Hi,
We are a sheet metal fabrication shop and we make architectural parts. It's been impossible finding someone local lately. Does anyone have any experience working with companies overseas?
What is your general location? State and closest major city is fine, don't need your exact address. Someone may be able to find someone "local" to you, but we don't yet know where that is.
Have you branched out your search to elsewhere in the country? (assuming you are in the United States - again, your general location helps here) There's probably hundreds, if not thousands, of engineering firms out and about. There's got to be at least one that can do what you need.
To reiterate what DDoug said - are you willing to pony up the cash necessary?
I would be wary of contracting with someone too far away - no offense intended, I'm sure there's folks overseas who are very talented.
But a few things to keep in mind - the language barrier could pose an obstacle, plenty of people with English as a second language who are fluent, but they may not know certain industry terminology or your regional dialect of English (i.e. coke vs pop vs soda).
Someone on the exact opposite end of the world is also on the exact opposite schedule as you. While you're busting your ass, or sitting on it, waiting for a correction on a drawing, they are sleeping, and vice versa.
Keep in mind the US of A is still one of the few places in the world that uses inch as a unit of measurement. Be wary that conversions between measurement systems always run the risk of having mistakes (especially if the guy on the shop floor is the one calculating it). So unless you are working in millimeters and kilograms already, you will have another barrier to deal with.
