Tuesday 16 April 2013

Twiddling Our Thumbs

The age old story of Surveying.  Phone rings, a site needing 50 piles setting out - can you do it?  Well yes but a few questions first:-
  1. Where is the site - general answer, 'no where near you'
  2. Is there existing control - might be I don't know
  3. When do you need this done by - Well the piling rig is due Monday, and today is Wednesday
This is a very common phone call we take, and it is not just setting out this occurs with.  Many phone calls come in asking for almost next day delivery, and then shocked silence when it transpires we have not been sitting by the phone waiting for this very call.

There are always the exception to the rule, on occasion we can turn a survey around within 24 hours.  However the stress there is the exception, most survey firms generally quote at least a 1-2 week lead in time.  This lead in time will the fluctuate depending on the work load at the time of tender, but being a very fluid industry anything can happen between the time of tender and the time of instruction.

As a company we pride ourselves on being able to meet a clients timescales, but jobs with formal instruction will all be booked in first.  Sometimes it's a hard rule to stick to when you have a £500 job with instruction, but then a £2000 job comes in with an urgent start.  Very tempting to bend the rules but I have always maintained a first come first serve basis and so far I can hold my head high on that one!

Right best get back to twiddly my thumbs waiting for the phone to ring!  Perhaps better to finish off the tenders, organise access for my next few jobs, draw up yesterdays surveys, chase a few outstanding invoices, and a few more outstanding tenders.....

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