for block retaining walls and block stem walls for a giant custom home in North Scottsdale and found myself thinking about how the demise of the surveyor that does construction staking is here.

First let me tell you why Saturday. I hate being on a job site when there are people everywhere and mixers and different pieces of equipment are running. The footings were poured (90 yards of concrete with #6 and #8 bar) and there was zero chance of me seeing anyone and since it is a flat rate per task job I got it done faster without interruption and turned a better profit.

While I was working away I found myself thinking of the methods of the past and how things have evolved to the extent that aside from specialty the construction staking surveyor will soon be gone.

Examples:

1)      Machine control. I love it. I love the idea of having to go in, set a few control points and get out.

2)      Grade checkers with gps units. Once again I love it due to the fact that I never have to pound another hub and the contractor is absorbing all of the liability.

3)      Construction companies that hire on staff surveyors to do the staking. Awesome!!

Once again it removes the liability from us and dumps it on the contractor.

(Note: I was on a job site recently and the concrete guy who I have known for years came up and asked if I was busy. I told him that I was swamped. He was amazed and asked who I was staking for. I told him that I mostly do survey work and that I do very little layout stuff and I have never considered staking anything more than revenue. The confused look on his face said it all. He had no idea what survey work is and that is scary.)

As technology progresses more companies will move forward in this direction and big engineering firms will cut back their survey field crews as they will no longer be needed.

This will be good for the companies that only do surveying. The big machines will no longer be a factor and we can concentrate on surveying and people will actually begin to understand what we do and the value of it.

The career hub pounder will either evolve into professional LS or go away.

Some will argue that this is a horrible thing and we need to be worried about the future of survey dollars.

 I say bullshit. If we evolve with technology and progress with the future we will all prosper and be much better for the loss of staking. This actually gives us the opportunity to focus on becoming a true profession through education and drive the evolution of surveying into new areas.

Surveyors will always be involved in construction to an extent in areas that require extreme accuracy, as-builts, and legal issues and yes some staking, but the days of spending 6 months to 3 years on a single site are numbered.

I for one think this is one of the best things that can happen to a professional land surveyor.

Hooray the future!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Field to Finish

I have been talking a lot lately about how technology has made it easier to turn a profit. Well yesterday I did it again.

I had a 1.2 acre hillside subdivision lot to do a topo on with a 50' vertical and an average amount of vegetation.

I did all of the calc's on Sunday while I was watching the race.

I rolled on to the site at 7:30, having stopped at another small staking project on the way, I established control holding the centerline monuments, went around the property looking for monuments, I found 5 of 9 and they checked really well. I then proceeded to topo the crap out of this thing taking around 350 shots +/- and picked up some extra things for the architect like view corridors and certain pre-flagged spots around the lot for design rotation.
When I was finished I dipped the manholes, picked it up and headed for the office.

Side note: I did encounter a big ass rattle snake who was less than thrilled that I was around!!!

At the office I downloaded the data, brought the points into Cad and went right to work drafting. (Note: I am yet to set myself up for auto line work).

This is for the business guys.

Total time break down is as follows:

Pre site calcs and research- 1 hour
Field time - 4 hours
Drafting/finish time - 4.5 hours
Invoice - 5 minutes.

Total time 9.5 hours, 5 minutes all done myself.

Now here comes the cool part. I charged 1750 for this job. Those of you familiar with labor burden will see the significance.

Note: there are always different factors when bidding a project. Available info and benchmarks is what dictated this job, which there was plenty of both.

Go GPS and AutoCad!!!!

Stick

So there I am in the beautiful Aqua Fria River bottom this morning blazing through the sand setting panels.

The day was going way better than expected thanks to the GDAC guys and AZ Cors everything came together quickly and accurate.

I was on my way to set a panel close to a 1/16th and when I pulled up I heard a hiss. I looked and there was a stick about 1/4" in diameter sticking out of my side wall.

Needless to say I was a little dismayed so I did the sensible thing and grabbed my hammer and drove the stick further into the tire and almost stopped the leak.

Fortunately I found it early enough and I raced through that river bottom like a bat out of hell, laid down my last 2 panels and actually found a rebar at center of section that hit with .15'.

As I was wrapping things up I noticed the tire was getting pretty low, so I hurried to pack it up and blazed to the gas station to cram it full of air and head for home.

Now here is something kind of cool. I went into the store to get quarters for the machine and the guy turned it on for nothing. How cool was that?

