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Drafter and Engineer pay


Ski_Me

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I was looking at my states wage report for 2013 cause I will be asking for a raise in a few months. I was shocked to see that drafters in my state average around $19 an hour and engineers make about $21 an hour. I know this is just an average but $30,000 to $35,000 a year is hardly sustainable even if your married with a working spouse. I'm blessed to be in a situation where my wife has job where she makes a lot more than me. I had to sacrifice in order for here to get her where she is but it was worth it. By the way I don't fall into the class of drafter I'm a fire alarm installer and they make even less on average.

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It mostly depends on what field you work in and where you live (cost of living). There is a wide disparity in pay scales for CAD drafters. I'm kind of surprised that an engineer at your company doesn't make that much more than a drafter. What's the sense in getting a four year degree?

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The engineers that I worked with at my last job in Dallas, TX made between $90k-$110k after five years experience as a licensed mechanical or electrical engineer. That's usually on the high side. I know that drafters make between $18-$24/hr if all you do is AutoCAD, but if you know Revit you can make $30-$40/hr as a BIM designer which is upward in the $70k range, just depending on where you land and how experienced you are. This is all in the Dallas area. Guys in Houston are making even more as there are tons of engineering and construction that originate out of this area.

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Here in Central Florida, it is very difficult to find people willing to pay more than $25.00 per hour for 1099 contractor drafting, straight 2D millwork and cabinetry shop drawings, and here lately it has been difficult to find anyone at all willing to pay anything for it. It has a little to do with the "Attractions" in Orlando, having just completed a couple of huge projects which have kept me busy for the last 18 months.

 

(As soon as my non-disclosure agreement runs out, I can tell you why that dragon looks so huge.) :lol:

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  • 8 months later...

Here's my shpeel on drafter pay. It isn't something we talk about very often.

 

For starters this is where I stand on starting pay rates for new drafters (my personal opinion)....

 

For a starting drafter who is generally new to autocad and has never worked in construction - 15 an hour is reasonable starting rate (basically intern pay).

For a starting drafter who is certified in drafting or drafting technology through an accredited institution - 20 an hour is reasonable starting rate.

For a drafter who has an associates degree and/or 2-4 years of job experience - 22-24 an hour is reasonable.

 

Where it goes from there depends on a variety of factors including what discipline you are working in (electrical, mechanical, etc...)

 

Also, different disciplines have different opportunities for drafters further down the line.

For example, a drafter working for an electrical and fire alarm contractor can eventually work up, become NICET certified and perhaps later on work in a project management capacity.

 

Especially because most smaller business don't have large drafting departments. It's basically one or two guys in a back office.

This acts as job security for alot of us but it also means there isn't much opportunity further down the line. At some point employers have to ask themselves what they're going to do.

 

I've never met someone who's done drafting alone for 20 years or more. Drafters commonly work for engineering firms, construction firms/companies, etc.. which always have ways to promote you up the chain later in your career. I know multiple project managers that started out as drafters, basically.

 

However, in some cases a drafter will stay in a position until they don't. In other words, you become entrenched in your employer's firm because noone else can do your job but your company isn't willing to give you raises or promotions.

 

At that point you should probably be looking elsewhere for employment.

But if you are happy with the pay obviously there's no reason to do so.

 

From what I've seen Companies wait to promote drafters further down the career chain because of this or that - but mainly because they see other people in management positions with bachelors degrees, etc... Then they see this drafter with all this experience but no bachelors degree. What to do then? There's a multitude of things they could do, quite honestly. It just depends on how willing your employer is to work with you.

 

The title of "drafter" to me implies alot more than doing drawings.

It isn't uncommon to have other job duties you may or may not get paid for at any given time and I've heard that some employers basically treat their drafting department as IT. My current employer is no different.

 

For someone who has established themselves in their company (6-8 years experience) and/or single-handedly does hundreds of sets of drawings for hundreds of projects each year...

At some point your employer has a decision to make. Especially, if your work hours are off the charts.

 

Alot of employers keep their drafting staff hourly but that isn't necessarily to their benefit.

It isn't uncommon for a drafter making 27 or 28 dollars an hour to pull in 80k a year if you average over 50 hours a week or more in weekly workload.

 

This applies to companies paying full-time employees but for drafters who are operating their own businesses the game is a little different.

 

If you are owner of a drafting company performing drafting/design duties to clients as needed and you have a certification or degree from an accredited institution you can honestly charge 40-60 an hour and cost the customer less than 90% of businesses in your town.

 

But if you are a small drafting business owner it usually benefits both parties to negotiate a set rate for a given project.

For my business I typically don't charge hourly rates unless I know the project will last longer than 2 weeks. With that amount of workload the project might take a month with additional changes and a pre-negotiated rate locks you in (that's not good).

 

For estimating cost - a good rule of thumb is to figure out how many sheets the customer needs in their drawing set.

You then calculate a rough estimate to how many days it will take to set up that entire drawing set.

