Consulting work? (With PE license)

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lgmagone

Member
Location
Orlando, FL
I recently received my professional engineer license and interested in doing some consulting work in the evening or on weekends. I'm wondering what kind of work in the electrical area do PE's normally do that can be done evenings and weekends? I'd like enough work that I can pay for my costs in getting my license plus a little extra but not so much that I'm working two jobs.

My license is issued by the State of Montana, so probably most people on here don't have to be too concerned about more competition.

(I'm well aware of the requirements to only sign drawings when I'm knowledgable and ones that were done under my direct supervision. I'll also make sure my company is ok with it before I take on any work.)
 

kingpb

Senior Member
Location
SE USA as far as you can go
Occupation
Engineer, Registered
Humm................ Honestly, IMO, if you have to ask, you are probably not ready to do any type. Consultants are hired based on reputation/experience, expertise in some area, and on price. You have to decide and ask yourself the question, what do I have to offer that someone else can do and maybe better, or for cheaper. What tools do you have? Can you do CAD or have a plotter, do you have a power system analysis program? If you work now as an EE for someone else, how are you going to go look at job sites, or attend client meetings, etc? Are you going to get errors and omissions insurance? What about a tax I.D? If you live in Seattle, how are you going to get work in Montana?

Also, you might want to make sure you are not competing with your current employer for work. They would probably take great offense to that, and you may find yourself consulting on your own, full-time, if you get my drift.
 
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lgmagone

Member
Location
Orlando, FL
I'd rather focus this thread on what types of work people do for consulting rather than discuss the ethical implications of it. I'm well aware of my company's policy regarding outside employment and I will follow their policy. I'm also well aware that I should only do work that I'm skilled in and not concerned about that here. The other ethical questions you mentioned (insurance, paying taxes, etc) are ones that have been well covered in other threads.

What I am looking for is information on the kinds of work that consultants normally do, especially work that can be done in the evenings and weekends.
 

zog

Senior Member
Location
Charlotte, NC
What I am looking for is information on the kinds of work that consultants normally do, especially work that can be done in the evenings and weekends.


Consultants consult on areas of thier feild, usually specialized, that they are experts in. This usually requires many years of experience and unique skills and knowledge. What are you an expert with? What areas do you think you are good enough in to be hired to consult?
 
I recently received my professional engineer license and interested in doing some consulting work in the evening or on weekends. I'm wondering what kind of work in the electrical area do PE's normally do that can be done evenings and weekends? I'd like enough work that I can pay for my costs in getting my license plus a little extra but not so much that I'm working two jobs.

My license is issued by the State of Montana, so probably most people on here don't have to be too concerned about more competition.

(I'm well aware of the requirements to only sign drawings when I'm knowledgable and ones that were done under my direct supervision. I'll also make sure my company is ok with it before I take on any work.)

A good businessman always look for oppurtunities, oppurtinities that others have missed. One of the most neglected area of engineering work in the comemrcial, insittutional and industrial area is protective device coordination, short circuit study and arc-flash hazard along with it. That could be a lucrative area since those are OSHA mandated compliance requirements with legal beef behind it.

While at it you can offer to look into energy efficiency, utilization areas and look over what kind of Contract they have with the power company.

All those areas are greenfield oppurtunities.
 

bbaumer

Senior Member
Location
Indiana
I have worked as an EE for an electrical contractor, an AE firm, a hospital, a MAC conference university and on my own. I have also done "moonlight" work while being employed by all of the above except myself so maybe I can help.

If you are working for an AE you may work on multi-million dollar electrical projects such as new schools, high-rise office buildings, treatment plants, power plants, factories, university academic and athletic facilities, campus medium voltage distribution etc. You may or may not be solely responsible for electrical design and drafting but more than likely on bigger stuff you will have other engineers and draftsmen on the same project. You may only do the lighting, or power, distribution, or alarms or communications or some combo. Of course, you probably work on smaller stuff too but usually larger projects than Joe Moonlighter, PE can handle himself.

Working on your own as a moonlighter you will likely be working on small apartment buildings, dentist offices, light commercial offices, parking lot lighting, small building additions etc or maybe a specialized project such as to solve power quality issues. You will also likely have to do all the design and drafting yourself. Oftentimes clients are developers or electrical contractors who don't like to pay promptly and will be looking for you to be cheap and fast. That is why they are looking to you and not an AE firm for help. Not because you are so much better, but because you have a stamp and will likely be cheaper and faster than an AE firm with overhead costs.

