The Sims 4 Civil Designer Career
Saving the World as a Civic Planner or Green Technician

Civil Designers get to choose between the Green Technician and Civic Planner Career Branches.
Career Quick Links
Civil Designer is a new work from home Career in The Sims 4 Eco Lifestyle Expansion. Its focus is either on Neighborhood Action Plans or the new Fabrication Skill, depending which branch you choose. Both branches receive a hefty sum of extra Influence points, used to purchase votes on policies and usage of community lots, which will make it much easier to tailor a community's NAPs how you would like through regular gameplay.
Early Levels: Civil Designer

The Green Technician Career takes advantage of the Fabrication skill more so than Civic Planner
There isn't much to say about the early levels of this career. You will get an Electronic Drafting Tablet that is mainly used for work from home tasks. You can find this in your inventory. Interviewing homeowners can fail, and it's best to build up a bit of a positive conversation before you attempt it.
Civil Designer Career Levels 1-3
Rank | Job | Wages | Schedule | $/Day | Daily Task & Promotion Requirements | Reward for Promotion |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Junior Draftsperson | $31/hour | Mon-Fri 9AM-6PM | $279/day | Interview a Homeowner about Utilities | N/A |
2 | Architectural Apprentice | $42/hour | Mon-Fri 8AM-5PM | $378/day | Interview Homeowner about Utilities. Reach Level 2 Logic, Level 2 Handiness | $350, Electronic Drafting Tablet, Draft a Municipal Concept |
3 | Construction Technician | $57/hour | Mon-Fri 10AM-7PM | $513/day | Interview a Homeowner about Utilities. Reach Level 3 Logic, Level 3 Handiness | $475, Atomized Mist (Using Eco-Upgrade Parts), Succulent Earrings |
Civic Planner

Civic Planners use the design tablet too, only this time for more Civic functions. This branch is more focused on making money through the career itself and getting gobs of Influence points through its fantastic reward trait.
The Civic Planner branch is the one to choose if you do not care about Fabrication as much and want to make a respectable income from the career itself. You'll work longer hours at max rank and make about double the money. This branch will also get a special Champion of the People Reward Trait that gets extra influence points every time you get Influence. An interesting side effect of this is that you'll also get Satisfaction, which can be spent in the Rewards Store.
Civic Planner Career Branch
Rank | Job | Wages | Schedule | $/Day | Daily Task & Promotion Requirements | Reward for Promotion |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
4 | Utilities Assistant | $68/hour | Mon-Fri 9AM-6PM | $612/day | Gain Influence, Reach Level 4 Logic, Level 2 Charisma | $585, Store No More Home Fabricator, Interview about Neighborhood Action Plans, Civic Planner Uniform |
5 | Urban Surveyor | $76/hour | Mon-Fri 9AM-6PM | $684/day | Gain Influence. Reach Level 5 Logic, Level 3 Charisma | $750, Rally Voters |
6 | Policy Planner | $112/hour | Mon-Fri 10AM-6PM | $896/day | Gain Influence, Reach Level 6 Logic, Level 4 Charisma | $900, Succulent Necklace |
7 | Civic Archivist | $145/hour | Mon-Thu, Sat 10AM-6PM | $1160/day | Gain Influence, Reach Level 7 Logic, Level 5 Charisma | $1,200, Ground Solar Panel |
8 | Neighborhood Improvement Officer | $216/hour | Mon-Fri 9AM-4PM | $1,512/day | Gain Influence. Reach Level 8 Logic, Level 6 Charisma | $2,100, Solar Jumpsuit |
9 | Municipal Engineer | $280/hour | ^Mon-Tue, Thu-Fri 6AM-3PM | $1,960/day | Gain Influence. Reach Level 9 Logic, Level 7 Charisma | $2,550, Civic Solace |
10 | City Master Planner | $350/hour | Tue-Fri 6AM-3PM | $3,150/day | Gain Influence. Reach Level 10 Logic, Level 8 Charisma | $3,075, Champion of The People |
Green Technician

Green Technicians use the Tablet to design blueprints for use on the Fabrication Machine.
Green Technician is the path to choose if you want the Meat Wall and to focus heavily on Fabrication as your main money-maker. This branch has more recipes. Mainly things you can make elsewhere, but on the Fabricator instead. They also get the Smog Vacuum, so while Civic Planner can direct the neighborhood through their OP influence point gains, this branch will have more luck at changing the world with their inventions and can directly influence the smog level. Definitely useful if you want to keep things trashy.

