Editor's Note: Dan Cuoco's comment in the November issue of Structural Engineer titled "Rewards outweigh burden of profession," elicited strong reaction from readers. Below is a selection of their comments.

Cleaning up wrong thinking

Daniel,
Congratulations on your "Rewards outweigh burden of profession" letter in the (November, 2011) issue.

Your letter could not be more accurate and descriptive of the two major issues structural engineers confront now and have throughout time when dealing with customers.

As you perfectly pointed out, this "mistreatment" from customers is because "engineers acquiesce to that concept by proposing low fees in order to beat the competition."

And I am going to disagree a little bit with you when you say this unfortunate thinking occurs "In some cases." I would rather say that it occurs in 90 percent of the cases.

So the real thing is how to clean out this wrong thinking from engineers. And what I believe is that it must be done at the very beginning of their education, that is, at the university level.

What happens at the university level is that students are so focused learning the courses their professors provide to them that there is no time to really explain to them what an engineer is all about. And this latter concept should not only cover the courses themselves, but the way they will MANAGE their profession in their future, including the relationship with customers.

I would also add that this concept should be profoundly incorporated into all engineers' associations or societies, where the additional concept that you also mentioned, "the use of leverage" with our customers, should be perfectly explained as a right for the engineer, not "although is against our nature." I do not see why our nature has to include the lack of leverage. Then we need to rework our nature, because engineers must be strong public servers, not idealistic ones.

Finally, coinciding also with you, regarding the good news about the existence of many clients that recognize our value, I would say that it is also the engineer's job to educate his clients about our value. If we don't do it, this unfortunate condition will perpetuate.
Regards,
Walter A. Tillit Jr., P.E.
President and owner
Tilteco, Inc.

Don't give services away

Sir,
I am new to your publication (November 2011) and found it refreshing that your engineering group did not cave-in to your client's freebee request.

I can speak from an architectural viewpoint of nearly 31 years — of which I worked in architectural offices for the first 26-1/2 years. The architectural "profession" has ALWAYS taken a weak side in terms of accounts receivable (billing and not getting paid), often, ultimately (at times), giving away their expertise and services in hopes of maintaining a client base. Some base... starting and staying at zero.

The gentleman you performed inspection services for most likely was requested by his insurance company to get some form of certification. The gentleman was running a business and was expecting you to run a business for nearly free. Some deal! Society has to have some legal perspective and none of it should ever be assumed to be free. Those kinds of clients... well, just who needs them?

As a result of architects giving away their services, I can no longer work in that environment, nor do I seek to do so. I have sadly developed bad habits where I have a basic need of food, transportation and even enjoy turning on my lights to occasionally read.

Thanks again for "holding the line" and retaining a professional attitude regarding your fees and professional exposure. Please by all means, feel free to share any/all of this email with those who wish to be treated as professionals and not people doing free social work.
Sincerely,
Jerry M. Brigman
St. Louis

"So the real thing is how to clean out this wrong thinking from engineers. And what I believe is that it must be done at the very beginning of their education, that is, at the university level."