From ASME San Francisco Section January 1998 Newsletter:
Small Business Report: January 1998
by Eric E. Worrell, P.E., Small Business Committee Chair, ASME Region IX and San Francisco Section
This column, past editions, upcoming small business events, The Small Business and Consultants Referral List and more are on the web at http://www.ccnet.com/~eew/asmesfsb/. For ASME International's Small Business page and Engineering Solutions Directory, go to http://www.asme.org and click the "Business Center" link.
As you may note from the above, the address for ASME International's small business website has changed a bit in it's short life. So too has the small business organization within ASME. I sat in for Region XII VP Wade Troxell's presentation to the Council on Member Affairs on November 16 and CMA's vote to move the Small Business Committee to the Council on Engineering/Council on Member Affairs Coordinating Committee. With this move comes a mandate for each Regional Vice President to appoint a representative to give the committee the base it needs to move forward. Other members would come from the Management Division and other COE bodies. The level of interest within ASME for supporting Small Business members is measured by the involvement of at least 6 VP's, including Region IX's Alex Marr and Arnold Rothstein of the Council on General Engineering.
San Francisco Section's October Meeting (and Bay Area SB Meeting of the Month) provided a strong primer the ME contemplating life as a real live PE.
To kick off the panel discussion, we had Ignacio Lopez-Alvarez, P.E., Senior Engineering Registrar-Mechanical and Manager of the Examination Administration Unit, remind us of our opportunities and obligations under the Professional Engineers Act. Handouts to help in this effort included "The Consumers Guide to Professional Engineering and Professional Land Surveying", list of "Advantages of Registering as a Professional Engineer, and the text of SB-828's expanded Industrial Exemption language that takes effect January 1, 1998, and a directory of Board Contacts, including their new web site at http://www.dca.ca.gov/pels. (If you haven't reviewed regs lately , I recommend you check the web site and down load the current Act and the current draft of AB 969, the PE Act rewrite. http://www.cspe.com has a summary of key changes included in AB969.)
Iggy described the differences between Practice Act, Title Authority and Title Act branches of engineering under California law. Some may be surprised to learn that you may not call yourself a Consulting Engineer nor any of 18 branch titles unless you are appropriately registered as a P.E. Nor may you practice Civil, Electrical or Mechanical Engineering unless you are or are under the responsible charge and direct supervision of a registered P.E. For mechanical and electrical engineering, this prohibition does not apply to exempt industries and their employees. The restriction on use of the title still does. (Note: the amended version of AB-969 I read also added "Project Engineer" as a restricted title.)
Under SB-828, the definition of an employee is expanded to include "consultants, temporary employees, contract employees, and those persons hired pursuant to third party contracts". The board of registration supports the industrial exemption in concept, because, according to Iggy, they feel that liability and other laws and insurance concerns sufficiently protect the public when work is done by exempt industries. However, in Iggy's opinion, the language in SB 828 "opened the door" too much to allow anyone to practice mechanical engineering to an exempt industry.Among activities to strengthen registration in California, the board is aggressively encouraging students to take the EIT and working closely with ABET to be sure that graduates of ABET accredited schools earn the 4 year experience credit.
Bryan Benno Brauer, P.E. worked his way to a P.E. in ME after earning a BA in Architecture. His extensive experience in building mechanical systems includes ten years as a Principal Engineer in a consulting firm and 7 years as a solo Consulting Engineer. He had the benefit of a strong mentor who showed him how to be a PE and made him take responsibility for his own work when he received his registration.
In the current competitive business environment, Bryan pointed to the need to efficiently apply strong engineering and business judgment. Industrial clients have no time for thorough review of work while commercial clients have no money. Bryan relies on rules of thumb and standard practice for guidance unless life safety is an issue. That then takes priority over schedule and budget.
