Structural Engineer salary advice
Structural Engineer salary advice
(OP)
Hey all,
Year end reviews are about to come in my office, and I am thinking of asking for a raise (a big one). Before I do, I was wondering if I could get some ideas from fellow structural engineers about the going rate in our market.
I am located in Los Angeles, CA. I'm on my 11th year of experience (residential, industrial, and commerce). I graduated from a well respected UC for my BS and also have a MS from a UC. I also have a PE license. I work in a small office (20 people or so), and after the two principals, I am next in the pecking order. That means I am often tasked with having to oversee and lead the younger engineers in my office, project manage their projects, and run my own projects at the same time.
Currently I am paid $31 an hour, and I get a small bonus at the end of the year (about $2k to $3k). I feel like I am underpaid, but I am just not sure what the market rate is nowadays. What do you all think?
Year end reviews are about to come in my office, and I am thinking of asking for a raise (a big one). Before I do, I was wondering if I could get some ideas from fellow structural engineers about the going rate in our market.
I am located in Los Angeles, CA. I'm on my 11th year of experience (residential, industrial, and commerce). I graduated from a well respected UC for my BS and also have a MS from a UC. I also have a PE license. I work in a small office (20 people or so), and after the two principals, I am next in the pecking order. That means I am often tasked with having to oversee and lead the younger engineers in my office, project manage their projects, and run my own projects at the same time.
Currently I am paid $31 an hour, and I get a small bonus at the end of the year (about $2k to $3k). I feel like I am underpaid, but I am just not sure what the market rate is nowadays. What do you all think?





RE: Structural Engineer salary advice
The ASCE Salary Survey is a great tool. You can use just about any criteria (location, education, license, responsibility level, or combinations of criteria) to get an idea of the expected salary range in your area. Use this both to get an idea of what to ask for, and ammunition in the negotiation. If you have trusted peers working at other firms in your area, you can get an idea from them how your relative salary stacks up without flat-out asking, "how much do you make?"
Hopefully, with your spot in the pecking order, they are willing to give you a salary that will make you happy. I'm not sure how much you're involved in the business aspect, but it may be a situation in a small firm where they do not have the money to pay you market rate. You have to be prepared that you may have to look for employment elsewhere to capture your market value if their offer does not satisfy you. Good luck!
RE: Structural Engineer salary advice
I am actually paid hourly, so I do get 1.5 for overtime, but $65k base pay feels fairly low to me. Thank you for the tip on ASCE Salary Survey, I never knew those existed until you told me.
RE: Structural Engineer salary advice
Cheers
Greg Locock
New here? Try reading these, they might help FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?
RE: Structural Engineer salary advice
Are yup along on promotion or interviews with possible clients? Sometimes those in your position are asked about charges and jobs may develop, at least in my past experience.
RE: Structural Engineer salary advice
We have offices in California and that's about what we would pay a new graduate with a Bachelor's degree.
RE: Structural Engineer salary advice
How could someone third in line at a firm not be aware of the billing rates? It would make it hard to price a job and put together a proposal otherwise...
RE: Structural Engineer salary advice
I have been in that boat because I did not negotiate properly when I was first hired at my current job. Finally, I started speaking up and did so fairly often. It paid off because my company made it right when I got a promotion. I work for a public agency, and it took some fineagling for me to get a higher than allowed percentage increase. No one would have done this if I had not spoken up.
RE: Structural Engineer salary advice
The only way to get more money is to switch jobs.
RE: Structural Engineer salary advice
You will also need to consider the benefits package your company has in this age of Obamacare
Your best bet is to try to find something else to get that boost in pay (as jgailla suggested)
RE: Structural Engineer salary advice
@JedClampett, would you mind telling me your office's name? I might send my resume that way. :)
@oldestguy & CivilEngAus, I also find it odd that they've never opened their company books to me especially when I have architects calling me to request for proposals.
RE: Structural Engineer salary advice
But you're right. You're not going to get a 1/3 raise to get you to the bare minimum of a ten year employee at the place you're at. And you should get a good laugh when they try to replace you and find out what that costs.
And the funny thing is, I bet they act all hurt when you leave.
