Engineering Virtual Assistant: You're Not Hiring an Engineer (And That's the Point)

Every engineering firm searching for "engineering virtual assistant" is making the same mistake: they think they're hiring an engineer. They're not. They're hiring a CAD operator who executes drawings from your marked-up sketches. And that's exactly what makes this work when it's done properly. The confusion costs engineering firms roughly $41,000 in wasted first-year investment when they hire offshore "engineering VAs" expecting engineering judgment, design decisions, and independent problem-solving. What they get instead is someone who can draft a beam exactly where you specify it, but can't determine what size beam belongs there. I've spent 15 years placing offshore staff with engineering firms across the USA, Australia, and New Zealand. The firms that succeed understand they're hiring technical support staff, not licensed engineers. The ones that fail expect $15/hour to replace $100,000 engineering talent. Google Trends tells the real story: USA shows a massive October 2025 spike (100 on the index) indicating sudden market interest. Australia and New Zealand? Insufficient search data. This is overwhelmingly a USA market discovering what Australian engineering firms already figured out years ago—offshore CAD support works brilliantly when you're not asking it to do engineering. This guide is for engineering firms billing $500,000+ annually with consistent CAD workload exceeding 30 hours weekly. If you're a 2-person structural shop doing residential projects, stop reading. Your volume doesn't justify the 90-day training investment required to make offshore staffing work.

What You're Actually Hiring (The Reality Check)

Offshore staff cannot hold Professional Engineer (PE) licenses in the USA or Chartered Professional Engineer (CPEng) registration in Australia. They cannot stamp drawings, certify designs, or take professional liability for engineering work. What They CAN Do:

Draft structural details from your marked-up sketches (60% of workload)
Format submittals, track RFIs, organize project files (20%)
Quantity takeoffs, equipment schedules, model updates (15%)
Basic admin: scheduling, filing, email monitoring (5%) What They CANNOT Do:
Make engineering decisions or design judgments
Determine loads, size systems, assess code compliance
Stamp/seal documents (USA) or sign certificates (Australia)
Represent firm to building departments
Take professional liability The firms wasting $41,000 in year one expect engineering judgment. The ones saving $60,000+ annually understand they're buying CAD execution speed, not engineering expertise.

The True Cost Reality (Not the $15/Hour Fantasy)

Competitors advertise "$15-20/hour engineering VAs!" Here's what that actually costs you: Year One: The Investment Phase VA Salary (via agency): $1,800/month × 12 = $21,600 Software Licenses: $3,430 (Autodesk AEC Collection) Your Training Time: 80 hours × $100/hour = $8,000 Management Overhead: 4 hours/week × 52 × $100 = $20,800 Mistakes/Rework: ~$5,000 (conservative estimate) Communication Tools: $500 Total Year One: $59,330Effective Rate: $28.50/hour (not $15!) Year Two: When ROI Starts VA Salary: $21,600 Software: $3,430 Management: 2 hours/week × 52 × $100 = $10,400 Rework: ~$1,000 Total Year Two: $36,430Effective Rate: $17.50/hour Break-Even vs Local CAD Tech

USA CAD technician: $50,000-60,000 annually
After Year Two, you're saving $13,570-23,570 annually
ROI positive after 18-24 months The software stack alone kills most small firms. AutoCAD: $1,865/year. Revit: $2,250/year. Civil 3D: $2,590/year. Structural analysis packages: $4,000-8,000/year. Nobody mentions this in the sales pitch, but it's in your invoice.

Time Zones and Communication

USA → Philippines Your 9am = Their 9pm (same moment). Your VA is working during your entire business day. Questions get answered immediately, video calls happen in real-time, and feedback is instant. This is perfect synchronous communication - when you're working, they're working. Australia/NZ → Philippines +2 to +4 hours ahead. 9am Sydney = 7am Manila. Natural business hours overlap with VAs working standard daytime schedules. Slightly less overlap than USA firms get, but still functional for most engineering support work. LATAM Alternative for USA Firms Colombia/Mexico sit 1-3 hours from US East Coast. Cost runs 20-40% higher ($12-20/hour vs $9-15/hour Philippines), but makes sense for client-facing roles requiring native English accents or roles needing deep US cultural knowledge. It's a premium option for specific use cases, not because Philippines doesn't work.

