Hello,
I am contemplating whether or not I should start a residential design business using CA. I do not have a degree, but I do have 30 years of experience estimating for the concrete foundation and flatwork trades. I have generated over 6,000 estimates for both residential (90%) and commercial (10%) projects using Autodesk Design Review (read-only software, but it utilizes commands in much the same way as CA).
I have 2-3 hours daily that I could devote to learning CA (Dan Baumann courses...???) for however long it takes to become proficient (I'm in no hurry, but would hope to be at that point within 3 years....realistic?). My only concern is calculating design loads, I do not have the necessary education to perform that task. So.... I was hoping to get some advice from the experts, do I need to get an architectural degree (not required for business in my state) so that I can calculate/place loads? Is there software available that will do the calculating (I'm not opposed to getting a degree, I'm just looking at any and all possibilities)? I was told by a few people that they just send it to the lumber yard for calculations, but then wouldn't you be required to redraw/revise once you have that information (that would seem counterproductive to me...)? What do you do??
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!
Thank you