Yes I made it home with ample air and switched trucks, however when I return later it was totally flat.

That's what I call dodging a bullet!!!

Now I have to once again give props to GDACS for all of their great work. Using the information I pulled from their site and network gps, I was able to go around an entire section, do a property corner search and everything checked well, lay down and control 8 panel points in a river bottom that required 4 wheel drive, deal with the tire issue all in 6.5 hours with travel both directions.

Also props to AZ Cors network GPS. I think this is a great advancement. I have used AZGPS and Spider Net as well and really like them both, but AZ Cors has a really good price tag.

I love the technology and info that has enabled us to be a 1 man machine in most cases.
I ran a 50% profit margin on this particular project because of it.

Busy

I have been sooooo busy that I have neglected my blog for the last week or so.

For those of you that follow I am working on something that will blow your minds. I mean really blow them.

For the moment check out this little cartoon I found. Enjoy.

Long History

Apparently I have a much longer history in surveying than I realized.

Ghetto Story

It was early one August morning in a part of town that is a little scary. The monsoon clouds were parting, the smog was thick, every other car that went by was blasting some sort of rap tune and there I am with one of the best eye men on earth doing an ALTA on a massive commercial building.
As the morning progressed we had gotten our control, I was running the GPS and he was drawing the building. Eventually it came time to measure the building. This thing was pretty big and we were using a 200' foot chain to do it.
We came to a covered part of a patio with a walk way and pulled a distance. I turned around saw a mound of blankets and cardboard on the concrete wedged oddly between 2 columns and at the far end of the mound appeared to be 2 feet sticking straight up in the air.
Needles to say this startled me a little. I approached the mound and heard nothing, my stomach sunk and I called to my eye man "I think we have a body here". Right when I uttered these words the mound instantly stood straight up and began to shed cloth and cardboard while blurting profanities.
This scared the ever loving crap out of me and I backed way off in a big ass hurry.
Out from the mound pops this little white guy that smelled like a vat of vodka, he looks at me all bleary eyed, realizes that I mean no harm and proceeds to tell me how he got totally wasted the night before and he had no idea where he was and this was not him, that his wife had left him and he went an a bender.
You should have seen the look on his face when I informed him that he was 30 miles +/- from home and even more when he figured out where he was. He was broke, had lost his wallet and apparently a good chunk of his dignity. Did I mention he was missing 1 shoe?
When he asked I promptly gave him 10 bucks and he went to the convenience store on the corner and got a big bottle of water and then got on the next bus out of there.
Normally I would have told the guy to pack sand but I felt bad for him and as I watched he did exactly what he said he would do with the cash.
Word of advise. Always approach a mound of blankets and cardboard that smell like piss with extreme caution.

City surveying on a Saturday morning

I have to tell you that one of the best times to survey within the congested city is Saturday morning.
Why do I say this?
Simple, there is little traffic, people are sleeping and not in a mad rush to get to a job, after 7am most of the drunks are off the road, cops and code officials never give you a second glance and the only one that cares what you are doing is the dog next door.
Last Saturday I did a boundary survey in Scottsdale. This job would have been a 4 hour deal +/- but only took me 2 because of all of the factors above and then some.
Does working on Saturday suck? For me just the opposite. I am one of those that takes advantage of circumstance and Saturday morning is really cool for my bottom line. Jobs take less time and I make more money.
Being a business owner I can take off just about anytime and work anytime, so I am free do to as I please. I often will work on Saturday albeit in the office or the field because I get things done quicker without all the Monday-Friday BS to deal with.
Economics and BS dictate a lot of things in my world.
One side note. Ghetto surveying on a Saturday morning is the polar opposite and I will be doing a piece on funky areas in the very near future. It will make you laugh!

Awesome!!!

This is part of a comment posted by a follower and I think this is one of the greatest things I have ever heard. I believe I would have paid a little money to see this.

Hey Mr. Muth. Would you choreograph the re-enactment for film? I would love to put it on here.

My question is this. What do you do when you see this happening? Do you look at him and simply say, Really? Really? Aside from laughing your ass off of course.

See below. Thanks!!!!

"And my personal favorite, watched a ranch hand try to use his rope and horse to pull a section corner. When the horse hit the end of the rope the cinch broke and the ranch hand "landed with a thud".

