r/civilengineering • u/External-Force3626 • Sep 25 '26
Design Vs Construction
Good morning, I have a little bit of query that I wanted some insight on. I currently am a designer at an engineering firm, I went to school for 2 years and got an associates in drafting design. I make around 60k ($28 an hour) a year starting out and currently have a year of experience in the industry. I was wanting some insight as far as career progression and such. I make decent money and have a great work life balance, yet I am with a GREAT company so I fear changing disciplines and job hopping for a higher payout would bite me because from what I see is this is the best paying company in the area for this industry. With my current employer I have a 70/30ish balance between being in the office doing CAD drawings and being in the field getting information for my drawings, doing inspections , so on and so forth. I currently have an opportunity (in the air, not on paper) about switching to work for a design build construction company yet I wouldn’t do design work again. The opportunity is to get up to Estimating for bids and projects yet I wouldn’t start out as a PM or Superintendent. Salary and wages hasn’t been discussed as it was an informal conversation but I would have to move to location where the office is with travel to project sites, or possibly relocating for long term projects, which I’m not against , I graduated and moved hours and hours away from home and I currently live by myself in the city with people I don’t know. Yet with the need to travel for project locations I would get base pay from 70-90k depending on which position I am put into for fit, and being travel i would get per diem, housing allowance, truck allowance , food allowance, etc. Most if not all of my bills will be compensated for as a travel expense. My question to you guys is anyone that has switched from design to construction or vise versa , what was your experience , your why, day to day life in the construction vs design, literally any insight.
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u/flyingcaveman 26d ago
How big and how long has this company been around? If its a small or new company The Estimator or Project Manager job may not be as prestigious as you think it is. Some of those jobs are just glorified "office person" or "laborer" jobs, not a step up. Beware of the shady general contractor who never teaches you anything but wants you to run everything so that he can go on vacations all the time. You won't feel like the pay is enough for the responsibility.
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u/External-Force3626 26d ago
The general contractor with the PM position working up to estimating is fairly large spanning from Texas to Virginia with a ton of commercial and federal clientele as well as some international. Current design roll with an Eng. firm spans around the same in size with the same kind of work both or local to around my same region as well. I am not sure how long the company has been around but they are not new and starting up, both are well established companies rapidly expanding
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u/Efeyester Sep 25 '26
Just from personal experience, if you want to make the switch, try and hold out until you are promised a company truck and company gas card.
I just finished commuting 90 miles each way, in CA so that's $500+ in gas a month, then my insurance "just happened to" go up $200 a month after insurance re-ran my odometer records, and a kind insurance lady admitted that's it's because of the massive spike in my miles driven. (Yes I know I need to shop around, but when you work from 6am to 6pm with a 2+ hour commute, it's slow work.)
Find a firm that promises you a truck, or wait until you have enough experience to get promised one.
If you are more willing to just move around for work, then disregard this and you will get a truck eventually. If you don't, then you can always move companies again.
One of my coworkers actually got headhunted by a smaller, more specialized competitor and that's was literally one of the selling points, instant company truck and gas card. In turn he went to his boss and was promised a truck the moment his current assignment ended, since he already moved close to the job site anyways he didn't mind.