Industry Fees Reflect Sluggish Economic Recovery

The majority of respondents to LMT's 2012 Fee Survey are delaying fee increases in the face of price-cutting competition and declining caseloads.

With the country in the midst of what analysts are calling the slowest economic recovery since the Great Depression, laboratory owners say they are holding restoration fees and overall prices show no significant change from two years ago.

In fact, three quarters of respondents to LMT's 2012 Fee Survey have delayed a fee increase due to the economy—28% haven't raised prices since 2009 or earlier—most often citing offshore competition, price-cutting competitors and sluggish workloads. "I'm constantly getting beaten up about price and hear, 'I can get that for $99 elsewhere,'" says a small laboratory owner in Colorado. "And it does seem like my competitors' prices are going down—so I'm just afraid to raise mine."

With fees staying put and expenses skyrocketing, laboratory...