Any Plumbing Engineers with their own start up?

[Desdichado]

I am about to accept a job as a Plumbing Engineer. It has always been my dream to start a consulting business eventually. In 4 years I should have my PE. My main concern is that I only really hear about HVAC and Strucurals starting their own consulting business.

Does anyone know if plumbing engineering is a viable profession to freelance? Im hoping so, because it is HARD to find an entry lvl position as an HVAC Engineer in my area (Wisconsin), but it seems like Plumbing Engineers are high in demand.

Any and all advice is welcome.

Thanks,
des

 

[HVACctrl]

I don't know the answer regarding plumbing.

I have been in the HVAC industry for about 10 years- mostly mostly for manufacturing and mechanical or controls contrcators. I am now working (for about 2 weeks now) for am Mechanical and Electrical consulting engineering firm. I also just got my PE license (mechanical).

The mechanical group consists of 4 engineers and a designer. There are also electrical or general drafters who work with us.

One engineer here does most of the plumbing. The other 3 of us do HVAC and a tiny bit of plumbing. Also, the firm started as an electrical engineering firm, but kept getting asked to do mechanical stuff as well. About 10 years after startup, they decided to develop a full-fledged mechanical dpartment.

My point is this: You might do well to look for an HVAC guy with whom you can team up to start a business. Alternately, you might solicit plumbing work from a bunch of the existing HVAC firms- they might sub that out to you.

I think the possibilities are there for you, you may just have to realize that most plumbing engineering is going to be a portion of a larger job. You have to figure out where to go to get that part subbed out to you or have a partnership or some similar.

Ed

 

[Desdichado]

Thanks alot for the input Ed. I think you are absolutely right.

 

[Drazen]

Even if you want to specialize yourself in plumbing, you should at least partly expose yourself to HVAC