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Thank you to both of you for your input. In response to Dick's question, typically, shoring of a structure to install the components or retrofit of a set of construction documents is considered "means and methods" and will not typically be designed by the engineer of record. Normally, it is...

A client of mine has come to me with a project where he is involved in renovating an existing two story building. The existing building is a round timber column, 16" x 12" girder, 4" t&g decking type of structure. The construction documents require that the first floor columns be removed and...

Hi letrab! I'm wondering if assuming no water, or a drained condition, is practical in my case. The particular wall I've been asked to design will double as a dam for retention pond. The civil client is determining the "key" needed at the end of the heel that will provide cut-off of water...

Seems to me that in a standard, soil retaining, retaining wall, the weight of the soil is used in the calculations to help provide stability because it acts as a "rigid" structure....in other words, if the heel raises up, the full weight of the soil is still engaged on the heel. But when...

In my opinion, you could do this several ways........ You could base your fee on the percentages shown in the Means construction costs book for 2004.... or... What this office does is base our fee on the GENERAL construction cost of the project....usually about 1% of general construction...

I have been asked to design a cast-in-place concrete retaining wall that will retain water, not soil. As it turns out, the client wants to use this wall to act as the dam for a small retention pond. The wall can retain as much as 10' of water. Typically, in retaining wall design, I would...

I ordered the QB pro for professional services, installed it, and tried it. It was difficult to use, in my opinion. I found quickly that it wasnt for me. Instead, I purchased Timeslips for Sole Practicioners. Its not great, but it does what I need. The only thing I dont like about it is...

I have requested and recieved QB for professional services. I loaded it up, and I found that it was somewhat difficult to use.....maybe I was just frustrated yesterday before I ever tried to use it, and that's what led to my being dissatisified. I want just a few simple items......I want the...

OK...I'm out on my own with a new Structural Engineering consulting business. I have work, which is good, but now I've got to track my time and bill my time by my hourly rate........I've also got a project coming up that will be a fee job. Do you guys have a suggestion as to what software to...

I'm going the LLC route. As advised in this thread, I went to the Sec. of State here in N.C. and finally got some good information about what an LLC is and how it is different from a company that is Inc. There are pros and cons to both, but the LLC is right for me. In addition to the...

Update- I have talked to an attorney now. Unfortunately, getting good legal advice is not easy. I was directed to this attorney thru my accoutant. I asked the attorney, "Which way should I go, I'm going to be a "one man show", maybe a few years down the road hire a draftsman and maybe hire...

I've been saving my money for a long time in order for me to open this business. I have purchased my equipment such as workstations (furniture), plotter, software, etc as my paychecks would allow me to. I had set a goal at the end of last year to get going on this by July 1st. I prepared a...

I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts on the following: If a single engineer is opening a consulting business, with long term plans of having only himself and maybe a draftsman or two as employees, should the business be incorporated, be a limited liability company, or neither? Any opinions?

We have had trouble with C&C loading on wood roof trusses. I would recommend that you pay close attention to the notes in the truss shop drawings. We've have come to realize that the truss manufacturers in this area are using C&C loadings to design the chords and webs, but are using MWFRS...

Its easy to get caught up in the "technical" issues of design sometimes and miss accomodating the real problem.....I would recommend making the bearing plate of ample width, wider than the beam flange, to allow the beam to be installed on the plate properly. Contractors find it difficult to set...

Good question....it really depends upon the architectural client that we deal with. Some of our client prefer the use of galvanized steel, while others like the high build expoxy coatings. Both systems work pretty well. It should be noted that neither system lasts forever! For some reason...

We occasionally get requests from architects like this. I typically will not allow the metal deck to be "warped" or sloped in two directions at the same time. Occasionally I'm asked if the deck could be cut over the supports to provide a "warped" surface. I typically will not allow that to...

Do you guys believe that it is worth the extra money to purchase the machine locally, or, should a person look for the best price on the internet? In many models there is a cost difference.

The 430 is so much less expensive than the others, but it only has 4 mb of ram standard. Does one need to consider the others, really, if a small firm of only (6) people, only (3) of which draft, will be using it to plot only 10 to 15 sheets a day?

What plotters are you guys using to produce your drawings? Does anyone have an opinion of the HP 430 verses the 500 series or 1050?