At the risk of sounding dumb... 2

[HornTootinEE]

To you tried and true firm owners out there:

How do you start your own engineering firm? I spent 6 yrs at a utility, now been at a distributor for 3 months. Me and some of my utility engineer buddies (all of us are PEs) were lamenting last week about how to start our own firm. None of us have been in consulting, so that makes it sort of a mystery.

Of course, at this point it's all hypothetical, but got us thinking.

So, again, How do you start your own firm?

Thanks

 

[berkshire]

You hang out a shingle and start soliciting for work.
Things like liabilty insurance and bonding, will find you, if you do not have them.
B.E.

The good engineer does not need to memorize every formula; he just needs to know where he can find them when he needs them. Old professor

 

[pennpiper]

You might want to consider making a "Business Plan"
You also need to ask a bunch of "What If" questions.
If we do go into business"
- Do we need a Business License?
- Is that a one time cost or an annual cost?
- How much"
- Will we need office space and when (at first or later)?
- What kind of space and how much space?
- What would the cost of space be on an annual basis?
- What would we need in the way of furnishings?
- What would it be better to rent or buy?
- What would the cost of furnishings be on an annual basis?
- What "Services" are required (Legal, Secretarial, Utilities, etc)?
- What would be the cost of Services on an annual basis?
- What supplies will we need on a daily, weekly and monthly basis?
- What would be the cost of supplies be on an annual basis?
- What kind of marketing and sales will we need to do?
- What would be the cost of Marketing be on an annual basis?
- ?
- ?
I am sure, if you all put your heads together you can add more to this list and when your done you need to add a line item for "contingency" (6 months min).
Next you need to determine a "Rate Schedule" that supports the business on an annual basis.
Then you then need to determine how you are going to finance your venture. You will need "Start-Up" funding.

prognosis: Lead or Lag

 

[SnTMan]

I don't have any experience in starting a business, but I think the second thing I'd do is identify some potential customers.

The first would be to determine what I had to sell.

Regards,

Mike

 

[MiketheEngineer]

Get a good lawyer and a good accountant - money well spent...

 

[IRstuff]

There are many books and resources related to starting your own professional services company.

TTFN
faq731-376

 

[SLTA]

Where I live, you have to be approved by the state before starting a business. Highly second Mike's idea about getting a (good and trustworthy) lawyer and accountant.

 

[StevenHPerry]

a (good and trustworthy) lawyer

I guess the title of the post is "At the risk of sounding dumb"

 

[brandonbw]

pennpiper is suggesting a basic business plan which should be happening before you partner together for anything where money is involved. Hopefully that is already obvious to begin with.

First incorporate together to form the business and find clients. I have noticed some people cannot find clients period which sort of backfires when owning a small business. Make a not cheap looking website and business cards to give yourself some type of presence online and the real world. A logo would look good on your plans as well. And you will need the basic contract to send out as your proposals for work with fees for each item that you can make a profit doing. I was told early on and have learned over the last few years, turning work away does save money in the long run.

Lastly I would try really hard to run the new business without taking loans out if at all possible. This is my 3rd year going on 4 running my own thing, and there have been many ups and downs doing this. But the eventual outcome through all of the stress and heartbreak should make this all worthwhile one of these years. Being your own boss is much harder than it sounds. Butting heads with partners is always interesting too.

B+W Engineering and Design
Los Angeles Civil Engineer and Structural Engineer

http://bwengr.com

|

http://bwstructuralengineer.com

|

http://bwcivilengineer.com

 

[racookpe1978]

You are reminded that a "break-off" group of engineers from one company can't expect to take their contacts and in-house knowledge from their source company directly to a startup company.

Former clients will realize the conflict of interest.

Equally, perhaps you (collectively) have talents that your current employer want, but that your current employer doesn't want to pay for the whole year/the whole career. For example, you are outage specialists, but they only want to pay for those talents for 2 months, not the whole year. If you can figure out how to get a full year's pay from various other outages while your first customer is running, you have a potential business opening.

Other companies may welcome releasing a group of employees because of the expense of long term retirement and insurance, and so would rather "rent" your talent periodically rather than hiring it permanently.

 

[lacajun]

In Colorado, it takes about 5 minutes and $50 to register your business. If I were you, I would figure out what kind of company to form. Do a plan and get busy.

Some people will not engage you in spite of knowing they need your help.

Pamela K. Quillin, P.E.
Quillin Engineering, LLC