Drafting Services - Advice needed.

Nick-CDS

Nick-CDS

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Now the kids are all grown up, I find myself with a lot of time on my hands when evenings, weekends and bank holidays come around; so I've been toying with the idea of doing a bit of freelance work.

As I don't have personal insurance I would be in the wrong to undertake actual engineering work (and don't want this to be seen as a conflict of interest with my current employer) but I still think this could be a useful service and time well spent.

Having always worked for other people I don't have a large network to tout my services to and being a one man band with a bit of free time, I don't to go down the mail-shot route in case all I get is huge jobs that I would have to turn down.

So, folks of the interwebs, where would be a good place to start?
 
public liabilities not that expensive. Last minute calcs.com. Go for it.
If you can put up with spare time hassle.
 
frederik said:
public liabilities not that expensive. Last minute calcs.com. Go for it.
If you can put up with spare time hassle.
Click to expand...

Spare time is no hassle; I love it. I was thinking more of doing a site survey and producing a drawing that a client could then present to their regular engineer in .dwg format, to speed up the process a bit. I probably wont do any private design work until my current employers retire.
 
Do scaffs not do that already Nick. Concept looks good,getting your service out to clients
would be an exercise in PR, webb page linkedin or old fashioned phone call at set up stage.
Dread I say it,cv some of these agencies.
 
On the bigger, developments then yes, cad drawings are issued on request but on a 'normal' job, if I get anything more than a grainy photo of a couple of bricks I count myself lucky.


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Nick pm me your details 90% of my work is in surrey circa oxshot,esher,weybridge. & my guy has retired to portugal, if u want a go on the next set of drwgs i need then i'll give u a try.
 
Cheers sp, I'll PM you shortly but please bear in mind I can only do evening and weekend work and being a one man band, if you need work completed ASAP then your current designer is probably your best bet.

I'm also a ***** salesman lol

Other than that I'm good to go.


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I can't PM you from Tapatalk so I'll get on it as soon as I'm in.


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this a designer wanting to work for a bit o cahs in hand? lol would your service not ad more cost to the scafofld contractor or would this save a cost at design level ?.... if not fag packets cheaper than pre
designer
 
Depends what the hourly rate of the usual designer is for for site visits and surveys. Sometimes outsourcing can be cost effective.

It's all job dependent and I need to see what sort of business is out there before I saddle myself with VAT registration. not quite cash I'm hand either; this will be outside of PAYE so I still have to look into the invoice issues.


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Thats not a prob nick.we dont need any @ the mo but theres a potential temp roof coming up in wimbledon so if that happens i'll let you know...in the intrim why not tout urself on here with some genric type dwrgs etc- stacks l/bays, strcses etc on mass should enable u to keep the prices low & give u a little cashflow to get started.
 
Nick,

We always seem to be at full stretch and could do with an overflow resource for short periods from time to time - interested?? Always a big step to take on a full-time resource...
 
IDH said:
Nick,

We always seem to be at full stretch and could do with an overflow resource for short periods from time to time - interested?? Always a big step to take on a full-time resource...
Click to expand...

Absolutely. I'll PM you my details.
 
Hi Nick,

Fair play to you mate, crack on. PI insurance is not that expensive for qualified engineers if you take the time to stipulate exactly what you are doing i.e. temp works only.

I know people that do exactly the role you are describing (draughting only) but they still require PI insurance - the accuracy of the drawing I guess, but if client is happy checking and using then great!!

one question - if you have free time are are willing to work, does your existing company not have OT work to do?

Good luck with it either way!
 
No OT work Ben; strict 9 - 5. Otherwise I'd be all over it. In fact, this is the first company I've worked for that has been against OT.

Whether it's to keep wage costs done or they just don't want work leaving the office; I don't know.
 
That seems crazy - surely, if there is work to be done and a service to provide, then you do whatever it takes? OT/Night/Weekend.. part of the job... providing you are getting paid and everyone is happy with the arrangement.

Seems we (me and your employer) have entirely different views on service provision!
 
The 2 partners work from home on the evenings and some weekends and I still do if I can't meet a deadline within normal working hours but the response is "you only get paid for 7.5 hrs, so enjoy your evenings and don't worry about it".

After coming from a multi-national company and a small firm that was quite happy to work you into the ground, it's a bit alien.
 
Sounds like you have two options: enjoy the evenings or get paid in the evenings! If you can get paid doing something you enjoy in the evening... perfect!
 
My thoughts exactly and it's a lot more interesting, from a drawing perspective, than the usual load of planning packs I get.
 
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