Home: Message List - Information on How to start an Engineering Services Consultancy

Re: Information on How to start an Engineering Services Consultancy

DomainDiva — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 22:26:54 GMT

Hmmmmm OK how about consulting with municipalities?

Re: Information on How to start an Engineering Services Consultancy

doc1400 — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 22:23:40 GMT

This is an excellent point. One that in my case is evolving as I write my business plan. This topic was touched upon in an earlier post on this thread and needs fleshing out. At this moment my marketing plan is in process and I was hoping situation specific suggestions would appear on this forum.

If you have specifics, they would be appreciated. ie: cookbooks welcome.

Re: Information on How to start an Engineering Services Consultancy

DomainDiva — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 18:59:26 GMT

What kind of marketing plan(s) have you developed?

When I started marketing my skills in the heavy aircraft records area I got lists of DAR's, Aircraft Leasing Companies as well as personal contacts from friends. I then sent out an information packet. It took about 90 days to get my first job, but business has been good ever since.

Re: Information on How to start an Engineering Services Consultancy

LUCKIEST — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 18:07:51 GMT

You can get GREAT info on starting an Engineering Service by visiting SCORE on line or in person.
SCORE helps people who are starting up a business.
How soon will you be starting?? Tell us more. The more you share, the better we can help you succeed.
Good luck, LUCKIEST

Re: Information on How to start an Engineering Services Consultancy

doc1400 — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 18:02:17 GMT

Thank you for your input

Re: Information on How to start an Engineering Services Consultancy

JavaJoe — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 21:38:56 GMT

I'm not an engineer but have lots of friends that are. The biggest thing issue that they had when starting out was - billing by the hour vs. charging a flat rate. If you are in the engineering business and have a great reputation, there is no reason why you wouldn't succeed by branching out to consulting. Also, many people assume that winning the contract with a private company is better vs. public. However, I wouldn't overlook the value of possibly reaching out to your local or regional government and submitting a bid if they have any work that requires engineering consulting. If you can get them as a client, their likelihood of renewal maybe higher vs. a private company, as they often don't have the bandwidth to re-evaluate firms, etc. Getting in maybe the tough part. Good luck. Remember one customer leads to another customer, and soon you'll have a lot of clients if your services rendered are of high quality and value.

Re: Information on How to start an Engineering Services Consultancy

Techie — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 21:03:14 GMT

Most engineering consultant firms are built on reputation. Do you or any of your partners have that? Or do you have connections to that (e.g. come from a top tier engineering school?). That definitely helps to get started! In fact, we got our start from our university/alumni contacts. Also, many engineering firms are so highly specialized that a website may not be necessary. What type of engineering do you specialize in?

Re: Information on How to start an Engineering Services Consultancy

doc1400 — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 18:24:39 GMT

I have purposely framed my question in a general and open ended way to encourage responses by experienced engineering service providers to volunteer information on topics that
they consider most important.

The answers that I am hoping to get will inform about what I don't know that I should
know, by those who have successfully experienced the process.

My sincere thanks to those who have posted.

Re: Information on How to start an Engineering Services Consultancy

Lighthouse24 — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 16:23:03 GMT

You're right, at least a couple of members have "been there, done that" -- to provide you with the most useful responses, we need to know more about where "there" is, and what "that" involves for the business you are launching. The more specific the question, the more useful and accurate the responses can be.

As an example, I think I answered six different posts yesterday from one member, each post a different (but very specific) question pertaining to the same business start-up. Some of the questions received good input from a dozen of more members within a couple of hours. (Be sure to click the box indicating that it's a question when you post it -- those seem to get more attention and better responses.) When the person had enough input, he or she marked the question as answered and posted another one. We could probably combine all those responses and have the material for a one-day course on starting and running that type of business!

What I'm suggesting is that you close this thread within a few days, and post new questions that have a little more background information and that prompt others for specific input. I hope this helps, and I certainly wish you well!

Re: Information on How to start an Engineering Services Consultancy

doc1400 — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 15:24:07 GMT

The business I have in mind is a full service Lean Process Improvement and Industrial Engineering Services firm.
Yes the SBA and Score are good general sources of business start-up data but are not
situation specific. I have requested a session with the local Score office.

Surely there are members on this site who have "been there, done that." Hopefully they will step forward.