Price vs. Value (How do you decide?)

Environmental Data Resources (EDR) posted a great blog article the other day about selecting an environmental consultant to perform your Phase I Environmental Assessment and not just looking at price (you usually get what you pay for, or worse).

The article is here.

This has been an ongoing debate in our company over the last twenty years and we have lost our fair share of contracts to someone who had a cheaper price.  Many of those losses came back as new jobs when the client realized their mistake.  Here are some examples:

• The Phase I Environmental Assessment was $500 cheaper but they recommended a Phase II when one really wasn't needed.
• The Phase I Environmental Assessment was cheaper but they missed a buried debris pit that cost me $20,000 to clean up after I bought the property.
• The wetland delineation was $1000 cheaper but they mapped 2 acres of wetlands that really weren't. (One time the other consultant mapped 75 acres of wetlands that really weren't).
• The survey price was cheaper but they laid out all of the houses wrong and I had to go get 25 variances from the County.

We always use the same example when discussing this in the office.

Do you ever go ask your doctor for his best price and then go shop around for a cheaper price?  Of course not, we want the best doctor we can find.

Shouldn't it be the same way with your Engineer, Surveyor or Environmental Consultant?  You usually have large sums of money riding on every deal and one mistake could be the difference between success and failure.

We pride ourselves in adding value to our services (see this blog) and we may not always be the cheapest but we hope you will always find us to be the best value.

http://www.landmarkjcm.com/