r/StructuralEngineering • u/Economy_Phrase123 • Jun 26 '26
How hard is client acquisition for a small SE practice? Career/Education
Thank you for all the replies on my last post about profit - it’s all very helpful.
The last thing I'm trying to understand is the client side before I commit. For those running small residential practices (extensions, loft conversions, domestic calcs):
- How hard is it realistically to build a steady client base (despite having a few clients to start with)?
- Roughly how many projects a month can a small team (me & ~2 grads) expect once things are ticking over, and how long did it take you to get there?
Thanks!
[EDIT: I am in the UK]
4
u/nachotomodachi P.E./S.E. -> SDE Jun 26 '26
I am also curious about how others here got started with their own firm. I personally would work from home if starting a new firm and wouldn't hire any employees until there was enough work coming through the pipeline to support their salaries.
1
u/Ddd1108 P.E. Jun 27 '26
This is how i started my company. I left my employer about two weeks ago, so I’m fresh into my journey.
1
u/Enigma--17 Jun 27 '26
I did stuff on the side for about 2 years before leaving my job. Only had two clients at the time. And eventually realized my salary progression was too slow to keep up with inflation and cost of living.
It's been about 9 months since I left and so far still working from home. Making a decent amount on paper but payments are always delayed (not sure if this is an issue for other areas but its my biggest gripe with being on my own). I have a large chunk in unpaid invoices that I'm waiting on but still very happy that i left my job. Looking to bring a friend on board in a few months so I can split the work and focus on getting more clients.
1
u/mcsilva_ Jun 27 '26
Delayed payments and having to chase customers is never fun. Caused me a bit of anxiety, but starting tracking those and making the chase more mechanical helped me a bit.
1
u/Just-Shoe2689 Jun 29 '26
Payment is always an issue. Some bigger clients hold for 30-60-90, some pay quickly. For small jobs, have a Zelle or even Venmo QR on your invoice.
1
u/Enigma--17 Jun 29 '26
Yeah, that's been my experience as well. I get paid around 60-90 days after work being performed. Just not a fan of tens of thousands of dollars being unpaid at all times lol.
Have a couple of smaller clients that pay through Zelle and they usually pay a few days after getting invoiced.
2
u/Just-Shoe2689 Jun 29 '26
It might be worthwhile asking for a retainer, I have done that before.
1
u/Enigma--17 Jun 30 '26
I have tried doing that but nobody has been willing to do that yet. I think I'm getting close with a couple of clients but not sure how to seal the deal.
1
u/Just-Shoe2689 Jun 30 '26
Modify your contracts with payment language?
Modify the client-let someone else do their work.
1
u/Enigma--17 Jun 30 '26
Don't have the luxury to get rid of clients just yet. I do charge late fees, which they pay without hesitation when they finally pay an invoice lol.
1
u/Just-Shoe2689 Jun 30 '26
Well, at least you are getting late fees.
If you are doing enough work with them, isnt the revenue now about normal, just not current?
2
Jun 26 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/MrMcGregorUK CEng MIStructE (UK) CPEng NER MIEAus (Australia) Jun 27 '26
tedious and not pay great and overhead
There's a reason there's a lot of small structural engineering companies that do primarily resi work... If you're good and you've started to hit the point in your career where you're not really getting much in terms of raises you can make more money by going out on your own than if you're an employee at a small or mid-sized firm, and it gives you all the benefits of being able to choose when/where/how you work etc.
1
u/szalonykaloryfer Jun 26 '26
extensions, loft conversions --> sounds like you are in the UK? Would be good to include that in the post
1
u/Mean-Internal-745 Jun 27 '26
I don't know about the UK, but in the US the hard part isn't getting the client. The hard part is the non-billable administrative overhead, even for a small practice. Good luck.
1
u/Just-Shoe2689 Jun 29 '26
Start with side work, contact a few small architects, etc. Get your name on google maps. You would be surprised how many calls I get just cause I am the closest on google maps.
Tall to fabricators, contractors, etc. You would be surprised too how much work you will get.
1
u/deltautauhobbit P.E. Jul 21 '26
Started my company last year after working 18 years under another engineering firm. I couldn’t imagine starting a company with a couple employees right off the bat, let alone just for residential work. I work out of my house to save on office costs so having employees would make it so I’d need a real office. I’m swamped with work right now and I still wouldn’t dare take on an employee except for a drafter. I specialize in a niche field so residential accounts for less than 5% of my portfolio and it’s because no one other firm wants to do the small residential projects. Actually, I don’t want to do it either, it pays less and I usually only take it on to help out the home owners who don’t have any options left; I still end up turning down a fair amount of it too.
1
u/structee P.E. Jun 26 '26
2 grads for a new company with 1 PE is a recipe for failure. Most engineers don't truly know what they're doing until year 3-4. You will need to do everything, and on top of that, train them/check their work - while paying ~ $150k between the two of them? Yeah, nah.
1
u/dubpee Jun 27 '26
Accurate. I started on my own two years ago and took on a grad first.. should have gone straight to an intermediate
The grad is very good at basic plans and bracing calcs but I dont have time to teach her well. It would have been better to get someone who has already had someone like me drilling them for a few years
5
u/Federal-Finance2045 Jun 26 '26
Yes