Labor Burden

Once a year I print out individual labor burden reports and hand them out.
The reason I do this is that employees often fail to realize that they actually make a lot more than their hourly rate.
You business owners and budget people will appreciate this. It helps keep everyone in check, builds loyalty and reduces complaining and I use it for bids as well.
It's a little staggered but you will get the idea.

												Total
Annual	Gross	Gross	Ben	Ben	Benefit	Net	Net	Hlth	Wkr	Trk	Cred	Burden
Dollars	Hrs	Hrly	Days	Hrs	Dollars	Hrs	Hrly	Care	Comp		Card	Rate
100,000	2080	48.08	21	168	8,078.00	1912	52.30	3.90	0.50	2.60	12.50	71.80
60,320	2080	29.00	21	168	4,872.00	1912	31.55	3.90	0.50			37.70
64,480	2080	31.00	21	168	5,208.00	1912	33.72	3.90	0.50	2.60	3.80	44.52
31,200	2080	15.00	21	168	2,520.00	1912	16.32	3.90	0.50			21.62
47,840	2080	23.00	21	168	3,864.00	1912	25.02	3.90	0.50	2.60	5.00	38.87
45,760	2080	22.00	21	168	3,696.00	1912	23.93	3.90	0.50	2.60	3.80	39.23
20,800	2080	10.00	21	168	1,680.00	1912	10.88	3.90	0.50			15.28
Benefit Days: 10 vacation + 6 holidays + 5 sick days for a total of 21 days
Benefit Hours: 21 benefit days paid at 8 hours per day
Benefit Dollars: Benefit hours divided by gross hourly
Net Hourly: hours left in the year that employees work
Worker	Holiday	Vacation
	Benefit	Benefit	Sick	Health	Liability	401k	Vacation
			Leave	Insurance	Insurance	6% match	Holidays
	6	10					Illness
			5
	6	10

The Economy

Things are on the up swing boys and girls.

People are getting jobs again, yes survey jobs.

The architects are calling again.

So far this year I have done more topo's than I did the entire first half of last year.

I am in close contact with some experts in the real estate field and they say that Arizona is still at a 11-12 month inventory but it is dropping. Slowly but dropping. Once we are at a 9 month inventory housing will start to pop again. The ideal is a 6 month. Look for that in 2013.

I am fortunate to have a diversified practice and good business skills which has enabled me to survive.
I have always been unafraid to make the hard decisions.

Congratulations to everyone that is still around. You have made it and that is a huge deal. It speaks volumes for who you are and how you conduct yourself.

Onward and upward from here everyone.

The last 2 years have actually been the best thing that has ever happened to me as a business man. I am much better for it, I am stronger, leaner and know exactly what to do when the sky is falling.

Peace.

Bathometric????

Some fun we had in the open mine. One of the best days surveying ever!!!!

It's a little long mostly because I am yet to figure out how to cut using flip software, so fast forward may be required in a couple of places. Also I had to cut it in 2 because Youtube only allows 15 minutes or less.

Enjoy.

Part 1

Part 2

GPS

I have been asking surveyors what their favorite advance in technology is and have been getting different answers.

I am going to tell you right now that mine (from a field perspective) is GPS and to take it a step further, COR stations and Network GPS.

I left the house today at 6am, drove 45 minutes to the job where I proceeded to shoot 2 sections and stake 3000' +/- of property line, set on site control for staking at a later date and was back in the office by 1:30.

Now I will say that the conditions of this project are wide open and I could drive close to most of the monuments. I did walk about a mile +/- during location and then another during staking.

Now from a business owners point of view that right there is where a guy like myself makes money. We jump in, utilize and verify existing data, use technology and get the job done accurately and timely.

Most of the time GPS increases the bottom line on the P&L.

Stupid things an employer has to put up with Volume 2

Ever have to fire a guy when he was on the ground in hand cuffs? I have.

This little story is about a guy named DG and a guy named Jorge (pseudonyms).

I’ll start with DG. DG was a horrible employee that was a total drunk and was in the middle of a bad divorce, that literally was consumed by this woman. She was such a distraction for him that he would lose all faculties, argue with her and then (I later found out) destroy equipment.

He was on the verge of being let go when I decided to team him with Jorge for a couple of days while decided what to do.

Needless to say this was a real disaster.

A little about Jorge.  Jorge was a decent employee and pretty good surveyor with lots of potential, however it turns out that he was a tweaker from hell and was convinced that everyone was sleeping with his girlfriend.

On that incredibly strange day that these two spent together Jorge decided that DG was sleeping with his girlfriend and about halfway through the day whipped out a gun and proceeded to interrogate DG at length about this imagined affair.

DG managed to get far enough away from Jorge to place a frantic call to the office. Upon hearing what was happening I got Jorge on his phone and talked the gun out of his hand into the back of the truck, calmed him down to an amiable state and asked if he would let DG bring him back to the office. He agreed but insisted that he would drive even though he had no license. I thought about the big picture and agreed. DG was ok with it to.

Right after I hung up we called the cops and they were waiting when they got to the office. When the truck pulled up Jorge became enraged and sped off down the street. 1 cop car followed but he only circled the block and parked behind the office. He got out and the cops took him down.

I walked out the back door and looked right into his crazy eyes and said “you know that you are so fired right?”

A few mornings later he and his girlfriend were waiting when I got to the office. He approached and asked if he could look in the truck for something and I told him no but he could get his tool bag from behind the office. He became agitated and I figured he was looking for drugs that he stashed before he let the cops have him so I told him that it was gone. Strangely he accepted that and I never saw him again.

If you are wondering what happened to DG I canned him shortly after for being a shitty surveyor. I can tolerate certain things, but he was just bad at his job even though he had a great resume and references.

About 3 months later one of my guys found a bag with about ¼ ounce of crystal meth in it. Jorge must have jammed that thing somewhere good because we searched that truck really well after the incident.

Crazy people!!!!