What do you pay drafters?
What do you pay drafters?
(OP)
I'm looking at hiring my first drafter for structural work. What do you pay drafters? Do you pay them hourly or a salary?
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What do you pay drafters?
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RE: What do you pay drafters?
I would suggest you need to consider the lifecycle of the position, are you expecting them to be only a drafter or will the develop into a designer or are they just a stop gap measure. Once you have figured out the position and likely future than the above question become easier.
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RE: What do you pay drafters?
I would want them to develop into a designer. I don't really believe in just having someone that can only do exactly what I tell them. That seems like such a waste. I would like them to eventually be able to go through some of the same thought processes I do when laying out framing and foundation plans. Thanks for your thoughts.
RE: What do you pay drafters?
-- $15/hr gets you a decent CAD technician who likely has no real experience in putting together drawing packages, can only draft what you show him; favors speed over accuracy. If you're lucky, you may find one who has a long-term perspective.
-- $20/hr gets you someone with a good knowledge of design packages, knows how to communicate design intent with drawings; backchecks his own work thoroughly; still not a designer in the structural context.
-- $25/hr should get you someone who understands what he is drafting and can design within reason, simple structures, supports, etc. Should be able to direct lower-level people and check their work.
Not many ways for a drafting to gain any structural knowledge unless he has worked under someone who is a strong mentor. Not a lot of schools teaching basic structures.
I wouldn't expect anyone getting $15/hr to hang around longer than it takes to get an offer for 50 cents an hour more.
RE: What do you pay drafters?
RE: What do you pay drafters?
RE: What do you pay drafters?
We pay the interns $25/hour. I guess that is therefore our drafting rate. For this we get an Engineering student specializing in Structures (or Architectural Engineering) and can rely upon them not to be completely clueless. Once or twice such an intern has caught an error, albeit a reasonably simple one which would have likely been caught in review. The point is that the intern DID catch the error, and likely learnt more than most...
FYI: We intend to be paying $35 to 40 per hour for a "real", ie: five to fifteen years of pure structural drafting experience, draftsman. We just haven't found them yet.
RE: What do you pay drafters?
In my experience, pure CAD drafters (line drawers) are everywhere. Designers are very hard to find and are worth the extra money.
In my time hiring, I had (Mech) drafters who went from the bottom up to very skilled Senior Designers over a period of 15 years. Within 6 months you know if a guy is going to be that way. Others who were great drafters, and asked to be coached into a designer position, got so confused by simple calculations that we knew they were going to cap out as a Senior Drafter 5 years down the road. (They could also become Project Managers, LOL)
RE: What do you pay drafters?
B+W Engineering and Design | Los Angeles Civil Engineer and Structural Engineer http://bwengr.com
RE: What do you pay drafters?
A key question is how generic vs unique is your work? If you are unique, you need to be thinking about giving this person a career trajectory worth their while to stick around for, and invest a bunch in training. Even if you have generic technical requirements, its still worth thinking about the long term with staff because you need their loyalty when things get tough.
RE: What do you pay drafters?
I would be bringing them on full time. I have thought about a contractor, but I would rather have someone in house because I need to be able to depend on them.
RE: What do you pay drafters?
Take it with a big pinch of salt, but may be no less accurate than some of the above posts given the limited information you give us to work with.
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?
RE: What do you pay drafters?
I wouldn't mind making $75k in the South. Is that like $200k in LA? I kid I kid. Sort of.
B+W Engineering and Design | Los Angeles Civil Engineer and Structural Engineer http://bwengr.com
RE: What do you pay drafters?
RE: What do you pay drafters?
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RE: What do you pay drafters?
When I started with my last employer in '93, their policy was to not give engineers AutoCad, on the premise drafters were so much faster and more knowledgeable in the CAD standards. So even a minor correction/change had to go thru the redline/checkprint process. By the time I left, we all had it and were encouraged to make minor changes.
RE: What do you pay drafters?
Last place I worked that did structural design, the 'designers' using Revit and similar tools were getting at least as much as the (engineering) graduates for similar experience levels.
RE: What do you pay drafters?
RE: What do you pay drafters?
RE: What do you pay drafters?
RE: What do you pay drafters?