Building a Surveying Business That Keeps Its People

Meet the Guest

Chris Billington

Founder, Next Step Surveying

Chris has around 15 years of experience in surveying, across New Zealand and Australia and from construction sites through to leading survey teams. He spent a significant part of his career on large industrial and infrastructure projects, including an aluminium refinery, an onshore gas facility and the Sunshine Coast airport expansion, before starting Next Step Surveying.

About This Episode

There’s more survey work coming than there are surveyors to do it, and prices haven’t moved with demand. In this episode, Chris sits down with Joel Gregory to discuss the surveyor shortage from the owner’s chair, the risk surveyors carry when something goes wrong on site, and what happens inside a business when long hours and constant turnover become the norm.

They also explore why surveying struggles to reach school leavers despite being in such demand, and why the firms that hold onto good people are the ones that build roles around the person, not the business.

What You’ll Learn

Why work is piling up and surveyors are scarce, yet prices still haven’t gone up
What happens when a business relies on low prices and heroic hours, and why it makes the shortage worse
Why Chris stays in his lane and outsources ADAC instead of pretending he’s good at it
The day a boundary model shifted and he thought everything had moved, and what he changed afterwards
How he builds roles around the person, not the business, and why some of his team have stayed nine or ten years
Why he shares other firms’ job ads, and his “plenty of chips for every seagull” view of the industry

This Episode is For You If…

You’re a Survey Manager or work in the survey industry, this episode is for you. It’s also for anyone thinking about starting their own firm, especially if you’ve struggled to hire, keep your people, or get paid properly for the work.

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