Dropped $2,300 on a used total station and it saved my butt on a strip mall job in Tulsa
I bought a used Topcon total station off a guy retiring out of OKC last spring for $2,300 because my old man kept saying plumb bobs and a tape would handle anything under 20,000 sq ft. On a tilt-up strip mall in Tulsa the anchor bolt layout was off by almost 2 inches corner to corner, and that thing caught it in one shot before the slab guys poured, which would've been a $40k rework. What gear did you buy thinking it was overkill and it ended up paying for itself on the first job?
Two inches off corner to corner on anchor bolts is wild. That's the kind of miss that doesn't show up until the steel won't line up and then everybody's standing around pointing fingers. Good thing your old man's tape measure wisdom didn't win that argument.