The consulting engineer has an established place in the community earned through many decades of dedicated service. He may practice as a sole proprietor, in a partnership, or in a consulting engineering corporation. He is an independent businessman or entrepreneur in private practice, who depends on fees earned from his engineering activities for a livelihood.
The consulting engineer has the necessary qualifications to enable him to be legally registered and authorized to practice engineering under the laws of the province in which he resides. He has no involvement in commerce, manufacturing or contractor activities, which might influence his objective judgement on behalf of a client. He is subject to a strict code of ethics and accepts personal responsibility for his professional acts and those of his staff. The consulting engineer or firm must do work that is not only sound technically, but also takes into account socio-economic and environmental factors of projects for the benefit of the public.
Professional services constitute the whole activity of the consulting engineer, ranging from consultation advice to the provision of complete project management services. In addition to being an engineer, he is skilled in human resource management and, depending on the specific scope of work, is able to assign an individual engineer, a team of specialists or a full project group to service the particular needs of his client.
The general scope of their services can be grouped into five areas of activity:
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