The 90-Day Timeline Nobody Warns You About

Weeks 1-8: The Investment Phase

Your time: 10-20 hours weekly
VA productivity: 5-30%
Setup, training videos, constant error correction
You're questioning your decision Weeks 9-12: The Turning Point
Your time: 10-12 hours weekly
VA productivity: 40-50%
Starting to handle routine details independently
First signs this might work Months 4-6: Break-Even
Your time: 4-6 hours weekly
VA productivity: 70-80%
Returns work 80-90% correct
Finally saving time instead of losing it Month 6+: The Payoff
Your time: 2-3 hours weekly
VA productivity: 80-90%
Saves you 15-20 hours weekly
ROI becomes real Firms that quit do it between weeks 6-10. They've invested $12,000-15,000, they're slower than before, and can't see the light. But those who push through to month 4 almost always succeed long-term.

The Software License Cost Bomb

Remember that "$15/hour VA" saving you 60%? Nobody mentioned the $3,000-8,000 annual software bill. Basic Engineering Stack:

AutoCAD: $1,865/year per seat
Revit: $2,250/year per seat
Civil 3D: $2,590/year per seat
Bluebeam Revu: $349/year per seat Full AEC Collection (AutoCAD + Revit + Civil 3D):
$3,430/year per seat
Individual purchases would cost $11,530
You're already saving $8,100 by bundling Specialty Software (If Required):
RISA-3D: $4,000-6,000/year
RAM Structural: $5,000-8,000/year
Tekla Structures: $5,500-8,000/year
STAAD.Pro: $3,500-5,000/year Plus Infrastructure:
VPN: $120/year
Cloud storage: $240/year
Remote desktop: $180/year
Project management tools: $150/year Most engineering firms need $3,000-5,000/year minimum for basic CAD work, $6,000-10,000/year typical for full capabilities. Specialized structural or civil firms can hit $15,000-20,000/year if using advanced analysis packages. This is why the "$500K annual revenue threshold" matters. Firms under that simply don't have the volume to justify software + training + management overhead. Better to use project-based CAD freelancers at $40-60/hour only when you need them.

When Offshore Engineering VAs Actually Make Sense

Most engineering firms shouldn't hire offshore CAD support. Here's who should: Revenue Threshold Framework Under $500K Annual Revenue

Don't hire full-time offshore staff
Your volume won't keep VA busy 30+ hours weekly
Training investment won't pay off
Better alternatives: Project-based freelancers, local interns, buying as-needed CAD services $500K-$2M Annual Revenue
Sweet spot for 1 full-time engineering VA
Requirements: 20+ projects annually, documented CAD standards, PE/CPEng on staff for supervision
Typical workload: 60% CAD drafting, 20% model updates, 10% submittals, 10% admin
ROI timeline: Months 1-3 losing money, months 4-6 breaking even, month 7+ positive returns $2M+ Annual Revenue
Scale to 2-3 engineering VAs for redundancy
Advanced use cases: BIM coordination, specialty VA teams, quantity surveying
Formalized processes required
Dedicated CAD manager recommended Project Volume Indicators:
Consistently 30+ CAD hours weekly available
Drawing backlogs impacting deadlines
Partners/PEs doing routine drafting (expensive use of talent)
Turning down projects due to capacity constraints Readiness Checklist:
☐ Revenue exceeds $500K annually
☐ 20+ active projects per year
☐ Documented CAD standards exist (even rough ones)
☐ PE or CPEng on staff for supervision
☐ Can dedicate 10-15 hours/week to VA management (first 3 months)
☐ Using project management software
☐ Consistent CAD workload (not feast/famine) If you checked fewer than 5 boxes, you're not ready. Wait until you hit the thresholds rather than wasting $30,000-40,000 discovering this doesn't work for your current situation.

What Australian Engineering Firms Know

Australian firms have been doing offshore staffing for 10+ years. Key learnings:

Australian Standards work: Offshore VAs can learn AS 1170, AS 3600, AS/NZS 4600 with 2-3 months training
Vietnam emerging: Ho Chi Minh City producing engineering grads with AutoCAD, Civil 3D, and 12D Model expertise
Insurance critical: Check your PI policy BEFORE hiring—does it cover offshore non-CPEng work?
Keep client-facing local: VAs for back-end CAD only, CPEngs maintain relationships Gallery Group Case (Queensland): Hired 2 architectural specialists through ShoreAgents. Years of perfect 5/5 performance reviews. Saved $73,000+ annually per specialist (77% cost reduction vs local). "Very happy with ShoreAgents" - long-term partnership enabled survival during tough times.

