Does anyone do surveying/drafting work at home full-time? My wife is gonna take a travel nursing job and we would be moving every 3 to 6 months to a new location in the U.S. I want to still work full-time in the surveying field while we travel but I haven't really heard of surveyors working from home. Does anyone work from full-time home as a CAD/Survey drafter? Are there freelance surveyors out there? I would love to hear peoples thoughts on this idea.
Been doing it from home for about 32 years, but, I am licensed so am my own boss. (As long as Mrs. Cow is absent.)
I really like this idea and hope that it works out for you.
Yes, I work from home full time and I love it. ?ÿBut I also do it all from home too, field work, etc. ?ÿand I am not interested in having anyone else do my drafting for me.
But maybe you will find some arrangement with someone that will prove to be mutually beneficial.
Travel is good.
There's no reason this can't work.?ÿ The successful examples I've seen are when a valued employee has to move and the firm would rather not lose him, or when someone heads into semi-retirement.?ÿ The firm just has him work at his new location.?ÿ So I think your best bet would be to cultivate your existing work relationships and then try to negotiate with them to send it with you on the road.
I've had a home office since I purchased a drafting table while in college and was drafting out of my apartment for an engineer.
Since that time, I've kept a dedicated home office.
Being self employed and working from my present home since licensed in 1987.
My office shoes are usually a pair house slippers, lol.
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I also work from home. Hit the road for the mobile LiDAR/UAS work the process at home. I get to take the kids to school every morning and pick them up when I am in town. It's a big change but so much better than driving to an office only to do what you can from home.
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N10,000, E7,000, Z100.00
PLS - IL, MO, AR, KS, MN, KY
I've been working from home for 21 yrs. and mostly love it.?ÿ As mentioned, at times maintaining a good work/life balance is a challenge, but the commute is fantastic!
I think they key for you would be to have some solid relationships with several surveyors who do not have or are light on computations & drafting staff - don't typically have enough work to keep someone busy full time or have periods where they have more work than present staff can keep up with, or have at least one employer who has a very high degree of confidence in and places high value on your work.
I'd think that in the survey world, unless you've built a solid reputation with enough employers to keep you busy, whether one or several, most would rather deal with someone local for outsourcing drafting and calcs, and that only as 2nd choice to having someone in-house.?ÿ That being said, more employers are beginning to embrace part-time teleworking, and the jump to full-time teleworking may be less of a jump for some than I expect.
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I worked at a company that had employees that had relocated and still did full time drafting work from their home.?ÿ I think your best bet is to see if your current employer would entertain the idea of you working this way.?ÿ It might be hard to find full-time/steady work as a freelance drafter.
I have a buddy that works from home for a large engineering firm they don't even have an office here. I have another friend that works for a firm that has a small office here but most of their employees locally work from home. This saves the company money on rent. Yes I believe it is possible if you find the right company.
Marc- I work from home for a large Survey company headquartered out of state and we work nationally. If you are looking for a CAD position with a firm that has this type of business model give me a call (720-361-2148)- we are always looking for good people. I think this was the gist of your original post and if not just disregard.
As stated above, it's a great arrangement as long as you maintain a good work/life balance and maintain a schedule (you have to approach working form home as if you were going to work in an off site office every day). To me, work is an important activity but not a lifestyle. Having your office so close can be a blessing or a curse, depending on how you live your life. You can't beat the commute though...
Chuck
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Been doing it from home for about 32 years, but, I am licensed so am my own boss. (As long as Mrs. Cow is absent.)
I was wondering why you insulted the Mrs. but then I noticed your user name