What makes up the majority of your work?

[MIStructE_IRE]

With all the responses to the slender skyscraper thread I assumed you were all rockstar engineers designing slender skyscrapers every day of the week!! Then it got me thinking, I wonder where the bulk of the work lies for you all?

Personally, for my company, its normally something along these lines, in this order (approx percentages of my workload noted in brackets):

1. 2-3 storey school building projects (40%)
2. Single storey retail stores (30%)
3. Multi storey office (max 6 storeys....thanks Ireland..) (15%)
4. Large steel frame data centres (10%)
5. Domestic and residential (5%)

 

[oldestguy]

When I was working in Midwest,your list about covers it, but it was mainly site preparation and then the support for foundations geotech)..

 

[Ron]

My work is primarily failure investigations of structures, construction and pavements. These bring into play a lot of cross-over of disciplines, mostly structural, pavement analysis, geotechnical, civil, and materials. I have been fortunate enough to have good experience in all of these.

The types of projects range from single family residences to high rise structures, pavements ranging from simple roadways to airfields to industrial pavements, geotechnical mostly in coastal plains soils and karst areas, civil related to drainage and stormwater issues and materials of construction, which is incredibly broad! I love it!

 

[SlideRuleEra]

Now retired, but for my primary career as an electric utility (generation) employee:

1) Heavy industrial construction management (40%)
2) Heavy industrial civil/geotechnical (20%)
3) Heavy industrial structural (20%)
4) Heavy industrial mechanical (10%)
5) Corporate technical representation/liaison (10%)

http://www.SlideRuleEra.net

 

[SnTMan]

Retired / unemployed now as well, but as a shell & tube HX design / project engineer 90% of the job was:
1) Read all the contract documents
2) Find the piece of information that doesn't match
3) Ask the question

10%: Design the HX, prepare the submittals, prepare the shop drawings, work the issues, blah, blah, someday it leaves

Regards,

Mike

The problem with sloppy work is that the supply FAR EXCEEDS the demand

 

[bob33]

Our firm offered structural engineering services mainly to architects and, more recently, contractors and worked on all types of buildings except very tall buildings, and heavy industrial. The mix varied over the years as the firm grew. We also got into building science which grew to become the largest part of the firm. I started out doing mainly educational, office, residential, medical and religious and ended up mainly on medical, justice, sports, transportation and restoration. Looking back, my most interesting work was with heritage architects, and as EoR to a demolition contractor, because I often had to deal with old and unusual types of structures. The firm has since become a small part of WSP.

 

[msquared48]

Remodels and report writing.

Mike McCann, PE, SE (WA)

 

[Trenno]

I've been lucky enough to have been exposed to a wide range of building structures. A few years ago, I'd be designing the lateral system for a 50st tower one week and then scheming a government building in the Pacific Islands the next week.

More recently it's been stadia projects.

 

[mtu1972]

Also retired, but my career had three distinct phases.

1) Structural consultant on architectural projects, ranging from residential, strip malls, schools, churches, parking decks, to multi-story office buildings (12 story max).

2) Industrial Design/Build contractor focused on mining and mineral processing facilities. Most of the work was in northern MN and MI for iron and taconite facility’s.

3) Corporate in-house Engineering Department with paper manufacturer. Projects ranged from maintenance projects, to paper machine rebuilds, to new greenfield facilities.

Worked up from staff engineer, to group supervisor, and finally project manager.

gjc

 

[KootK]

Clearly, answers will vary wildly by individual. I think that it's instructive to consider the charts shown below. Such is the building universe, at least in North America.

Personally, I'd not be too down on Ireland in this respect. Of course, as a structural engineer, there is a part of me that wants every skyline to look like NY or Singapore. You know, for the obvious sport that would represent. The more conventionally human part of me, however, celebrates cities like Paris where things are intentionally kept to a more... personal scale. In my opinion, many of the mega talls do not represent top tier architecture even if they do represent top tier engineering. They strike me more as somewhat ridiculous, phallic looking things with little chance of ever fitting in coherently with their surroundings. Moreover, I feel that many of the historic / low-rise rehabilitation projects in shorter cities really do represent top tier architecture. And top tier engineering in many cases.

It is enough of a bane to me that local athletes and surgeons are able to separate their children from mine in the direction tangential to the earths surface. The literal stratification of society into the atmosphere just exacerbates this for me. Put 15% low-income, "inclusionary zone" units in the top 1/3 of these mega talls... then we'll talk.