Would you as a small business owner consider hiring project managers or AutoCAD professionals from a small, local temp agency and what would you be looking for from them in terms of commitment, skillset, and pricing?

I am in an AutoCAD class right now and will be getting the nationwide Autodesk Certified Professional certification for it and will be looking to start a small business from that - first offering my own services to understand what clients’ need, want, and expect - but I am here to see if there’s any low hanging fruit in terms of what you SMB owners would want if the service was offered to you.

Thanks!

  • spiggsorless@alien.top
    BEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    I manage a manufacturing stamped metal parts/wire edm/progressive tool and die design shop. We have an in house design department for a lot of our projects, and rarely ever contract out. I’ve noticed a lot of similar businesses in my area have the same setup. I feel like in our industry it is easier to have your own designer team on site that understands the projects your working on and can make changes on the fly instead of contracting projects out.

    Maybe for a small shop operation you could help but any decent established shop will have some designers/tool makers that can run these projects.

    Good luck.

  • 1420megahertz@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    The problem with AutoCad is that it’s dated and is generalist software in an era of specialist software packages. There are still some legacy operations using it, but they are getting fewer and fewer by the year. If you target architecture then you need to have people with BIM knowledge, this is Revit, maybe Bricscad (also Rhino/Grasshopper). If you target manufacturing then people are looking for Solidworks, Inventor, etc…

  • nightarya@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    I work with contracted CAD experts regularly. For the same reason u/spiggsorless stated they have an in-house team I consistently return to the same contractor out of Eastern Europe. He knows my former projects, and understands how I work. Additionally, I couldn’t afford someone doing this FT. Project-based pricing works perfect for our relationship since it does not take him more than a week, typically. ($200-$1000 budget)

    My suggestion would be having some marketable skill in the vertical before or after model generation before going to market. In the case of my contractor, he has a lot of experience in machining and medical device manufacturing. Bouncing ideas off of him in this element is a huge part of the service provided. It’s great to give him a ____ and say “design this, and make it manufacturable”.

    Being able to make a 3D model on a computer is useful, but understanding what the client wants (and what is and is not realistic, quickly) and making that happens in where repeat business comes from and you build a niche. Look up some CAD contractors on Fiverr and that’s the pressures you face if you want to be modeling only. I’d start building some relationships with hardware manufacturers in China or locally to be able to produce parts.