Today we’d like to introduce you to Guy Cooke.
Hi Guy, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
After getting my license in land surveying and training numerous people in the industry, I found that I was more concerned about quality than the people I worked for, worked with, and trained. I was a survey manager during the 2008 market crunch, required to sell services that no one was buying. I found utility locating gear in the office in poor shape, got it up and running and proposed to management that we train our field staff to provide a different service from other surveying firms. Management was not interested in the change. I decided to start my own business and instead of, as most business owners eventually do, staying in the office, I would continue to be part of the field crew for surveying and utility locating to ensure the best quality job in the field. I am present at every locate and survey job and bring field notes and survey data to the office for the map making process. My clients really appreciate my attention to detail and that I am still hands on like the profession used to be back in the day. I could train folks and send them out with more trucks and be more profitable completing more jobs, but I would lose the original reason why I wanted to start my own business. I have succeeded in creating a profitable, recession proof business which gives the client the personal touch.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It’s never a smooth road to start a business from scratch. It requires more start-up money than you expected, and cold calls to capture clients are long and arduous. Attempting to sell utility locating services to engineering firms when the secretary of the firm doesn’t know what type of engineering firm they work for is challenging. And as all start up businesses face, you want a paycheck for your hard efforts for the month, but more tools and supplies are a priority for the business to be a success. I had to rent and borrow equipment I couldn’t afford to buy and drive a truck until the wheels literally fell off of it. And luckily my wife had AAA so that I was not stranded.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
For land surveying, we specialize in smaller residential projects that larger firms aren’t interested in. We steer away from larger jobs so we can focus on residential lot surveying, house staking, and utility locating, all of which have short deadlines which would not be met if we captured larger jobs. For utility locating, we specialize in design tickets for engineering firms; 811 has a 3 day response for dig tickets. They are coming if you are going to dig 811 participating utilities but their design tickets have a 20 day response time so therefore we meet the need for a quick response time for those tickets. I am most proud that I have steady inquire for services, am able to support myself and employ my wife and another employee, with very little overhead (which lessons the stress). I am thrilled that I am able to buy the best gear without worrying about debt or credit. That to me, is a successful business.
We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?
Watching my father put on his tie and make sure it was perfect, to go to work at Chrysler. While doing so, he would repeat the story of how he was going to go in early every day to make sure things were running smoothly in the shift change transition, and eventually that would pay off as he would get moved up in management. And he did.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://GCMPLLC.COM
