Stuart Walker
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| posted on 30/11/06 at 10:41 AM |
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Selling CAD / FE Work Time??
Just wondered what anyone thought of this idea to make a little bit of cash...
Was thinking of selling blocks of CAD or Finite Element "time" on eBay, say in blocks of 4 or 5 hours, for people who maybe just have a
small project / DIY / Car thing they want looking at.
The idea would be that the person buys the block of time from me, sends me their sketch / idea / whatever, I do the stuff (or as much as possible in
the time), then send back results or image or whatever...
Anyone think it could work? I'll probably try it anyway, just interested what you think really...
Stu
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3GEComponents
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| posted on 30/11/06 at 10:52 AM |
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What sort of price for the FE work?
I'd be interested in that, can supply all drawings in what ever format you like.
Thanks
John.
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D Beddows
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| posted on 30/11/06 at 11:40 AM |
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I would suspect the problem you would have selling 'blocks' of time is that (like all CAD freelance work) people who aren't CAD/FEA
literate will possibly have unrealistic expectations of what can be acheived in 4 hours - and people who are might think they haven't had their
moneys worth. Don't get me wrong I actualy think it's a great idea but I'd have some kind of menu of services with set prices and
some area for negotiation depending on the specific job.
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omega 24 v6
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| posted on 30/11/06 at 12:35 PM |
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As said above some folk are unrealistic in expectations. Better to see what's required by them and then give a fixed price for the work.
If it looks wrong it probably is wrong.
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ceebmoj
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| posted on 30/11/06 at 01:40 PM |
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Hi
I share the same concerns as others have stated.
Do you run your own company? Or will this be in your spare time?
I think that as a route for making some cash it can work. I have my day job in witch I am a programmer and run my own company as well. I have no kids
or a wife, doing this sort of stuff (job out side of day time employment) really eats your time and in my experience you end up using a lot more time
than you think. You need to be very strict with you’re time accounting. Also when you get busy how do you feel about a long **** day at work then
another 5 to 6 hours when you get home. Having said all of that it is very rewarding and can present you with some very interesting opportunities.
blake
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D Beddows
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| posted on 30/11/06 at 02:00 PM |
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Another thought that has just occured to me is that if you in effect hire yourself out as a FEA (ie structural) consultant you'll seriously need
to consider some form of professional indemnity clause and/or insurance just in case someone builds something based on your work and sh*t happens.....
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ab54666
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| posted on 30/11/06 at 02:31 PM |
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Indeed you will need a professional indemnity policy, which for what you are talking about doing will be quite expensive.
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greggors84
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| posted on 30/11/06 at 02:39 PM |
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If you stay away from the FEA work you should be ok insurance wise. As for CAD work you would just be a draftsman for someone elses designs.
As for FEA if your just providing the analysis not giving any advice, would you be liable?
Chris
The Magnificent 7!
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D Beddows
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| posted on 30/11/06 at 02:57 PM |
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It's realy not worth the risk finding out...... You would be in the direct firing line of any lawyer if something went wrong. Without any kind
of indemnity policy or insurance at best it would be an expensive hastle to sort out, at worst it could be financialy ruinous 
[Edited on 30/11/06 by D Beddows]
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Stuart Walker
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| posted on 30/11/06 at 03:12 PM |
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Thanks for all the replies, lots to think about there!
At present I'm doing my final year of a mechanical engineering degree and also self employed (www.shelfbikes.co.uk), but I was thinking this
would just raise a bit of cash for the last 6 or so months of uni...
The insurance issue does kinda spoil the plan though! Might be best just to stick to the CAD, I'll take your ideas on board and come up with
some sort of menu for it.
Thanks very much for the advice!
Stu
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chriscook
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| posted on 30/11/06 at 07:22 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by greggors84
As for FEA if your just providing the analysis not giving any advice, would you be liable?
But if you do the analysis wrong "garbage in = garbage out"... If someone knows how to tell you to do the analysis then they know how to
do it themselves.
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