The Role of an Independent Consulting Engineer

Consulting engineering refers to an individual who is independently self-employed and has academic training in a specific field or fields of engineering plus professional experience in those fields plus a professional license to practice engineering in a specific state. Hiring independent consulting engineers allow you to hire the specific expertise you need when you need it without retaining someone on staff permanently. Independent consultants usually have a high level of academic training and professional experience, frequently higher than experienced employees or contractors. While we normally work at a higher hourly rate than direct employees, you are only paying for our services when you need them. If you factor in the salary that you pay to your senior people plus their fringe benefits, pension contributions, office expenses, and hardware / software tools necessary to do the job - hiring a consultant is usually less expensive on an hourly basis. We also have a business to run with all of the expenses associated with that so it's not reasonable to expect us to work at the same hourly rate as a direct employee, even one with the same level of qualifications.

We are not contractors, we are an independent company. We have to provide and furnish an office, buy all computer hardware and peripherals, buy all engineering design & analysis software, pay for utilities and insurance, make pension contributions, etc.

If we say that a design is satisfactory it will be for a very specific set of quantitative criteria such as: specific geometry, loads, boundary conditions, and material properties. It will also apply to a very specific type of analysis: linear, non-linear, static, dynamic, etc. For a registered professional engineer to put his or her stamp on a design he or she must either do the design and/or analysis themselves or directly supervise those that do.

Principal's brief c.v.:

Over 30 years of engineering analysis & design experience
MS Ocean / Mechanical Engineering, University of California at Berkeley
BS Mechanical Engineering, Pennsylvania State University
Registered Professional Engineer in Maryland and Pennsylvania
Member American Society of Mechanical Engineers

 

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