Providing drafting services for Design Professionals since 1989
1989 – 1998
Employed as a Draftsman/Designer for Morin Rocco. I began here as an entry level draftsman. Approximately 5 - 6 years of this time was hand drafting. A basic CAD class at Hagerstown Community College in 1994 helped launch the firm into the AutoCAD age. Once we had the basic knowledge, I was then able to take the AutoCAD manual and learn on my own during the evenings over the course of a couple of years. Out of that knowledge came our standard system that I created from scratch for our day to day operations. The remainder of my time at that firm was spent using AutoCAD for all of their projects.
1998 - 1999
Morin-Rocco dissolved in 1998. It was at that time when the architect from that firm and I joined Bushey Feight Architects (BFA), now known as Bushey Feight Morin Architects. Employed as a Cad Operator at BFA, I helped merge parts of the AutoCAD system that I created with their system. There were plenty of “you have your chocolate in my peanut butter” moments but when it was all said and done we had a system that functioned better than either of us had on our own.
1999 Spring
I decided to take a hiatus from full time drafting for the rest of the year so I could follow another passion of mine, building skateboard parks for American Ramp Company (ARC). Their company headquarters is located in Joplin Missouri. I traveled all over the USA building skate parks for the reminder of the year. In between building skate parks, I was picking up drafting jobs here and there on my own when I would return to town. This was the beginning of my self-employment.
2000 - 2008
Building skate parks in cold weather and snow was not as rewarding as the spring and summer projects were in the nice warm sun. It was January of 2000 when I decided to go full time with my drafting services. As it turned out, ARC became one of my first large clients. I was able to get them started with construction drawings and renderings for their business. BFM was also another firm which helped keep me busy when I first started out. I forged great relationships with many Architects, Engineers and Contractors during this time.
2009 - 2015
SGD Cad Graphics was formed in 2009. After the collapse of the economy in late 2008, I, along with many others, was out to sea with a mere life preserver from about 2008 – 2010. Several of my anchor clients were still there for me but I lost a lot of the smaller clients that I worked so hard to get. In the following years, I was able to get away without working full time 40 hour work weeks during certain periods. This gave me some time to indulge in some of my other hobbies such as oil painting and collecting.
2016 to Present
SGD Cad Graphics LLC was formed out of the need to expand my base of anchor clients of design professionals. Over the years some of my clients work has dried up, some have closed their doors, some have pursued other ventures and unfortunately, some have passed away, leaving me with a much smaller pool of people to work with. For the very first time since I became self-employed in 1999, I find it necessary to branch out and forge new relationships with design professionals in the AEC industry through advertising. I want people like you know that I am out here and available to take care of your AutoCAD services in a friendly, professional manner.
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