Joseph A. Cassisi, P.E. (Santa Clara Valley Section Chair) started his career as the only mechanical engineer working at a civil engineering design firm. With all civil work and state and municipal work requiring a stamp, he got his PE because that was the "thing to do". After working at several firms and progressing into engineering management, he went into private practice to get back to engineering work. He now keeps busy with a broad based business including work with HVAC, pressure vessels and machine design.
Among his experiences, Joe pointed to different attitudes on errors and omissions insurance. While Joe pays the steep fees to carry it, he points to one of his mentors whose attitude is "don't make any mistakes". Joe also notes his wariness of clients who don't give sufficient regard to safety.
For a second set of eyes to catch omissions while working solo, Joe some times hires another engineer to review his work; sometimes encourages clients to submit plans for optional permit reviews. Bryan never does a large project without a peer review. For other work, technical publications and his insurance company provide checklists and other resources.
For keeping balance between client demands, time, and PE requirements, Joe learned from mistakes and getting beat up on P.O. contracts without spoken liability. In keeping safety and liability above all other, he finds few clients argue if he stops a design to deal with a safety issue.
On enforcement issues, Iggy relayed that building departments are the boards eyes and ears. Also, the law says a PE must buy a stamp and all drawings must be stamped. Bryan sees E&O insurance of part of the engineers responsibility in providing recourse to the client if he makes a mistake. Having seen both sides, both Bryan and Joe found the advantages of incorporation to be elusive. The solo consultant becomes a book keeper for the government without getting full protection with the corporate liability veil.
For November's Mt. Diablo Section Meeting and BASBotM, San Francisco Section small biz member Sam Burd, P.E. spoke on "Starting as an Independent Consultant", provided an enticing preview of his upcoming UCB Extension course. From personality traits to business practices, with a lot of focus on marketing, Sam packed plenty of clearly worded ideas, useful and critical to consulting success, into one hour of presentation and Q&A.
To succeed, one must plan ahead and have a good idea from whence will come a steady stream of income. One sure job is not the key to consulting success. High hourly, low hours, deficit finances can turn to more hours than one can handle, or not. Some can "cherry pick their jobs", Sam hasn't found it that easy to do. More often, you start with work you can find and try to move to work you like. Most surely you will find that no, you are not your own boss -- the client is your boss.
Success goes to the focused self starter with the thick skin necessary to weather emotional cycles and take rejection while selling oneself and ones own value as an expert. A marketing plan, marketing goals focused on carefully chosen markets, and avoidance of excessive modesty are needed to ensure continued revenue.
If one does it right, advantages of consulting include some time flexibility, choice of preferred work, and tax considerations. A short commute, just down the hall, or the opportunity to travel may be benefits for others.
Contact:
Ignacio Lopez-Alvarez, P.E., California State Board of Registration for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors, 2535 Capitol Oaks Drive, Suite 300, Sacramento, CA 95833-2986; Ph: (916) 263-2248 Fax (916) 263-2246.
Bryan Benno Brauer, P.E., Consulting Engineer, 115 Sansome Street, Mezz. B, San Francisco, CA 94104; Ph (415) 433-9481; Fax (415) 433-9483.
Joseph A. Cassisi, P.E., Principal, JAC Engineering Associates, 883 Rubis Drive, Sunnyvale, CA 94087; Ph (408) 739-5624; Fax (408) 739-9475; E-mail jac-eng@best.com.
Sam Burd, P.E., Principal Consultant, Burd Consulting, 2115 Magellan Drive, Oakland CA 94611; Ph (510) 339-8463 Fax (510) 339-8409; E-mail: sam@burdconsulting.com On the web at http://www.burdconsulting.com
If you have comments or input for small business activities, this column or the small business web site, please contact Eric E. Worrell, P.E., Material Integrity Solutions, Inc., 3254 Adeline Street, Ste. 200, Berkeley, CA 94703, (510) 594-0300, Fax 594-0333 or home, Phone/Fax (510) 689-4579, eew@eew.com.