Topic: DRAFTER/DESIGNER PAYSCALE

[CottageCGirl]

I always knew Montana was on the low end of the payscale, but I didn't expect to be rock bottom.......and the pay I make is good for the area.

yeh, but isn't gas like 2.70 there, its still 3.05 in CT......plus they just did a study. and there are only 12 towns in CT where an average income family can afford a home now.........the average price of a 2 bed room ranch in my area is over $300,000.00---not to meantion, they are only building McMansions now anyway ( 4000 sqft and up)........so just remember, everything is relative.

[Keith™]

I'm not sure if this is the correct area to post this. But I'll give it a go, and it can be moved if it is not apprioate here.

I have long wondered what differnt regions pay for the same sort of profession. So, please post Your field
Region or state
Years of experience
job title
pay scale

I am a drafter/designer in the architectual field with about 9 years experience. Montana , and I make 17.50$/ hr. I beleive my billable time to a client is 55$/hr We do alot of custom very high end log homes.

Well, come to Florida ... then that $17.50 can turn to $10.50 ...

Actually I gross about $45k .. and I work for a log home manufacturer ... designing log homes ... Most of the homes I have designed have been from $500k, and some have been over $2m

[Jim Yadon]

Moral of the story: Don't move to Georgia. 

Quick story.
==========================
GA Company calls me in CO.
GA Company flies me to GA for interview.
After interview, GA company calls me for 4 weeks wanting me to accept their offer.
After many refused offers, I finally accept one that meets my needs.
I move my family 1700 miles to accept job.
3 1/2 months after arriving I'm laid off due to 'budget cuts'. "We're sorry. We thought we had that $23 million in the bag"
==========================

I second Chuck on that.

p.s. I recommend looking at AUGI's salary survey that someone posted earlier. I regrettfully decline posting my salary info due to the number of people I work with that view this site.

[jonesy]

I'm not sure if this is the correct area to post this. But I'll give it a go, and it can be moved if it is not apprioate here.

I have long wondered what differnt regions pay for the same sort of profession. So, please post Your field
Region or state
Years of experience
job title
pay scale

I am a drafter/designer in the architectual field with about 9 years experience. Montana , and I make 17.50$/ hr. I beleive my billable time to a client is 55$/hr We do alot of custom very high end log homes.

Well, come to Florida ... then that $17.50 can turn to $10.50 ...

Actually I gross about $45k .. and I work for a log home manufacturer ... designing log homes ... Most of the homes I have designed have been from $500k, and some have been over $2m

But someone must be making the money... if you are designing homes for that sell for that amount of money.

I live in an area of Nottingham that is suddenly very expensive (good for us because we are already buying our house) but even tho' both of us has relatively good jobs, we couldnt afford to buy a starter home here, let alone a family home... so who is earning the money???

[Maverick®]

... so who is earning the money???

<------  Smells a recently opened can o worms.    Not meant negatively to you Jonesy. 

  An average 1600 sq. ft ranch here you would be hard pressed to find under $220,000.  We build a few of these a year, our average is probably 2100 ft and up at around 280,000.  Probably 80% of the people we are building for are repeat customers or referrals. We don't advertise hardly at all.  What I'm getting at with that is that most of the people we are building for are folks that have had 2 or 3 houses and have gained equity.  They aren't mortgaging the whole Chalupa.

  Now and then we have a young couple that are building (IMO) way out of their range.  But the banks will give them the money. We have two prominent hospitals here and a few are young doctors.  It's not so much that they can afford them but that the bank will give them the money.  Paycheck to paycheck @ $100,000 / yr is still paycheck to paycheck.

[jonesy]

Where I live you wouldnt find anything below £160,000, yet people can and do still buy. These are first time buyers, cos they are buying tiny little back to back victorian houses, or flats at that price... yet if you look on the road (on street parking only) theres some very expensive cars.

I wish I'd got a job that allowed me to get a mortgage on £160,000, heck I dont want a £160,000 mortgage, just the pay that would allow me to have one

[Maverick®]

yet if you look on the road (on street parking only) theres some very expensive cars.

  Again I believe it's the banks and the way people purchase things now.  There are 20 yr old kids around here driving $30,000 Escalades and $50,000 Hummers.  They are working entry level jobs and scraping just enough together to make the payments while living with their parents.  The last time I talked to a bank about a mortgage they would give me WAY WAY more than I think I could afford.  To the tune of $50,000 more.

[Greg B]

When we were in the process of getting the financing for our new home, our banker looked at all our information and in the said that we could have easily afforded a different larger home.  Probably like Mav, we could have easily added on another $50,000.  Our reply was that we wanted our home to be something we really liked and the payments only a little more then what we do now so that we could keep our standard of living.

Sure we could have gotten into something that was $50k more, but we would be eating Mac and Cheese and using rabbit ears for television reception.

Not for me!  I like my tr-shut up Mav-uck.  I like my eating out every so often.  I like having lights on in my home and keeping it cool in the summer.

[jonesy]

We've always gone below what we were allowed, for the same reasons you said Greg. Who knows what the future holds... Kids cost mucho money to bring up, and I know for a fact that if we'd gone to our full limit mortgage wise, we'd be in deep doo-doo by now.

[Greg B]

I can say that with the sale of our current home the equity we built, we will use towards 10% of the down payment on our new home.  We will have enough left over to pay off Melissa's van and her last student loan.  Since my tr-shutupmav-uck is already paid off the only real debt we will have is the house.

We might even have a little left over after all that to buy my wife a bigger rock.  That was MY idea.  Not hers.

[Keith™]

My mortgage is 10 years old and I almost could not afford it then .. although the bank insisted that we would qualify for almost double that amount. I like having the ability to go out to dinner every night if I want to and to take the occasional trip when I want. All in all I am in a pretty good situation .. and I like it here.

[Maverick®]

Since my tr-shutupmav-uck is already paid off the only real debt we will have is the house.

  I happen to like your tr-shutupmav-uck.  You find me a post where I said it wasn't a truck. 

[Bob Wahr]

they are only building McMansions now anyway ( 4000 sqft and up)

Heh, I've never heard McMansions before.  Good description.

[Draftek]

I can say that with the sale of our current home the equity we built, we will use towards 10% of the down payment on our new home.  We will have enough left over to pay off Melissa's van and her last student loan.  Since my tr-shutupmav-uck is already paid off the only real debt we will have is the house.

We might even have a little left over after all that to buy my wife a bigger rock.  That was MY idea.  Not hers.

So, basically, you are financing your van, student loan and diamond with a 30 year mortgate note...

Why not put that extra money on the house and pay it off sooner...

[Greg B]

Ah...no...

We are not consolidating the loans.  We are using the equity from the sale of our current home.

IF we were consolidating, our monthly payment would be much higher.  Seeing how it is the same whether we pay off the van and student loan or not it's not consolidating.

What we WILL be doing is using the extra money we are saving by not having to pay off the van and putting that towards the house.

Also, since both loans are fixed (so to speak) and not a line of credit on the second, the payment would not go down as we pay off the loan.

It is different.