one storey warehouses and miscellaneous beams for residential for architects in non seismic areas.
Hey, I resemble that remark ;-)
Seriously, though, I've decided that there are folks out there who are trying to make a few extra dollars on the side, and $40/hr in your spare time sounds like good money to someone with a mid-level, low-moderately paid job with benefits (is that round about enough for governmental?- don't take offense, I was one of those, too, in the past). I've known an engineer who took on a mixed commercial/residential project 300 miles away for just over 20c/SF. That's barely more than I charge for plain PEMB foundations where 80% of the actual time is spent by my drafter.
My favorite was a local property owner who was trying to upfit for a national, and took (the same!) lower bidder twice to review and recommend repairs on his old building. The second time he had the gall to tell me that the engineer he hired to do the job the first time had offered 1/2 my proposal to do it the second time. It took everything I had to politely tell him that it was a very good price for the work, however I also said I'd be available in the future if he needed help. Two years went by with the building vacant; the national walked away because they couldn't get it renovated Now, with a new owner/partner, I'm just now finishing up the design of the new space. For twice my original quote.
Jordan