Freelance Hourly Rate - Design Engineer (UK)
Freelance Hourly Rate - Design Engineer (UK)
(OP)
Hi all
I'm sending off my CV to a company for a freelance mechanical engineer design position here in the UK. I've never done much freelance work before, so I need to find out about hourly rates (money). I realise that there's going to be many different rates for different jobs, but what should I realistically say as a rate?
I've got all the right skills & experience that the company is looking for.
The job involves Mech/Machine/Production/Product design using CAD, and also doing FEA.
Any help is much appreciated.
I'm sending off my CV to a company for a freelance mechanical engineer design position here in the UK. I've never done much freelance work before, so I need to find out about hourly rates (money). I realise that there's going to be many different rates for different jobs, but what should I realistically say as a rate?
I've got all the right skills & experience that the company is looking for.
The job involves Mech/Machine/Production/Product design using CAD, and also doing FEA.
Any help is much appreciated.





RE: Freelance Hourly Rate - Design Engineer (UK)
It very much depends on the industry as you say but somewhere between £15-£45/ hour is I believe the going rate for CAD/ FEA. You might even struggle to get near the top end of that in the current economic climate.
RE: Freelance Hourly Rate - Design Engineer (UK)
The range ajack gives sounds about right. It's been a little while since I was in the UK and the bottom end for CAD guys could be a little lower then but that's inflation for you. I think I remember higher for some stress guys but as ajack says, in this economy maybe not.
As he points out, if you're completely freelance then unless things have changed you need to make allowance for paying tax, vacations, any retirement or other benefits you'd normally expect an employer to give and, if this is you long term plan, you need to be taking in enough extra to cover spells between contract gigs.
Back in 2004 I was charging 15 pounds but I wasn't looking at it as a long term thing, if I had been I'd have been looking at 20 or more to make it competitive with what my immediately previous direct pay had been.
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?
RE: Freelance Hourly Rate - Design Engineer (UK)
Location plays a part too - those rates are for the North East: expect about 50% better in London and to be worse off overall.
----------------------------------
If we learn from our mistakes I'm getting a great education!
RE: Freelance Hourly Rate - Design Engineer (UK)
I'm going to look at between £25-35 p/h, depending on assignment, length of job and so on.
RE: Freelance Hourly Rate - Design Engineer (UK)
Let's assume your goal is to make 75,000 pounds per year (sorry, I don't have the "pound" symbol on my keyboard). Then you will want charge about 75.00 to 100.00 pounds per hour. Your competitors are probably charging 125.00 pounds per hour, however they disguise it.
RE: Freelance Hourly Rate - Design Engineer (UK)
Cheers
Greg Locock
SIG:Please see FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.
RE: Freelance Hourly Rate - Design Engineer (UK)
Does the job guarantee 40hrs/week or is there dead time between contracts?
Unless you rely solely on NI, you uwill need to factor in private pension contribution. Can you exploit any tax breaks? What about any wear and tear on your car? Will you need any sort of liability insurance?
RE: Freelance Hourly Rate - Design Engineer (UK)
Ron I do not know where about in the world you are that doesn't have a £ sign on the keyboard but it must be a far better place than where I am.
At least in automotive in the UK if you asked £100/ hour (158$US) for a contract CAD designer you would have to pick the guy up off the floor and try to stop him laughing hysterically.
RE: Freelance Hourly Rate - Design Engineer (UK)
Good Solidworks contractors were on £35/hr.
Not using an agent:
I imagine today in the oil industry an average FEA Engineer would get £55/hr with the company supplying everything.
CAD/FEA person would be at a guess £40-£50 with company supplying everything.
No holidays or benefits.
All depends on demand. Start high and work your way down.
RE: Freelance Hourly Rate - Design Engineer (UK)
Ron, £75-100 p/h seems quite high even in good times. You would probably get that working offshore as an engineer or in a war zone (iraq, afghan...) but not sure about in the UK.
RE: Freelance Hourly Rate - Design Engineer (UK)
Cheers
Greg Locock
SIG:Please see FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.
RE: Freelance Hourly Rate - Design Engineer (UK)
Sure in this economy you might be inclined to reduce this to 60%, but what are you going to do when things pick up?
Arguing with an engineer is like wrestling with a pig in mud. After a while you realize that them like it
RE: Freelance Hourly Rate - Design Engineer (UK)
Mike McCann
MMC Engineering
RE: Freelance Hourly Rate - Design Engineer (UK)
The US to UK conversion is not simple because of the differences in tax structures, benefits, labor laws, market conditions etc. as well as the varying exchange rate.
In the early 2000's my UK aerospace/defense company was charging customers at between £35 to £45 an hour for Engineering depending on contract, mostly between 36 & 38 as I recall. For our industry we were on the low side as we were relatively small but this did give us a competative edge.
Obviously, we wouldn't have been paying a contractor that much as we still had to make a profit/cover some overheads.
Obviosly there's been 5 years of inflation since then but your figures are almost certainly absurdly high.
This was South of England but not London. Crompto29 numbers are in a higher cost area where there is a big pay difference and an (at the time) relatively high demand industry. I doubt you'd have got those numbers outside of London in other industries.
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?
RE: Freelance Hourly Rate - Design Engineer (UK)
RE: Freelance Hourly Rate - Design Engineer (UK)
Have been sent a link to this thread from PeterStock. It seems very relevant to a thread I started in the Engineer Business Practices Forum.
http://www
I guess the figures I had in mind were some way between Rons and iwonafish's. The daily rate I am currently looking at is between £500 - £550 per day but obviously this is negotiable on an individual contract basis (given the contract length).
Dan
RE: Freelance Hourly Rate - Design Engineer (UK)
Best regards
Simon NX4.0.4.2 MP10 - TCEng 9.1.3.6.c - (NX6.0.3.6 MP2 native)
www.jcb.com
Life shouldn't be measured by the number of breaths you take, but by the number of times when it's taken away...
RE: Freelance Hourly Rate - Design Engineer (UK)
The fellows with small offices boast that they earn $100 per hour, but only bill 60% of their time. Many of them have a wife with a good job.
The fellows with large offices bill $60 per hour, but for 100% of their time.
These rates are a few years out of date but you get the idea.