Civil engineering student with question about benefits of PE licensing. 4

[gabestaats]

Hello all, I am currently a civil engineering student and have a couple of questions regarding what you can do with a professional engineering license. I've had a lot of difficulty finding a straightforward answer online or with academic advisors so thought I'd throw this out there. What exactly does a PE license allow you to do and in what way could it potentially be applied to starting my own business? I am a very business minded person and would like to start on my own as soon as I've put in the few years necessary to take the PE exam. My main interest within civil engineering is construction (not so much structural) so is there any type of consulting work I could get into in construction that would require a PE? Obviously I'll have a clearer path once I'm in industry but thought I'd get a general idea now.

Thanks for any responses!

 

[Ron]

gabestaats....you do not give your location, so I'll assume from the wording of your question that you are within the United States. This is an international forum, so location makes a difference, particularly for questions such as yours.

I'm surprised that you have not been able to get a straight answer from the sources you've tried.

The professional engineering license allows you to offer and provide engineering services to the public. Without it, you are not allowed by law to provide engineering services to the public (that means for individuals, companies, municipalities, etc.). There are "industry" exemptions for that, but generally not so for civil engineers. In general, if you are a civil, mechanical, electrical, structural, or similar engineer (there are a few subdisciplines with licensing as well) and you want to provide consulting to the general public you will need to be licensed. If you want to start your own consulting business that offers engineering services, most states require that you obtain a "Certificate of Authorization" for that engineering business. In order to get a certificate of authorization, at least one principal in that company must be licensed and then bears the licensing responsibility for the business, even it it employs other licensed engineers.

To give you a few examples, if you wanted to do stormwater management design as a civil engineer, you must be licensed.
If you want to provide engineering consulting services to architects, engineers, contractors, owners, developers and others for whatever reason (new construction, existing construction, remediation, condition assessment, failure investigation, etc.) you must be licensed.

The primary purpose of licensing is to protect the health, safety and welfare of the public. Many individuals provide consulting services in a variety of subjects, but if such consulting has an engineering connotation, you must be licensed.

I would suggest that you go online and read a copy of your state's engineering law and the general rules of your governing board of engineers. You will see from that what you can or cannot do. If your state licensing law is not readily accessible, the look at the laws of another state....they are often similar; however, some states are less strict than others in their engineering laws.

I practice primarily in Florida; however, I'm also licensed in other states. When doing work in those other states, I have to be aware of their laws of practice as well as my own. Florida's law is relatively well laid out and easy to read if you want to get a sense of a different state. Here is a link....

[link

http://www.fbpe.org/index.php/legal/statues-and-rules

] Florida's Engineering Law and Rules[/url]

 

[bimr]

A license allows you to practice engineering, in the same manner that a law license allows you to practice law.

A license is a demonstration of your competence and opens doors for you.

 

[concretemasonry]

At the beginning of my career, I put myself on a 6 year plan (2 years structural, 2 years construction and 2 years general engineering).

After 6 years, I had gotten my PE and saw an ad in the newspaper. Of all things, it was for and engineer at a concrete block company that required a PE. I got interviewed and their salary was 50% over what I was making. The owner said they would pay all costs for outside education and should participate all national associations/organizations including travel expenses.

I took the job and kept it for about 20 years and was able be active and participate in many professional groups (ACI, ASTM, ASCE, etc.) and sit on national and local code committees and participate with training engineering students (practicing and future engineers. During that period, I was able to add 2 more state PEs and a SE to my credentials. The big plus was that I could work, and converse with fellow PEs. It did bother me to wait for 10 years to become a voting member of a ASTM standards committee.

That PE opened the door to another position with a company that supplied equipment to make concrete block manufacturing equipment and part of the dedication was to educate customers, contractors and engineers in the use of the products produced. I had to travel to over 30 countries and could link the scheduling to minimize the travel time, but it was manageable from a personal experience despite living in northern MI for 7 years.

As the earlier poster mentioned, "A license is a demonstration and opened doors for you". I was never in a position to formally sign a plan, although I prepared many (not, but the PE was definitely an asset to use as you deem. I felt good to do a seminar in China and see a typical 20' long yellow and red banner saying "Welcome Dr XXXXX, PE". - I guess the Dr. was because of a little experience and activity/learning, but they recognized the importance of the PE. Unforunately, I could decipher what the other Chinese characters on the banner meant.

It is very important for any graduate engineer to get a PE whenever possible, even if you are not in a position to sign a plan.

Dick

Engineer and international traveler interested in construction techniques, problems and proper design.