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Doing part time work on the side? 4

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Lion06

Structural
Nov 17, 2006
4,238
Has anyone ever done part time engineering work on the side? I won't be getting my PE until fall of '10, but I've already been approached by builders in the small town where I grew up. It's a very small town and I knew everyone when I lived there - my dad's known everyone forever. I've already made it clear that I can't sign or seal anything yet, but that I'll be in touch when I can. It's a fairly uncomfortable situation, because they really are friends of the family, but I don't want to do anything to jeopardize my employement. I didn't even ask what they've done before now - I guess I'll do that if I get approached again. Anyway, the point of the post was to find out if anyone else has done small work on the side if you were 100% that it wouldn't be competing with your current employer and you didn't do any of that work on company time or with company resources.
 
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Look man, you're in some GOLD there, your dad was known forever you say, take advantage of that lifetime of contacts, and get in them NOW, before your old man passes away or retires.
You have connections where it matters (the builders) who control the architects, they can impose YOU as the structural Engineer.

Try to think even faster and farther, get into the design/build business ASAP, your contacts and Dad will set you up. As a structural Engineer, you will see that there's nothing to it.

Go do what you got to do to pave the road the road to YOUR driveway, forget about your boss, he started out by moolighting.
 
cry22...with all due respect, you sound clueless. Design-build is one of the higher litigation areas of both design and construction. Many professional liability carriers won't touch them. Why would a young, very sharp and promising structural engineer such as SEIT with limited experience outside a firm want to delve into such? And you can't "forget about your boss"...it's a little obstacle called ethics.

Further, I don't know what world you live in, but generally Architects are not controlled by contractors.

There's nothing wrong with SEIT filling a void as a sideline that his firm does not do. Many larger firms have no issue with that as long as you don't use their resources, compete for their clients or spend "their" time on other business. My sense is that SEIT would do none of those.

When he gets his P.E. license, he will likely do some sideline work. Doing so before his licensing could jeopardize his potential for getting a license if there is a claim or complaint, valid or not.
 
A bit off topic, but the professional moonlighters who have it the best are the college professors. They use their company resources and do it on company time. This is called minimal overhead.
JIM
 
I agree with Ron's last statement totally.

Mike McCann
MMC Engineering
 
Struct eit

Disagree with Ron (respectfully RON) on the dangers of D/B, the trend is going to the D.B nowadays. If a high school graduate contractor can do it, so can you. Without the PE. You just need a GC license.
Contractors do control architects, they feed them work.

I do agree that it makes things easier if you had your PE. My point was that time is not on your side to cash in on your father's contacts, the sooner you get in, the better off you are.

And yes, I do stand by what I said: don't worry about your boss, he started by moonlighting himself. He is only getting the change for his coin.
 
cry22...again, not sure where you work, but in my state, a general contractor must have a degree...doesn't necessarily increase their capability, but it helps. As for D/B, it is clearly a contentious and liability prone area....read any of the bulletins and memos from the professional liability carriers. My specialty is forensics so I see it first hand as well.

The design/build you seem to be promoting is a rather low level of design/build, presumably residential. That's on a different plane as most residential does not require engineering design, though some states are now requiring it (my home state requires structural design of residential structures by a licensed engineer).

Again, about the only architects who are fed work by contractors are those doing residential work. It generally does not apply for multi-family or commercial, so to make a blanket statement as such is inaccurate.

As for your boss...I reiterate...you have an ethical obligation, usually supported by state law, to make your employer aware of "moonlighting". In some states, it is a violation of the board rules to not tell your employer. This makes you susceptible to reprimand and even fines for violation of such.
 
I think you would have to add portal frame sheds and big box (tilt/precast panel) construction to the D & C List. Generally you would be dealing with a building designer not an architect for these types of buildings.

I would recommend however if you don’t have thick skin (when I say thick I meant rhino skin) to stay away for these areas.

You generally deal with developers (and General Mangers of fabricating firms), whom don’t mind taking more than their fair share and then suing you for the rest.

I would recommend if this is the market sticking to about 3-4 times you hourly rate for charging, as there is a lot of money to be lost in preliminary designs, redesign and other such things.

These guys don’t care how it looks just that it is cheap and fast. Did I mention that they would want their preliminary design the day after commissioning, and then will build off this, so if you make a change you had better get out that rhino skin.

So i would agree with Ron's underlining message. Get your experience up, then get a raise and enjoy your weekends (why would you want to give these up for a few extra bucks?). Sideline work while good for a few penny’s has many pit falls, that at the end of the day genrally the penny's just aren’t worth it.





When in doubt, just take the next small step.
 
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