Understanding why we charge what we do is difficult when all people see is a couple of people (field crew) wondering around on their property for 2 hours or days and then however long later receiving a finished plat (drawing).  What our clients don’t see is the work that was done even before the field crew could start their work as well as the work done between receiving the field data and delivering the final plat.  Most of the surveyors work today is done in the office due to the astounding advancement in field survey equipment technology.  While technology does and has speed up the office work, the majority of the projects workload falls into the hands of the office personnel.  Most services provided within the cost of a survey, the client does not see or know about, things such as researching, administrative work, and drafting.  A projects "unnoticed work" makes up a good portion of the cost of a land surveyor.