A few friends and i are out to dinner tonight, and an odd topic came up. What's the biggest fine that youve heard of a state board handing down to an individual or a company?
Thanks, Dave. I got those results as well. But those costs are for their main, most powerful software. I'm looking for a cost for their Tedds software, which I'm expecting to be a fraction of the cost of Tekla's main software.
Our firm currently uses ENERCALC, but one of our new hires has recommended Tedds. Before I start the process of signing up for a 45-day trial and the probably hundreds of sales calls that follow, could anyone advise me on what the price is? I've spent a fair amount of time trying to search...
We're a small firm of five employees but we're needing to add one more engineer. What avenues have been the most successful for other firms in terms of how to locate quality candidates. We've gone with craigslist and indeed in the past. Looking to expand on that and hopefully get a few more...
I received a lien notice for my firm, and I'm wondering if I need to worry about it. We are the structural engineering firm for a residential project that required a LOT of steel. The steel provider sent us a lien notice, but we have no interest in the property. We did work for the general...
I have a client who has used a specific manufacturer of arched corrugated metal culverts, but they are looking to get pricing from some other manufacturers. Does anyone have suggestions as to who I could recommend? We're the structural firm that does the footing designs for this client's...
We're doing a design for a retaining wall where the overturning and sliding are perfectly fine, but the soil bearing pressure is way over the geotech's recommended allowable. A suggestion was made to consider lightweight cellular concrete backfill. If lightweight cellular concrete ends up...
Thanks for your replies. I called Bluebeam today, and they confirmed that, as Agent666 said, it's only available on iPad ($10 app purchase) and Surface Pro (full version, full price). The Apple store reviews for Blue Beam weren't very favorable at all, so it looks like we'll most likely be...
My employee and I usually go to at least one or two jobsites each, per week. We'll print out the plans on half-size sheets, mark them up on site, then scan the markups and drop them into the job folder when we get back. Somewhat of a tedious process. I recently bought Blue Beam for both of...
Yes, the stair treads, landing, and handrails are all supported by the glass. I could design the tread and handrail connections if the glass were already designed, but I wouldn't know where to start in terms of designing the glass for the 5 psf out-of-plane load. I told the contractor that we...
I have a client (contractor) whose home owner wants glass walls on both sides of his stair openings, to create a glass tube sort of staircase. I turned down this portion of the job because I've never worked with structural glass before. I mentioned that I would help look for an engineer who...
My firm has been growing quickly since starting it over the last 3+ years, and I feel like I'm at a crossroads right now. I have four engineers that I subcontract work to. The vast majority of the time, this works out great; however, they sometimes miss deadlines and don't respond to calls or...
I've begun the process of finding one or two subcontractors to handle overflow work and potentially have an option or two. My next question would be how to handle an agreement with them. For those of you who subcontract work out, do you write up a separate contract for each individual job or...
All outstanding advice from everyone. Thank you very much for your input. I do have a golf buddy who does some "moonlighting" work for me, and we have discussed us working together in the future. (Side note on the moonlighting issue: I am very careful to make sure he doesn't put his name...
I started my business in structural engineering about two years ago and have been lucky enough for things to have really taken off. My client base is growing and I'm at a point now where the thought of hiring is in the very back of my head. Has anyone else out there experienced the internal...
Some advice I can give that has worked well for me is to 1) Love what you do. It will show when approaching clients and they will sometimes prefer working with someone who is passionate about what they do over another engineer who just sees work as a means to a paycheck, 2) be confident and...
Using gyp board/sheetrock goes with also using a much lower response modification factor in your calculations. It depends on the situation, but it's often more beneficial to use OSB/plywood to get the shear value needed with R=6.5 and then install the sheetrock over the plywood/OSB. And using...
I just started my business (structural engineering) this year and I am in the process of reading a tax book. One thing it warns about is providing a product in multiple states and making sure the correct states are paid the correct amount of taxes. The book seems to be referring to businesses...
