Residential Solar Drawing Mill Looking for Prof. CE/SE & EE to Stamp their Drawings for $150.00/
Residential Solar Drawing Mill Looking for Prof. CE/SE & EE to Stamp their Drawings for $150.00/
(OP)
Yes that's right,...step right up folks! You too can bask in the glory of being one of many engineers pumping out 20 or more projects a month for $150.00 a pop. Just place rubber stamp here! (price includes PE to print/stamp/mailing services)
Got this solicitation last night from what appears to be solar drawing production mill company looking for a couple more California PE's to add to their rubber stamping posse. My reply included terms like professional ethics, engineer in responsible charge, professional liability, due respect/reasonable compensation, and continued comments,....why no full time engineering staff for that kind of volume, business model works great for you-not the engineering community, and bargain basement engineering services shopping. My reply was not well received!
Please don't be that guy, who says yes to companies like this. Have a super day!!
Got this solicitation last night from what appears to be solar drawing production mill company looking for a couple more California PE's to add to their rubber stamping posse. My reply included terms like professional ethics, engineer in responsible charge, professional liability, due respect/reasonable compensation, and continued comments,....why no full time engineering staff for that kind of volume, business model works great for you-not the engineering community, and bargain basement engineering services shopping. My reply was not well received!
Please don't be that guy, who says yes to companies like this. Have a super day!!





RE: Residential Solar Drawing Mill Looking for Prof. CE/SE & EE to Stamp their Drawings for $150.00/
RE: Residential Solar Drawing Mill Looking for Prof. CE/SE & EE to Stamp their Drawings for $150.00/
Will not buy into becoming be an engineer in responsible charge for $150.00 on any project,.....ever. You have to have a minimum fee for your stamp and hold to it in my opinion.
RE: Residential Solar Drawing Mill Looking for Prof. CE/SE & EE to Stamp their Drawings for $150.00/
RE: Residential Solar Drawing Mill Looking for Prof. CE/SE & EE to Stamp their Drawings for $150.00/
RE: Residential Solar Drawing Mill Looking for Prof. CE/SE & EE to Stamp their Drawings for $150.00/
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: Residential Solar Drawing Mill Looking for Prof. CE/SE & EE to Stamp their Drawings for $150.00/
Greg...agree with you as well...follows the same line.
RE: Residential Solar Drawing Mill Looking for Prof. CE/SE & EE to Stamp their Drawings for $150.00/
AHJ's require stamped drawings in order to obtain permits. For most PV systems, this is a waste of money. And the drawings I have seen were barely worth the paper they were printed on. But apparently building departments think otherwise.
RE: Residential Solar Drawing Mill Looking for Prof. CE/SE & EE to Stamp their Drawings for $150.00/
At some future date, the loads associated with solar panels on residential roofs will be added to the building code design cases for such roofs, and except for weird installations, it will become another "design by table in the code" exercise, not requiring an engineer's involvement. Right now, it's my understanding that our local building department wants an engineer's stamp on any residential framing drawing which includes steel, whether that be beams or columns. That certainly was the case when I built my addition. I presume the same is necessary for mass-produced pre-engineered structural systems such as wood roof trusses too. No surprise they'd want someone to take responsibility for ensuring that the panels don't add loads to the roof structure that aren't accounted for otherwise in the local building code, and that the racking system is properly designed to transfer those loads safely to the roofing support members.
RE: Residential Solar Drawing Mill Looking for Prof. CE/SE & EE to Stamp their Drawings for $150.00/
in general, municipalities have Sovereign Immunity, which precludes private parties from bringing suit against the government. so liability is shifted from the contractor to an engineer. And if the engineer does not actually design the roof or the solar panel connections to the roof, than they are taking on significant liability for stamping a cookie cutter design. sounds like a stupid thing to do.
RE: Residential Solar Drawing Mill Looking for Prof. CE/SE & EE to Stamp their Drawings for $150.00/
https://www.thestar.com/news/2007/04/28/whos_liabl...
The inspector who I worked with on the construction of my large remodel and addition to my house, filled in a few blanks in the story above which I cannot independently verify, but I have no reason to doubt what he said. Apparently, what is not mentioned above is that the homeowner allowed work to proceed without a permit in order to get the work done quicker. An inspector driving by saw the soil bins beside the house and ordered an inspection, but it was too late- the basement floor had already been poured so inspection of the underpinning wasn't possible. The homeowner apparently pleaded with the inspector to not demand demolition of the slab to permit the inspection, and the inspector relented- but when the sh*t hit the fan, the what did the homeowner do? They sued the City for NOT ordering the demolition and inspection...and, in the end, they prevailed. It's a sick system in my opinion, but it does go a long way to explaining why certain things are done the way they are done.
