October 3, 2010 Survey Update

October is one of the busy months of the year and it was off to a good start albeit it seemed like fall had started a couple of weeks ago kicking things into a faster pace a little earlier than normal. The weather we had for a while did bring some urgency to the fall bookings and clients’ (likely as nervous as we were) decided to get into gear early and book their surveys either to try and get a well drilled for this fall yet or at least to be ready for drilling in spring. If the weather holds should all be under control.

As the fall set in the last couple of years we used to get bookings often just after we left an BC or AB while still in SK on the way back to MB trying to complete the last ones there before it got really cold. The fall loop’s would often take 2-3 weeks. With more bookings on the way back we would then try and get back west though with some surveys we ended up simply not getting back to an area needing to push the survey till spring.

That was then. Now with being in AB full time we are much more centralized and no question, its making for better logistics giving us much quicker response times then when we were based in MB. The rush is not what it was or at least seemed because we are closer to home with the bulk of our work.

Fall looked like it was nearing the end there for a bit a couple of weeks ago though as we drove through snow coming out of Williams Lake, BC. Thankfully it was just a warning shot from Old Man winter. However it did make us get the winter tires ordered so they were in stock. The snow is not so bad for us till it gets deep (and it can be moved) but it’s the frost getting deeper that creates the problems making it more difficult or finally when it gets to deep just hard to work in particularly if it freezes up wet. Pending weather we could easily be working till late November in some areas.

We are also already taking bookings for 2011. It’s never to early to give us a head’s up of interest in a survey particularly in more distant locations like Fort St. John, Williams lake or Vancouver Island. Once on the list in an area we simply call and check if we are heading your way if you are ready and you avoid the extra charges which can at times add 20-30% to the cost of the survey if you are the only one in the area. The first loops of the year we get to most areas in western Canada avoiding surcharges with the number of bookings we have at that time, but after the initial rounds in May and June we do occasionally find we need to add mileage surcharges for more remote areas just because of the cost and time to travel for single surveys. Early is better..