Lazlo is correct too, arc-flash, short circuit, coordination studies are also opportunities but just getting started you are looking at what I mention above.

I highly recommend getting professional liability insurance if you decide to do this. I use a company called PDI out of Indianapolis but I am sure there are others. I also recommend charging fair market rates to A) Make it worth your time and B) because taking jobs too cheap hurts the whole industry.

I think it is ridiculous that AE's will take projects for 7% - or less - sometimes with reimbursables and sometimes not for all the work and liability that goes into a project - but a realtor also gets 7% - for doing what?????

(Note: contracts and projects are different. I don't mean to imply 7% is standard. I have seen fees lower than this and much higher than this. Just using it as an example.)
 
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Besoeker

Senior Member
Location
UK
While at it you can offer to look into energy efficiency, utilization areas and look over what kind of Contract they have with the power company.
All those areas are greenfield oppurtunities.
I agree. I don't know quite what it is like over there but energy efficiency and power quality are areas of concern for many customers here.
The number of engineers with the experience and knowledge in these fields and who can undertake the measurement and analysis of the data is limited so there is something of market for new blood.
 

iaov

Senior Member
Location
Rhinelander WI
I've done consulting work at various times. On grounding and bonding issues, on electrical safety and lock out procedures, and on small scale automation planning. I've also turned down jobs where I knew I did not have the experience needed.
 

mayanees

Senior Member
Location
Westminster, MD
Occupation
Electrical Engineer and Master Electrician
Power Studies..

Power Studies..

... to the guy who's looking for consulting work as a PE....
Ditto to all that's been stated, and here's my reiteration:
Become skilled at something you are interseted in, that hopefully is marketable.
I had the same yearning to consult when I got my PE license. And I had a passion for electrical power systems, from NEC compliance to Power Studies.
I had the good fortune of being assigned the task of performing a Power Study on the 10MVA Scott Paper facility that I worked at - manually (1984) In so doing, I learned the process. I did Fault Analysis that thevinized each point in the system to determine fault currents. I dragged pencils across light tracings to do device coordination. I took graduate level Protective relaying courses to understand protective schemes.
At that point I felt qualified to buy an SKM software package (1992) and offer Power Study services as a moolinghting venture, all the while employed by Scott Paper (rest in peace).
I contacted electrical distributors and contractors offering my services. In the course of my interactions with them, I saw need to purhcase a lighting software package to do parking lots and such, so that gave me a little more engineering/design action.

But my advice is to find a niche that you like, because you'll be doing it for a long time. In my case, it'll be for life, because I enjoy it. The $1250, 45kVA Pump Station Power Study I started on is now a huge 30 MW data center, but with essentially the same parts that were in the old pumpstation electrical systems.

Good Luck

John M
 
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zog

Senior Member
Location
Charlotte, NC
I did Fault Analysis that thevinized each point in the system to determine fault currents. I dragged pencils across light tracings to do device coordination. I took graduate level Protective relaying courses to understand protective schemes.


Thats how you learn to do it right, anyone can input data into software, but IMO you need to do it this way first to understand what you are doing.
 

Bjenks

Senior Member
Location
East Coast of FL
Arc Flash and Power Quality

Arc Flash and Power Quality

Intersting stuff mentioned. I am a one man Electrical PE. I own a Dranatz 440, Fluke Ti25 Thermal Camera, Meggar for ground and insulation testing. I also own SKM PowerTools and have taken several of there classes.

I am no were close to getting an ROI with this stuff. I have been doing PQ for 20 years in the form of DataCenter PQ equipment. I can comment on a few items: 1) Electrical contracts don't want to pay for a PE for anything unless it is required and then they want me to only sign and seal their work which I refuse. 2) Architects are even worse, they look at me as a sub contractor. The idea is for me to do only enough for a permit and for him to make as much money as possible. 3) End User PQ is pretty good money, but I see a lot of the money going away as Fluke is making cheaper instruments and doing great training. You are not required to be a PE or EC for any PQ work.

Personally I think being a moonlighting engineers making any money will be very discouraging. I make an OK living and would make a lot more working for a large manufacture or MEP firm, but I choose this in order to spend more time with my family and make my own choices.
 
One thing I've found after 20 years is you need to know your strengths and weaknesses. I like to use the term "consciously incompetent", in other words you need to "know what you don't know" in order to succeed as a consultant. You also need to know if you can learn what you don't know.....

For anybody that needs help with power systems studies, that is my bread and butter. Short circuit, coordination, arc flash, power quality, etc.
 
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