Limited Liability Company?
Limited Liability Company?
(OP)
What are the benefits of starting an engineering firm as an LLC?
I understand why anyone in the engineering profession would be concerned with limiting your liability, but how is the company structured to achieve this?
Also, what are you giving up to get this decrease in liability?
Any insight on this is greatly appreciated..
I understand why anyone in the engineering profession would be concerned with limiting your liability, but how is the company structured to achieve this?
Also, what are you giving up to get this decrease in liability?
Any insight on this is greatly appreciated..
RE: Limited Liability Company?
Cost - a partnership was much cheaper to run
Credit - a limited liability company would find it much harder to raise credit from banks than a partnership
Legal liability - when push comes to shove the lawyers will chase the money, hiding behind articles of incorporation may work if your lawyers are better than theirs.
Cheers
Greg Locock
SIG:Please see FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.
RE: Limited Liability Company?
David Simpson, PE
MuleShoe Engineering
www.muleshoe-eng.com
Please see FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips Fora.
Remember, being ignorant isn't your fault; staying ignorant is.
RE: Limited Liability Company?
David is absolutely correct that the protection is limited. I did find that the costs In NY were relatively small to start (quite a bit less than $1,000 with the majority cost being the advertising of the formation in the local paper). Look at the regulations, laws, etc that govern the formation in your state.
It really depends on what you want long term. If you feel the business will grow beyond one person it does provide a structure to accomplish this. Some people will claim having LLC or PLLC makes the company look more professional/legitimate for a one person firm; however, that is subjective. Again, it will not protect you from professional liability.
I hope this helped somewhat.
Patrick
RE: Limited Liability Company?
Re Greg's comments - lawyers can only chase what is there - if you haven't signed any paperwork accepting personal liability for debt etc then the liability is limited to the assets of the company.
See the PCG guide for some information
http://www.pcgroup.org.uk/cms/index.php - scroll about half way down the page and follow links for PCG guides, you'll have to register to get a copy.
Regards, HM
No more things should be presumed to exist than are absolutely necessary - William of Occam
RE: Limited Liability Company?
RE: Limited Liability Company?
Engineers in the UK are not licensed - as far as i know the only ones sitting an exam are the structural engineers who are chartered through the Institution of Structural Engineers. The rest are Chartered via a panel assessment / interview process.
In addition anybody in the UK can call themselves an engineer...i think that has been the subject of a few threads in the past so say no more!
Regarding negligence - i don't think you can contractually disclaim it over here either but it's a long time since my courses on contract law so don't quote me on that
regards, HM
No more things should be presumed to exist than are absolutely necessary - William of Occam
RE: Limited Liability Company?
RE: Limited Liability Company?
Would you like fries (chips) with that?