The municipality owes a duty of care, and discharges that duty of care with respect to design by mandating the involvement of another party who can be held liable in the case when the design doesn't work out.
Any time the design involves any calculation whatsoever, rather than merely referring to tables in the local building code, someone else needs to be on the hook or it's not going to be built. And any time a building is big enough that design by table isn't going to be feasible, the regulations already mandate the participation of an architect and presumably also a structural engineer.
RE: Residential Solar Drawing Mill Looking for Prof. CE/SE & EE to Stamp their Drawings for $150.00/
"Review relatively simple structural plans for sound engineering and revise/seal as appropriate. Estimated review time about 1 hour per plan. Fee per plan review $150.00"
Would this be an offence to structural engineers? Just as devil's advocate, perhaps this is what the lay person means, but says it like a douche because they have not been educated on proper communication etiquette among engineers. Not usually the case...but maybe.
RE: Residential Solar Drawing Mill Looking for Prof. CE/SE & EE to Stamp their Drawings for $150.00/
But I 100% guarantee they'll find someone to seal these career traps for the $150. And if not, they'll raise it to $162.50.
RE: Residential Solar Drawing Mill Looking for Prof. CE/SE & EE to Stamp their Drawings for $150.00/
RE: Residential Solar Drawing Mill Looking for Prof. CE/SE & EE to Stamp their Drawings for $150.00/
Dik
RE: Residential Solar Drawing Mill Looking for Prof. CE/SE & EE to Stamp their Drawings for $150.00/
RE: Residential Solar Drawing Mill Looking for Prof. CE/SE & EE to Stamp their Drawings for $150.00/
RE: Residential Solar Drawing Mill Looking for Prof. CE/SE & EE to Stamp their Drawings for $150.00/
I say NOPE, but I betcha they'll find some unemployed engineer who will do it.
RE: Residential Solar Drawing Mill Looking for Prof. CE/SE & EE to Stamp their Drawings for $150.00/
And then, you, the PE, will be held more responsible than the designer/drafter that got paid 5 or more times more to draw and sell the plans than you did to take legal responsibility for them. Why, because of course the drawing mill does not carry PLI, but you do, so for sure you're on the hook for more than you would have imagined for $150.00 and your increase in annual revenue for working within such an agreement would most likely go right back out the door in deductibles, increased PLI premiums, and additional potential attorney fees not covered in your PLI. Better stamp about 480 jobs the next year to help balance things out!
But truly not talking about more compensation to somehow misguidedly justify insurance fees/losses, but more compensation to cover more time and effort to show "due diligence by the PE/SE" that the information shown on the project documents is to the best of his/her ability to be true and accurate. A plaintiffs lawyer would most likely have a field day with knowledge of a one hour or less effort performed by the PE. I feel the terms "negligence" or, "less than an expected "standard of care"" would leave his mouth or the mouth of his high paid expert PE witness even more quickly.
RE: Residential Solar Drawing Mill Looking for Prof. CE/SE & EE to Stamp their Drawings for $150.00/
Dik
RE: Residential Solar Drawing Mill Looking for Prof. CE/SE & EE to Stamp their Drawings for $150.00/
For that matter, geotech studies are often 1 tenth of one percent up to about 3 percent of the construction cost and total liability. Total design fees are classically 6 percent.
It is assumed that insurance would drop you for a claim. Why? There are tons of insured firms (probably most) that have have had claims, yet still maintain insurance. I'm not trying to make a case for this job, but lets not stretch to the far side of ridiculous in building a case against it.
RE: Residential Solar Drawing Mill Looking for Prof. CE/SE & EE to Stamp their Drawings for $150.00/
I don't see much profit in this venture, so yes it is a bad business proposition. If you are desperate, than maybe take a risk
yes, geotech is risky. And the overhead of a lab and drilling equipment is high. that's why we hire subs to do most of our geotechical investigation work.
ok, so maybe the insurance company doesn't drop you after the first claim, but they will probably raise your premiums. that cuts into profitability even more.
yes, I am illustrating the potential risk of this business. I recommend evaluating the risk vs reward in every proposal and make a well informed go / no go decision. Sometimes it is better to just say no.
RE: Residential Solar Drawing Mill Looking for Prof. CE/SE & EE to Stamp their Drawings for $150.00/
What is your profit/risk threshold, then?
RE: Residential Solar Drawing Mill Looking for Prof. CE/SE & EE to Stamp their Drawings for $150.00/
RE: Residential Solar Drawing Mill Looking for Prof. CE/SE & EE to Stamp their Drawings for $150.00/
RE: Residential Solar Drawing Mill Looking for Prof. CE/SE & EE to Stamp their Drawings for $150.00/