When You Absolutely Should NOT Hire Engineering VAs

I'll cost myself sales here, but you need to hear this: Don't Hire If:

Annual revenue under $500K (math doesn't work)
Fewer than 20 projects annually (insufficient volume)
No documented CAD standards (creates chaos)
Can't dedicate 10-15 hours/week management time initially (they'll fail without guidance)
Need someone productive immediately (90-180 day reality)
Partners doing all engineering AND CAD themselves (need to delegate one first)
Feast/famine project cycles (can't keep VA consistently busy) Tasks That Will Destroy Your VA Relationship:
Client phone calls requiring instant engineering judgment
Site visits and inspections
Building department interactions
Making design decisions without supervision
Determining code compliance independently
Anything requiring PE/CPEng stamp Warning Signs You're Not Ready:
"I just need someone to handle overflow" = No consistent workload
"They can figure it out as they go" = No training plan
"I don't have time to train someone" = You'll waste $40K
"I need help starting next week" = Impossible timeline The hardest truth: if you're too busy to spend 10-15 hours weekly training an offshore VA for 3 months, you're too busy to successfully implement offshore staffing. That sounds paradoxical, but it's accurate. The setup investment precedes the time savings.

What ShoreAgents Does Differently

We're going to tell you things that might cost us a sale, and that's intentional. ShoreAgents specializes in placing Filipino engineering support staff with firms across the USA, Australia, and New Zealand. Our full-time placements run $1,200-2,500/month depending on experience and role complexity. We handle recruitment, training coordination, and backup coverage. But here's what makes us different: we'll tell you if you're not ready yet. If you're doing under $500K annually, we'll be honest that you should wait. If your standards aren't documented, we'll help you get organised first. If you're trying to offshore tasks that must stay local (PE-required work), we'll tell you it won't work. We only succeed when you succeed. And that means being brutally honest about when engineering VA staffing makes sense—and when it doesn't. Our typical engineering support roles:

CAD operators (AutoCAD, Revit, Civil 3D)
BIM coordinators (model management, clash detection)
Technical support (document control, submittal coordination)
Drafting specialists (structural details, MEP layouts) What we DON'T place:
Licensed engineers (can't obtain USA PE or Australia CPEng offshore)
Roles requiring engineering judgment without supervision
Client-facing positions requiring on-site presence
Positions needing professional liability coverage The Gallery Group partnership demonstrates what's possible: years of perfect performance reviews, significant cost savings, long-term satisfaction. But they came in with realistic expectations, committed to proper training, and understood they were hiring CAD support, not replacing licensed engineers.

The Engineering VA Reality

Engineering virtual assistants work when you understand what you're actually hiring: highly capable CAD operators who execute your engineering vision with precision and speed, not replacement engineers making design decisions. The math works at $500K+ revenue with consistent volume. The timeline is 90-180 days to productivity, not immediate. The true cost is $28.50/hour year one, dropping to $17.50/hour year two—not $15/hour from day one. The software stack adds $3,000-10,000 annually that nobody mentions upfront. USA firms face tougher time zone realities than Australian companies, but it's manageable. The firms that succeed treat offshore staff as long-term team members, invest properly in training, maintain PE/CPEng oversight, and don't expect engineering judgment from CAD operators. Most engineering firms aren't ready for offshore staffing. That's not a criticism—it's a function of revenue, volume, and operational maturity. Better to know that now than discover it after wasting $40,000 on failed implementation. But if you're billing $500K+, drowning in CAD backlog, have documented standards (even rough), and can commit to 90-180 day training investment, engineering VAs can save you $60,000+ annually while freeing your PEs/CPEngs to do actual engineering instead of drafting. Want to discuss whether engineering VA support makes sense for your firm? Contact ShoreAgents for a frank conversation about your situation. We'll tell you what's realistic, what's not, and whether we're the right fit. No sales pitch, just 15 years of experience telling it straight. Not ready yet? That's fine. Come back when you hit $500K revenue, have your CAD standards documented, and can dedicate the training time required. We'll still be here, and you'll be better positioned for success.