Requesting Free Design Services

[Richard A Hetzel]

There are many requests in this and other similar forums for free design services. I don't think such free services can be logically expected of forums such as this, for the following reasons:

1. The responder will not have a full and complete overview of every condition which could impact on the design. Descriptions provided by lay people are usually very sketchy, and even after questioning, a full picture may not emerge. Therefore such design services would be very risky at best, and completely irresponsible at worst.

2. The responder may not be licensed in the state or province where the questioner is located, and providing services, whether free or paid, without a license could be punishable by severe fines or other penalties.

3. There are people who perform such services for a living. Asking for free services is exactly the same as asking a lumberyard for free lumber, or a contractor for free labor. And offering free services is, among professionals, considered to be unethical.

So, please don't ask or expect free design services, even for a seemingly insignificant thing. There is nothing insignificant in structural design.
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[Don_P]

Here's another point of view;
Education is a legitimate part of your job. I often use these questions to explain how building construction works structurally. I try to frequently reiterate that I am not an engineer and am only giving general advice which needs to be verified by an engineer but lets face it engineers and architects rarely take the time to explain why something is done. That is a legitimate use of these forums.

I am curious though, I know in some countries you cannot take a respondant to an internet question to court. Do you know positively of any cases in the US where a person has been prosecuted for responding to a forum question?

[Richard A Hetzel]

Do I? No. But I'm sure if I resonded to a question and a structural failure occurred, and the building owner said "Oh, I got the information from this guy on a forum", the process server would find me. I think it may be different when a professional gives advice, as opposed to, say, a contractor. It might be assumed that the contractor was just giving his best opinion, but it might also be assumed that the professional was providing a service for which he or she should be held responsible. They won't care whether we got paid or not.

I am not anonymous on these forums. I post under my own name. And I'm not taking any chances. If I can steer questioners in the right direction, I'll be happy to do so. If I can explain some basics and fundamentals, I'm happy to do that. But I'm not ever going to give a precise answer to a structural question, because I can never be sure the information I was given was correct or complete. The only way I can know that would be to see for myself, and to start the design process from the beginning and proceed in the proper order.

In a recent example, one specific question was asked, but I could see that some of the facts given were incorrect. I got a long private message from the questioner berating me for not answering his question. He asked about a specific beam to column connection, but his beam size was woefully inadequate. If I answered the connection question, but didn't attempt to correct the beam size, what is my liability? I know what my professional responsibility is, and I met that by explaining how inadequate the beam was, and by raising other issues that might not have been adequately addressed, judging from the incorrect beam size. For that I get a long PM telling me what a scoundrel I was.

Well, enough people sincerely thank me for what I try to do, as they do you, DonP (and many others). I can stand one bad experience per year, or so.

[Don_P]

All good points, thanks.

[Rich]

http://www.construction-resource.com/tos.php

Was going to add - when a person registers they must check a box that says they agree to the forum rules and the TOS.

[zkt]

To expect anyone, anywhere, to analyze a problem and provide a remedy, based upon sketchy information, for free, from someone who has spent a lot of time and effort to be in the position to do so is bordering on greed, laziness and ignorance.
On the other hand, those who possess the ambition to tackle a job but lack the technical knowledge specific to the application, deserve all the help they can get.
That is what these forums are all about.