Do you want to start an engineering consulting company from scratch? Or you need a sample engineering consulting business plan template? If YES, then i advice you read on. In any profession, you either play an active role or you pay an advisory role. So likewise it is in the engineering field; you are either an active engineer engaged in field work and all that or you are a consultant to other firms on engineering related issues.
Engineers who have vast knowledge and experience in any of the engineering field can opt to retire from field work and open a consultancy business instead of retiring from work totally. As an engineering consulting firm, your line of duty will be limited to drawing up designs, survey, budget review, planning projects and not execution. In this article, I will discuss what you need to run a successful engineering consulting firm, how to set up your own engineering consulting firm and how to source for clients for your firm.
What You Need to Successfully Run an Engineering Consulting Firm
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Specialized Knowledge
To successfully run an engineering consulting firm, you need to have undergone countless hours of training under successful tutors and mentors. You have to have at least a college degree in any of the engineering courses. A master’s degree is also an added advantage to your firm.
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Field Experience
You also need to have spent years out in the engineering field work learning how things work, making mistakes and learning from them. The more years of experience you have in field works, the more capable you will be in helping other engineers tackle day to day field work. That is why it is very rare to see someone open an engineering consulting firm immediately after college graduation.
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Project Management Skill
As a consultant, you will not only be in charge of designing projects and plan, but you are most times required to monitor the process of the projects to ensure that it is inline with the design you have. This require a vast knowledge in project management to help keep workers motivated to achieve projects and to be versatile enough to take new decisions when there is a problem in project execution.
The initial set up of an engineering consulting firm needs capital to float the business until you start making some income from clients. As an engineer that has spent years working with other firms or as an individual contractor, you should have some money saved up somewhere to help you get started with the firm.
Starting an Engineering Consulting Firm – Sample Business Plan Template
1. Choose a Field Of Specialization
I have mentioned earlier on that to succeed in this consultancy career, you need to have training and years of field experience, so you have to choose an area to specialize your consultancy career, and most likely in your trained field.
For instance, if you are a trained civil engineer, your consulting firm should be in civil engineering. You can take it a niche higher by specializing in a particular aspect of civil engineering other than general civil engineering; this may require some specialized training to become an expert. Clients will respect you more if you are a special consultant in an aspect of engineering.
2. Draw Up a Business Plan
First thing you need is a business plan on what your business would look like in the future. It should contain the estimate capital you need to get started, location of the business, who will your ideal clients be, what marketing system will you put in place to start getting your first set of clients; how many employees will your firm employ for starters, what goals do you want your firm to achieve in the first three to five years of its existence. These questions serve as a guide line to mapping out a real business plan for your consulting firm.
3. Company Registration
You will be working with top organizations and firms, and they will likely not take your firm seriously unless it is properly registered to function as a company. The process of company registration is easy, and can be done in matter of days. You will need to get a Tax Identification Number (TIN), an Employee Identification Number (EIN).
4. Office Space
You need to lease an office space for your firm; where people can come for business meetings, signing consultancy deals and other related issues.
5. Hire Employees
You will need employees who have training in engineering field to work for your firm. Experience may not be criteria for hire unless they will be part of the project execution team.
6. Advertise Your Firm
You need some strategic adverts for your firm to attract clients that require your services. Some of the ways you can get clients for your firm include:
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Apply to Firms
There are many firms out there that require the services of a good engineering consulting firm. Examples are engineering firms, private organizations with building projects; even the Government can use your consultancy firm if they know that you are one of the best on your field.
Get a contact list of firms that will likely need your services and send them a proposal. You may even schedule business meeting to discuss what your firm has to offer and how the company can benefit from contracting your firm.
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Online Platform
The internet has turned our world into one big global village. You can create a blog where you discuss core issues on your field of experience and offer a one or one or online consultation service on your field for an hourly pay. For online consulting, you can use platforms like Skype to handle Online business meetings.
Don’t ever underestimate the power of networking in the corporate world. Try to network with as many people as you can. Attend business meeting where you can meet new people and share your complimentary cards.
So far, you can see that starting an engineering consulting firm is easy and may be the best decision you will ever take in your career. As long as you have the qualifications and the years of field experience, the sky could be your starting point to a successful consulting career.