The comments above represent what many in our business believe, so this is offered in the spirit of trying to show a different way of thinking about the issue.
"It is a real shame that title companies, signing services, etc do not see the value of our profession."
That very well may be true for many, but it's completely beside the point and has nothing to do with what we get paid. Most businesses don't go about hiring vendors or subcontractors by figuring out what "value" they put on those services. It just doesn't work that way. I learned a bit about that ages ago as a telecom manager for a big brokerage co where I bought phone systems and other services.
I never calculated what I thought some equipment or service was "worth". Instead, the first step was deciding on our needs and priorities. Our business depended on communications, so only top quality service providers were invited to bid. For us, it was more about quality than price; for others that might have been reversed. When I bought a phone system, the sales person may have had a little bit of wiggle room to negotiate, but they were not about to let me dictate to them what we would be willing to pay for what they could provide! Same is true in our business.
A tc or ss decides how to choose subcontractors based on *their* needs, priorities, client base - and business plan. Some are focused on making sure they provide high quality service and reliability. For others, it's all about keeping fees low, whether that's to try to survive or to try to make a killing. Either way, they're not thinking about us!
Some hiring parties are just looking for someone with a printer, a car, and a stamp. Their goal is to get the basics done for as little as possible. Others actually care about the kind of end product their clients receive. Those are the companies that ask us what WE charge. We just have to figure out what kind of vendor we want to be and what type of companies we want to work for. We might as well ignore the rest of them.
So like Frank indicated, the real issue is what "value" WE put on our profession!
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