Freelance Structural Engineering

[zakmuh]

Hi,

I've practised as a structural engineer for over 10 years. I'm not a charted engineer and don't have a Masters degree, only BEng.

I started up an eCommerce business venture and doing this for full time, not working for any consultancies at the moment. Having said that though I'd like to keep in touch with Structural engineering, so I'm planning to do part time structural work as a freelancer. I'm registered with HMRC as sole trader and also registered for VAT.

 

My question is....can I just start doing freelancing work from where I stand now or do I have to get certain others things sorted first, along with professional indemnity (PI) cover?

Thanks in advance

Zak

 

[Carrerahill]

You will be glad to hear you are not unique.

 

Basically all you need now are your insurances. PI and liability. 

 

 

[nod]

5 minutes ago, Carrerahill said:

You will be glad to hear you are not unique.

 

Basically all you need now are your insurances. PI and liability. 

 

 

Plus 1

[SteamyTea]

Welcome

 

I hope, for members of this site, the 'Free' in freelance is available.

 

Best of luck.

[MikeSharp01]

29 minutes ago, zakmuh said:

I've practised as a structural engineer for over 10 years. I'm not a charted engineer and don't have a Masters degree, only BEng.

Presumably it was an accredited degree (JBM / IStructE / ICE or some such) in which case you can get chartered (You may already be Incorporated?) with a bit of work / study (Depending on how long ago you got it). Otherwise you just need the insurances. The PI will not be easy without your charter but you may find an underwriter who is up for it. Alternatively think about your business model and try looking for paid work helping out your local SE's with CAD or other duties to earn a curst while you get set up. Good luck. 

[George]

A fellow freelancer engineer!

 

Legally you don't need insurance, or to be Chartered (but you must not describe yourself as a Chartered Engineer/Chartered Civil Engineer/Charter Structural Engineer or, I think, as a Professional Engineer). The ICE Code of Conduct does state you should make clients aware of your insurance situation - whether you have it and its limits. 

 

But as a sole trader all of your assets are at risk if you were to be sued. Professional indemnity insurance gives you some level of protection as it should provide legal cover and would pay out if you had made a mistake but you had used reasonable skill and care. While I have never had any problems with my designs, if you deal with contractors (as opposed to homeowners and the likes who use this forum), there is a chance you get caught up in the litigation mess if a project goes wrong. Even if nothing comes of it, there can be substantial bills. 

 

As I am Chartered and not getting involved in high risk construction (basements, cladding design, underpinning) then PI is relatively cheap.

 

I have recently established a limited company.  I don't look for work on here because I like to have local jobs - if you don't visit site then you don't know (although I did make exceptions during the pandemic).

 

If anything, registering for VAT if you don't do much business to business work may work against you. As I am usually instructed by an individual and I'm below the threshold, I haven't registered for VAT.  But I can 'afford' to stay under the threshold because I also have another job. 

 

Most importantly is to apply the code of conduct of the ICE, even if you aren't Chartered - know your limits and deal honestly. The problems I have seen over the years is when people get into something they didn't really understand or didn't thoroughly check.

 

Edit - also, ensure you know the CDM 2015 Regulations and your duties under it. 

Edited June 29, 2022 by George

[zakmuh]

Thanks for your replies all

Mike, yes I'm currently doing CAD outsourcing jobs for some other freelancers and a few local consultancies. Some of them want me do calculations as well. That's why I wanted to know what legal stuff get involved with a freelancer

George, very useful information. Thank you! I'd be doing traditional house extensions and multi storey steel buildings using Tedds and Tekla SD (provided by them). 

Cheers

[Thomas26]

Hi All! I have a similar situation and was wondering if people could advise / help, hence the post bump!

 

I shall try and keep this brief...

 

I quit my job (civil and structural engineer with BEng(hons) and 23 years experience) to go travelling and I am trying to figure out how to provide remote working services in the future.

 

• If I am employed by a company (my previous one in this instance) on a short term basis i.e. a month or 2, 3, do I need insurances?
• Do contract engineers need insurances and their own software? I always thought they didn't require this but being told otherwise.
• If i freelance my services to other companies, do you need insurances?

 

Basically this is all the same question but different scenarios. 

 

Also, I am wanting to work remotely in Europe for UK companies, any advice on this would be appreciated.

 

Thanks in advance.

[IanR]

57 minutes ago, Thomas26 said:

• If I am employed by a company (my previous one in this instance) on a short term basis i.e. a month or 2, 3, do I need insurances?

 

What do you mean by "employed"?

 

Short term employment contract where the "employer" will pay the hours completed for whatever task they will ask you to do on any given day and you are working under their control and supervision? This would be inside IR35 and they'll need to put you on PAYE or employ you via an umbrella company. In these circumstances I would expect you to be covered by their Insurances.

 

or

 

Sole Trader / Limited Company, quoted on fixed price fixed, deliverable based contracts? This would be outside of IR35 where they would pay you gross and I would expect you to require your own Insurances to an Indemnity value they specify. Even if they sign off your work, suggesting they are taking an overriding responsibility for what you produce, you should still protect yourself with professional insurances. This should be agreed and set out in a contract, so you know what your liabilities are and you can insure against them.

 

57 minutes ago, Thomas26 said:

• Do contract engineers need insurances and their own software? I always thought they didn't require this but being told otherwise.