Crazy things

Today I was thinking about the crazy things that have happened to me or I have witnessed while out in the field and the most far out things are induced by humans. I do not have an order of importance but here are a few.

Found what I believe to be the tip of a finger in a hand hole.

Been chased by a bum that claimed he had aids and was going to bite me.

Found lots of dead dogs in alleys.

Found a large snake cut into lots of pieces and placed in a ritual fashion.

Walked upon the aftermath of a satanic ritual. Pentagrams and carcasses??

Been scoped out by block watchers in the ghetto.

Been asked for money.

Had a bum stand next to me and tell me that used to survey before he went to the street. (Encouraging)

Had the cops called on me for standing in the public right of way.

Been flashed. Seen lots of boobs!!

Been propositioned by an attractive 40 something housewife with a cat obsession and lots of other women, some awesome and some not.

Been  propositioned by a gay couple.

Had a flag taken out of my hand by a moving car.

Almost been hit by a car and then I chucked a cone and hit the guys door and he proceeded to lock up his tires and got to listen to me hurl profanities at him and challenge him to get out the car. He left.

Employees physically fighting.

Employees getting so sick from the heat that they curled up in a ball and pooped and peed themselves.

Had a guy go into a DT seizer.

Been preached to by the random Jesus freak.

Been approached by LDS on a mission.

Been told to FO because I turned down a Tangelo.

Been accosted by a guy in a wheel chair with a piss bag tied to his leg asking for money and then threatening to throw the bag at me when I declined.

Saw a guy on a Harley wipe out and slide through an intersection in front of me.

Saw 2 black ladies in an LTD avoid our traffic sign and then proceed to spin a 360 in the middle of

16^th street

and Thomas.

Had a concrete shoot take out a level.

Had a rod run over.

Seen a mob of Mexicans chase a snake through the desert trying to kill it with rocks.

Saw a painter drop a ladder on my eye man.

Had employees arrested while on the job.

Had a crew chief threaten to kick my ass.

Had a crew chief get pissed off and throw everything box included out of the truck and then tell us to pick it all up and make it better than it was.

Had a rod snap in a sewer main.

Gotten 15 cholla balls stuck in me at once (self induced)

This list goes on. I am sure I will remember much more later on.

The Career Crew Chief

I want to take a moment to speak about the career crew chief.

When I was coming up there were a whole bunch of them, working men who cared about their job, loved their job and would never consider doing anything else.

At the time it all seemed so impressive to me to see  30 to 60 year old guys out there barking orders at his crew, cutting brush, holding a rod over his head in the trees yelling for line, methodically calculating the deflections of a curves and writing it in the field book etc.

These guys where always 30 minutes early for work and expected the same out of the crew. They expected all batteries to be charged, the truck to be fully stocked, fueled, the tires to be aired properly and a jug of cold water when he walked out of the office at exactly 5:30 am.

These men are still one of the most impressive things I have ever seen to date. They all did things a little different but all ended up with the same result, they all gave 110% to the companies they worked for and never complained about a thing, they just accepted things at face value and did the job. 3 men, a transit and a chain.

Today technology has killed that sort of a man. It’s a little sad but it is the evolution of a profession which has to happen.

I am very fortunate to have worked with men like this. They are all most likely retired now and probably never regret a thing about what they did with their lives and careers.

One day around 2001 I was out with a guy, I was breaking down a section on my laptop when these two 60 year old guys whipped up in a truck and talked to us for a while. I immediately recognized what kind of men these where and showed them an immense amount of respect having been reared by the like.

The guy I was with was less cordial and after they left made a comment along the lines of how he could not believe that they had no desire to do anything different, to advance to become and LS. He was baffled and I blame that on a serious lack of education regarding the human condition.

I just listened and chuckled and proceeded to explain that not everyone wants to be an LS, some guys prefer to take the easier route with less responsibility and just love being a worker bee.

Without the worker bee I am nothing as a business man. I love guys like that and am bummed that they have become far and few between. I will most likely never hire anyone born after 1976 for any kind of major responsibility because after that, exposure to this kind of man is very limited. I actually prefer 40+ in an employee.

These men are true survey hero’s and all of you my age and older will remember that guy that actually taught you more than realized at the time. If you where anything like me you where just a shit ass kid that just took the old guy with a grain of respectful salt (because you feared he would kick your ass), but you always did exactly what he said when he said it. Respect was what they demanded and they got it.

So thank you career crew chiefs for everything you taught me.