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  1. Electic

    Billing Rates

    1) Many decades ago, I worked for an industrial consultant doing large (i.e.: $60M T.I.C.) jobs for $60 per hour, billing 100% of our time. 2) We rented local office space (near a customer) from a commercial consultant that would boast about their $100 per hour rate, but billed only 60% of...
  2. Electic

    Arc Flash and Short Circuit Studies

    If the original contract for services did not say they were to turn over the electronic files, they might have not formatted them appropriate for the consumer. It is a liability to send out an electronic file, and then watch some inexperienced operator come up with invalid results because they...
  3. Electic

    Books on running a professional engineering consultancy.

    There is a hazard in trying to establish a practice from reading books instead of gaining experience in the employ of others, working in the same market. I've encountered ambitious souls intent on consulting who despite great higher education or great credentials, 1) did not understand the...
  4. Electic

    Customer shares contract with competing firms

    Thank you for the replies. This discussion is certainly circling the issues if not solving them. A few more observations: I do not feel the customer was price shopping in this case. It was simply careless communication and the price effect will be more acute at other sites where we meet the...
  5. Electic

    Customer shares contract with competing firms

    thanks for the suggestions fellows. a few more observations: This is a good customer that has been pretty consistent in using us for the past 10 years. Good work and fair pay. I won't be firing this customer. Nor will our work at this customer be jeopardized by this slip. I suspect the...
  6. Electic

    How/where can engineering design firms for sale be identified?

    I suspect Option 2 above is what Option 1 would quickly evolve to, unless you buy a company that has unreasonably communicative teachers included, It might be a huge expense spared to NOT take Option 1.
  7. Electic

    Health Insurance and Consulting

    It would seem economy insurance with high deductibles is now about $1000 per month, compared to about $300 per month four years ago. Unless you net less than $30k per year, in which case it will still be about $300 per month. One simply shops around for what is available in your State, and...
  8. Electic

    Customer shares contract with competing firms

    I will add another paragraph now. Thank you.
  9. Electic

    Customer shares contract with competing firms

    I am the proprietor of a small engineering company doing specialty work for a large corporation. My work dovetails into projects completed by larger engineering firms, that at one level also are competitors. Due to the project nesting, the customer sent our project proposal, including terms and...
  10. Electic

    Protection relays

    As great as SEL is, I do wish their manuals were (substantially) less than 500 pages. Being on the troubleshooting side of things, we only look at these during panic outages. [smile]
  11. Electic

    When asked to pay for construction omissions

    glass99, I agree with your comments about why do consultants pay in the end. I have not seen one of these proceed to a lawsuit, but I have seen several times where an "important" customer intimidates the engineer into paying. Often times the consultant is trying to make deadlines, trying to...
  12. Electic

    When asked to pay for construction omissions

    "Fundamental breach" seems to include the major disasters that cause buildings to fall, and terrible life safety risk. That is more than sufficient cause to carry heavy insurance. However, when talking to an attorney, I have been unable to clearly convey he difference between such a...
  13. Electic

    When asked to pay for construction omissions

    Moltenmetal, great information and though the liability might be thousands of times higher, somehow that situation is less bothersome to me on a principles basis, than a customer simply trying to divert construction costs to a design professional. (in that regard I should be more sympathetic to...
  14. Electic

    When asked to pay for construction omissions

    Glass99, it seems attorneys are rewarded for turning complex situations into simplified arguments to convince a jury, whether or not that is appropriate. Twice I have encountered prominent lawyers that were great at winning cases but had little appreciation for professional duty or what is...
  15. Electic

    When asked to pay for construction omissions

    URGROSS, If an Engineer might react emotionally, as you suggest, because family or colleagues were involved, such personal attachment would be a good reason to NOT be involved in a project. As a professional it is one's job description to remain analytical, and also to remain outside of laying...
  16. Electic

    When asked to pay for construction omissions

    URGROSS your simplistic analysis that some answers are simply "right" or "wrong", and therefor some firms are "incompetent" indicates a lack of professional perspective. Lacking such perspective it then does not surprise me that you think it is fair-game to harvest money from these firms, money...
  17. Electic

    Using experience as employee for my new company

    You only have one chance at maintaining honesty and professionalism, so do not blow this opportunity. First off there is a LARGE difference between participating on a project as an employee working within some other firm's template, and being the guy who built the template. You will know this...
  18. Electic

    Project Experience - Company or Individual

    Interesting topic that I am recently aware of being on the losing end of. I have lost several bids to another firm recently, on basis of that firm having longer experience. But the founder of that firm, the fellow who accumulated the previous 40 year's of history, retired a few years ago and...
  19. Electic

    When asked to pay for construction omissions

    Thanks for some great perspectives. I will add a few more observations: 1) Projects with experienced customers will often accept an expectation of change orders, say 6%; as indication of a construction documents adequately detailed. To seek 0% change orders has been joked about as allowing...
  20. Electic

    "Powers 140,000 Households' ... Just "WHAT" is a (US) "Household" Power uni

    Not only with the solar plant NOT power any households at night, the entire conventional distribution and generation system will still be needed to supply night time demand, nothing gets displaced by alternative power. The cost of electricity has much to do with the maintenance and operation of...

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