RE: Structural Engineer salary advice
I would hope that the guys in my company whom have stuck with me through the tough times would also be willing to talk to me if they felt underpaid. I may not be able to accommodate there wishes, but I defiantly would like to know so i have the opportunity to review my books. however i would hope that most feel like they are paid above their peers, as that is where I aim. We follow our local engineering salary scale very closely.
The way I have gone about my raises in the past is asked the boss to take a look at the books and see if they can find some extra money for me. Simple, it puts he ball in their court. I then email my boss with the categories in my local engineers mag, we have five levels (1 grad, 5 principle), and I ask which level he believes I am and reference only the page of the employment survey that has the categories. this does two things, if they think your a 2 and you think your a 4 you find out quickly why your under paid and then yes you need to find out why your not a 4. if they say your a 4 and your are a 4 then the negotiation when they offer you a poor raise is very easy, "why sir may I ask why your rate me as a 4 but only pay me as a 2?". No harm in asking.
last thing, often hourly people are reviewed based on there total income from the company, so if you work like 50 - 60 hrs a week and are really making a lot more than the above suggests, then I would suggest you need to consider this. Most engineers are expected to work 50hrs a week hence, your equivalent income should be 20,00 higher than above stated value. personally if you came to me and said I want to be paid as per the engineering survey I would say sure no problems, but now your an salary employee and you still have to work the time.
http://www.nceng.com.au/
"Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning."
RE: Structural Engineer salary advice
RE: Structural Engineer salary advice
http://www.nceng.com.au/
"Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning."
RE: Structural Engineer salary advice
RE: Structural Engineer salary advice
RE: Structural Engineer salary advice
RE: Structural Engineer salary advice
You are a professional. You should be paid a reasonable SALARY for your contribution to the company. Working 45 to 50 hours per week is not unreasonable for a salaried professional; however, you should be paid accordingly. I would expect your salary to be in the $80k to $90k range, at least. You should be making about 25 to 35 percent of what your company is charging for your time. For example, if your company is charging $150 per hour for your time, you should be making between about $40 and $55/hr. but on a salaried basis. If they are charging less for your time, think about changing jobs....they don't value a professional engineer's time and are only concerned about treating you and others as a commodity and lining their own pockets as a result.
RE: Structural Engineer salary advice
Dan - Owner
http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com
RE: Structural Engineer salary advice
RE: Structural Engineer salary advice
I agree with Ron about the hourly vs. salary. Your hourly rate is low and it is not reasonable that you should assume your OT makes up for the difference in pay. That is extra time you are putting in. You should be paid fair for the 40 hour week and if you have to work extra often you should be making more than those others, not the same.
RE: Structural Engineer salary advice
My employer assigns me to projects. They expect to bill my time to the project. If I productively (not being on Eng-Tips.com) work for free, not billing my time, they don't get any benefit for it. And they can't charge for my hours, unless they pay me for them. The salaried part of it is that I get paid straight time (not time and a half) for these extra hours, or I can use this as compensatory time off.
I suspect there's many, many of us in this situation. I don't think it's unprofessional. I put in extra time and don't charge for it, doing adminstrative tasks or wrapping things up at the end of the day, but if I'm doing project work, I bill for it. And I instruct the engineers working for me to do the same.
RE: Structural Engineer salary advice
I am personally favor the investment banking model, which is low salary and high bonus connected to the firm's profitability.
RE: Structural Engineer salary advice
I worked easily 50+ per week at other firms.
RE: Structural Engineer salary advice
My wife isn't but she still works more hours than me, by far.
TTFN

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Of course I can. I can do anything. I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert!
RE: Structural Engineer salary advice
It is easy to determine your worth using online sources by finding the pay scales of professionals in similar positions, with similar experience and job duties.
I wouldn't expect your company to give you a huge financial raise if you ask for it. They will just call your bluff. The only way that would happen is to obtain another job offer indicative of your worth, then either leave or leverage that for a large compensation increase.
As an example and in reference to my first sentence, I was offered a job about a month ago at a certain salary. It was way below market value and less than 10% above my compensation with my previous employer. I responded with a counter offer explaining my desired compensation and why I felt I deserved it based on market research and past employment achievements and duties. They raised their offer by 20% and it represented a 30% raise over my previous salary. Naturally I accepted without hesitation. In your case you could leave, or leverage that to get a substantial increase in pay. Essentially saying "They think I am worth this much, do you?".