> I would disagree on the cost of the shipping of the drawings. It was
> included in the price of the calcs and were sent in one of those USPO
> Priority Mail flat rate envelopes for $3.25 that I received in about
> two days.
I always send stuff like that by something that gives the ability to track
where it is. The customer always seems to want to know when it's going to
arrive.
> I agree that the P.E. should be paid a reasonable fee for his services
> but what is wrong with the tower manufacturer paying for it and
> getting the rights to be able to provide the drawings to customers
> when required? There is a copyright notice on the drawings but it is
> held by the tower manufacturer, not the P.E., so it seems the drawings
> are the property of the manufacturer.
But the P.E.'s stamp means that he's personally responsible for the
calculations. It's also somewhat akin to a certification that the sheets
you've got are a "true and certified" copy. Here's a question... did you
fork out the $250 to the tower company or to the engineer? It may well be
that the engineer actually charged substantially more for the work.
To certain extent, the requirements for wet stamps and the like are a bit of
protectionism, but that's the way the system works, and for the vast
majority of jobs, it doesn't present a problem.
You're also up against the "minimum order quantity" problem. There's a
certain amount of fixed work involved in each job (setting up a client file,
etc.) and you'd go broke doing lots of $250 jobs, unless you were specially
set up to do them. A typical full-time engineering practice in California
would probably need to gross about $100k/yr to stay in business (and a
goodly portion of that 100k is going to utilities, rent, insurance, etc.).
That means you need to have 2k/week in jobs, or 500/day, assuming you work
continously, and spend no time marketing, on vacation, etc. When I made my
living consulting in the 80's, I tried to get clients that could supply at
least 2-4 weeks worth of work a year, making my bid/no-bid threshold around
$5000 (that is, I'd only take a job for $1000 if I was real sure it would
lead to more work later). I might add also that depending on $250 jobs to
eat and pay the rent is a nerve wracking experience.
A large practice with substantial support infrastructure might be able to
support a lot of small jobs effectively. Think attorneys or doctors, who do
lots of $100-500 jobs for lots and lots of clients. However, they have an
office staff, filing and billing systems, and so forth, and furthermore,
have an hourly rate that's substantially higher than the typical engineer.
Jim Lux, W6RMK
(who's really glad he has a salaried job these days and doesn't have to
worry from day to day about where his next client is coming from so he can
pay the rent and feed his kids)
_______________________________________________
See: http://www.mscomputer.com for "Self Supporting Towers", "Wireless Weather
Stations", and lot's more. Call Toll Free, 1-800-333-9041 with any questions
and ask for Sherman, W2FLA.
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