 

To me "contract engineers" suggests fixed price, fixed deliverable, so as above for Insurances. Software is up to you and the client to negotiate.

 

57 minutes ago, Thomas26 said:

• If i freelance my services to other companies, do you need insurances?

 

"Freelance" to me is Limited Company / Sole Trader, so yes, Insurances required.

 

57 minutes ago, Thomas26 said:

Also, I am wanting to work remotely in Europe for UK companies, any advice on this would be appreciated.

 

Do you have the right to work in those countries? Most countries will want you to join their Tax system once you have worked 183 days in any year, within their country. Gets complicated to not have both the UK and another country wanting to tax you. Do able, as long as you are paying tax somewhere, but lots of paperwork.

Edited April 20, 2023 by IanR

[Thomas26]

15 hours ago, IanR said:

 

What do you mean by "employed"?

 

Short term employment contract where the "employer" will pay the hours completed for whatever task they will ask you to do on any given day and you are working under their control and supervision? This would be inside IR35 and they'll need to put you on PAYE or employ you via an umbrella company. In these circumstances I would expect you to be covered by their Insurances.

 

Hi Ian and thank you so much for your very comprehensive information, it is very much appreciated.

 

You are correct in what you have assumed i.e. employed.

 

15 hours ago, IanR said:

Sole Trader / Limited Company, quoted on fixed price fixed, deliverable based contracts? This would be outside of IR35 where they would pay you gross and I would expect you to require your own Insurances to an Indemnity value they specify. Even if they sign off your work, suggesting they are taking an overriding responsibility for what you produce, you should still protect yourself with professional insurances. This should be agreed and set out in a contract, so you know what your liabilities are and you can insure against them.

 

I was more thinking an hourly rate, but assume the above still applies.

 

 

15 hours ago, IanR said:

 

To me "contract engineers" suggests fixed price, fixed deliverable, so as above for Insurances. Software is up to you and the client to negotiate.

 

I was of the understanding contract engineers are employed by a company and get paid an agreed hourly rate and work period.

 

15 hours ago, IanR said:

Do you have the right to work in those countries? Most countries will want you to join their Tax system once you have worked 183 days in any year, within their country. Gets complicated to not have both the UK and another country wanting to tax you. Do able, as long as you are paying tax somewhere, but lots of paperwork.

 

I am an Irish citizen so can work anywhere in the EU. I believe there are counties within the Eu where you can work as a, what they call, Digital Nomad. Differing rules apply for the given country. But yes, agree this will require quite a bit of admin no doubt.

 

I was intrigued by zukmuh's comment that they are outsourcing CAD services to other consultancies and freelancers. This is where I think I'd like to explore work wise.

 

Once again, thank you for your input.

[Thomas26]

Hi Again! A quick one - what sort of hourly rate should I be charging?

[Carrerahill]

50 minutes ago, Thomas26 said:

Hi Again! A quick one - what sort of hourly rate should I be charging?

Don't. Simply don't.

 

There is no such thing as an hour of work. I am a consultant engineer, the minimum we charge is 1/2 a day and even then we need to be pushed to offer a 1/2 day. Work in days, unless you really cannot justify a day for something but then we usually just lump it in with something else.

 

We were asked to update 3 cable lengths on a site distribution design schematic this week, I had to review all the info, run the model again to get the new cable sizes (which also impacted switchgear and sub-mains further upstream), passed the drawings to CAD for updating, I then checked them,  CAD updated the drawing issue sheet, created an issue folder, made a share link, I typed a cover email and issued. The client would see that as 3 cable sizes being increased, and a drawing tweaked, it took us about 4 hours all in.  

 

Generally we allow 1 day per typical drawing, obviously that might sometimes change if there are very little details or loads, i.e. a small power drawing might take 2 days, for a larger office, or you might get 3 floors (3 drawings) of a small office done in 1 day. That is based on locked GA's being issued to us and design development tweaks are included, anything bigger is a variation which we hit as a fee all together and work out how many days it might take to do them all. We then allow 1 day for say calcs package for a service, 1 day for schedules etc. Another example, if the architect changes things and issues new GA's even updating all the xref's (properly) so we can reissue drawings on up to date drawings, even if we have no changes, it can take days by the time you strip the architects drawings, clean them up (most of them are a total mess and drawn badly at a CAD level), convert them to a single colour (we use a mid grey ACAD colour 8), save them off as new Xref's with date and issue details registrar on them, then up-rev all the drawings can take 2days even on a small job. 

 

The first thing you need to work out, are what your deliverables are, then work out how long each stage will take you. We often issue a drawing issue sheet (DIS) early on populated with all the drawings and schedules we expect to issue, energy modelling we usually work on weeks not even days. 

 

That doesn't really answer your question, but I would think depending on your overheads you need to work out what you need to make. A consultancy these days, day rate, is about £400 for a junior engineer, £600 a day for a senior engineer, £750 for an associate, £850 for a director. Typically a project will be priced on a senior engineer day rate.

 

Assume you will have CAD, SE software, Tekla or something, etc. Get your monthly costs for them, + insurances and running costs, then work out what they cost you per day. Then include them in every day you work. If you only work 3 days a month that will be skewed but you get the idea.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 21, 2023 by Carrerahill