AB and then BC

We are just back from our first round of surveys thru Saskatchewan and as seen in the news, there are areas where it is very wet. The roads, particularly the secondary’s are in pretty rough shape, many closed due to frost heaves and flooding requiring detours. The roads in SK are no doubt in the worse shape I have ever seen them in, slowing travel time to nearly half in some areas.

We have a few surveys to cover off back in Southern Alberta the next week that were previously waiting for frost to be out and then the plan is to head to southern BC by the middle of next week to do the spring bookings there.

Regretfully future bookings in some areas will now have to incur added surcharges due to the fuel price being nearly 30 % higher than last season. Most of our overhead is travel so that kind of increase is just too hard to swallow. To be fair the surcharge will vary by area and the number of bookings we have. Simply when there are more surveys in a given area there is less likelihood of a surcharge. Booking early helps so even though you only want a fall survey, book now as it will allow us to group with nearby bookings.

A reminder to Alberta Farmers and Ranchers to check out the Alberta Growing Forward Program for financial assistance in development of new water sources for your operations. A quick search will bring it up or just call or email and we will send you the link.  It takes some paperwork but the exercise is worth it and helps you set a plan for your operations future water needs.

Happy Planting

May 9th Update

Very happy to say that as of last week we have a few sites behind us. Our first spring survey this year is the latest spring start we have ever had. We are working in Alberta and once done with the rush spring surveys here will move on to tackle those in SK and MB and then BC hopefully getting the rush bookings mostly done across the West by the end of May or first week in June. Then we will start with round 2 and hope to get thru that by the end of June. Hopefully weather improves for us all.

Everyone has been very cooperative this year some clients giving us as much as a 3-6 month window to complete their survey allowing us the the flexibility to pick up surveys on our routes during the season that make sense as well making it easier to avoid mileage surcharges in most areas. Travel costs are our main overhead and it will sure help this year. Most times we will still get booked surveys done in much less time then the window of time given, often within a couple of weeks, but it does improve the economics with the ongoing rise in fuel costs and will help avoid a global increase in or rates, at least in most areas.