You then multiply how many days it will take by 200 (or more depending on your expertise and how you feel about the project).

 

This procedure has never failed me and my customers have always been happy with the outcome.

 

-ChriS

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ammobake I agree about cost per sheet pretty good way to guessestimate.

 

Here in AUS we have pretty good pay scales, a base would be $60k and experienced Engineer $100k+ obviously lots in between. Its a broad question, one professional member organisation has pay rates but you must be a member to get at them, the rates involves levels of responsibilty, number of staff under, years of experience etc The most abused years of experience the guy can be working there 15 years but he is the biggest dud of all times.

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ammobake I agree about cost per sheet pretty good way to guessestimate.

 

Here in AUS we have pretty good pay scales, a base would be $60k and experienced Engineer $100k+ obviously lots in between. Its a broad question, one professional member organisation has pay rates but you must be a member to get at them, the rates involves levels of responsibilty, number of staff under, years of experience etc The most abused years of experience the guy can be working there 15 years but he is the biggest dud of all times.

 

60k is actually really good for a starting drafter in my opinion. Higher than normal I would say.

 

But here's why I think hourly rates for drafters is the best. First of all, drafters sometimes work 40 hour weeks, then 68 hours the following week. It's all over the place quite honestly.

That has been my experience anyway (I just worked 70 hours last week not including side projects but 40 the week before).

 

One week you might be wrapping up a small set of drawings, the next week you get 2 or 3 major projects dumped in your lap along with deadlines.

 

Paying hourly works in the drafter's favor because the workload can drastically waver from week to week. When the job demands more you will make the extra overtime for the added effort.

 

Being at 60,000 is really good for a starting drafter but I've never heard of starting drafters being anything other than hourly.

 

If you are salary you are not going to make the extra overtime but the expectations will be the same or more.

So drafters can also use this to help negotiating a higher salary later on when that time comes.

 

Personally I am one of the only people in my company that is not salary because I'm considered more of an administrative team member. But the demands of the job are so high that I'm now making as much as a project manager or engineer. In some cases I likely make more than some of the management staff.

 

This seems pretty crazy and because of this I imagine employers have a difficult time deciding what to do when drafters have "outgrown their pants", so to speak.

 

Personally, and I have no problem stating this, my hourly pay is equivalent to base pay of around 60k per year and I've been at the same hourly rate for the last 5 years. But because of my weekly workload averaging higher than 50 hours a week I'm bringing in close to 80k per year.

 

The reason is because I am one drafter in a hectic office that does work all over the country.

 

But this kind of thing puts the employer in a position where a decision needs to be made. I see no reason a company shouldn't make a drafter salary after 6-8 years of dedicated service as long as both parties are happy with the pay rate. This would likely save the employer money in the long term and you can give the drafter a promotion in the process.

 

I get the sense that drafters all over the world have a tough time trying to work their way up in any company. Especially in design teams and large engineering firms where competition is high. But mostly because most management and senior management have engineering degrees.

 

An engineer with 2 years of experience might even look down on a drafter with 10 years of experience and design knowledge. I've certainly seen that kind of arrogance before.

 

In my opinion, drafters are mostly viewed as assistants to other management staff even though the drafters sometimes do the majority of the work.

 

That's fine for a few years and completely understandable from an employer's perspective but I also believe everyone deserves a chance to work up in the company if the drafter has good performance evaluations and has proven their abilities.

 

But that's difficult when your company wants an 20 dollar an hour drafter - not a 30 dollar an hour drafter with 10 years of design knowledge. And it's more difficult if you work for a firm where the next step up is a management position where everyone has engineering degrees and you do not.

 

Would an employer promote you to a management position or not and at what point does a drafter deserve a shot at management? It's a great question.

 

If it's a family business and you are in the family that's one thing LOL!!

 

-ChriS

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Good points being made. I assume that BIGAL is talking Aussie $, versus U.S. $, so we likely have a small case of apples and oranges as regards currency references. :)

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  • 2 weeks later...

wow! your monthly income there is equivalent to my annual income here in my country :( .

$500 is my average monthly income with 2 kids also my lovely wife is still happy and we are living ok.

In fact my wife is jobless and i have to support my senior parents too.

Here your $1000 a month is more than enough.

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I wish, however life here is simple and i like it.
Ah, then definitely stay there! Life is not so simple in America these days.

 

What country are you located if you don't mind me asking? If things get any worse here I may just move! :lol:

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Ah, then definitely stay there! Life is not so simple in America these days.

 

What country are you located if you don't mind me asking? If things get any worse here I may just move! :lol:

The Queen City of the Southern Philippines :D

Its more fun here, no seriously its more fun in the Philippines.

You might wanna retire here.

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Retire to a country that on average experiences more typhoons than any other country in the world?

 

ahahaha, I must say your right however Cebu City is rarely hit by typhoon (directly) than any other city/province here.

but i am still on my plan on migrating to Canada if time and money permits.

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