The Smog Vacuum seen in Eco Lifestyle's Trailer is found in this career branch.
Their Reward Trait is Eco Engineer. Having this reward trait means they'll get more Eco-Upgrade parts from recycling (as in always) and will finish those upgrades to objects faster than normal. In the grand scheme of things, I like the other reward better personally but the smog vacuum and lighter work schedule may appeal to some players.
If you wonder How to Get the Smog Vacuum and Meat Wall this Career branch is the answer. The Meat Wall is unlocked at rank 5 as seen in the table below. You can convert any Vertical Garden (in build/buy outdoor activities) into a Cruelty-Free Meat Wall. The Smog Vacuum is unlocked by creating design blueprints on the tablet you get and submitting them at the mailbox. It will be unlocked randomly as a level 1 Fabrication recipe. If you submit only mid to high quality designs, you'll improve your chances.
Green Technician Career Branch
Rank | Job | Wages | Schedule | $/Day | Daily Task & Promotion Requirements | Reward for Promotion |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
4 | Installation Intern | $65/hour | Tue-Sat 10AM-7PM | $585/day | Fabricate an Eco-Upgrade Part. Reach Level 4 Logic, Level 2 Fabrication Skill | $600, Store No More Home Fabricator, Green Technician Uniform, Draft Eco-Invention Concept |
5 | Design Guru | $70/hour | Mon-Tue, Thu-Sat 10AM-7PM | $630/day | Fabricate an Eco-Upgrade Part. Reach Level 5 Logic, Level 3 Fabrication | $650, Grow Cruelty-Free Meat |
6 | Machine Modifier | $95/hour | Tue-Sat 9AM-5PM | $760/day | Fabricate an Eco-Upgrade Part. Reach Level 6 Logic, Level 4 Fabrication | $725, Fabricator Recipes for Garden Salad, Granola, Protein Plate and Veggie Dumplings |
7 | Eco-Tech Scientist | $101/hour | Mon-Fri 10AM-6PM | $808/day | Fabricate an Eco-Upgrade Part. Reach Level 7 Logic, Level 5 Fabrication | $950, Scrapper's Dew Collector |
8 | Device Savant | $149/hour | Sun-Mon, Wed-Fri 9AM-4PM | $1,043/day | Fabricate an Eco-Upgrade Part. Reach Level 8 Logic, Level 6 Fabrication | $1,025, Blueprint Suit |
9 | Expert Fabricator | $199/hour | Mon-Thu 11AM-5PM | $1,194/day | Fabricate an Eco-Upgrade Part. Reach Level 9 Logic Skill, Level 7 Fabrication | $1,450, Eco Artisan |
10 | Master Inventor | $237/hour | Tue-Fri 10AM-4PM | $1,422/day | Fabricate an Eco-Upgrade Part. Reach Level 10 Logic, Level 8 Fabrication | $1,900, Eco-Engineer |
Eco Lifestyle Guides
- Eco Lifestyle Expansion for The Sims 4 - Pack Gameplay Features
- Cheats for The Sims 4 Eco Lifestyle - learn to change Neighborhood Action Plans, modify the Eco Footprint, and add Traits.
- Eco Footprint: How It Works - Learn about Green and Industrial Worlds
- Neighborhood Action Plans (NAPs) List
- Civil Designer: Green Tech (Meat Wall/Smog Vacuum) or Civic Planner Career
- Insect Farms - Using New Bug Houses for Bio Fuel
- Fabrication and Candle Making Skill - Eco Lifestyle's Primary Skill.
- Juice Fizzing - a Minor Skill with Potential.
- Gameplay Ideas for Eco Lifestyle - My attempt to inspired ideas for gameplay that might be fun to some players.
- Learn New Changes in The Sims 4 Patch from June 2020
- Traits and Aspirations in Eco Lifestyle - Traits and Aspirations Lists both updated.
Actor | Astronaut | Athlete | Business | Civil Designer | Conservationist | Criminal | Critic | Culinary | Detective | Doctor | Education Engineering Entertainer | Gardener | Military | Painter | Politician | Scientist | Scouts (Children/Teens) | Secret Agent | Social Media | Style Influencer | Tech Guru | Writer
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Comments (8)
I've got two questions:
Do you keep the recipes you unlocked even after changing careers or are they only active while working as a civil designer?
Are there any information about if university degrees have been considered?
At least the civic planner might work well with economics, communications or history as they all focus on charisma and logic. Maybe the developers thought about that.
University degrees are considered, but they haven't updated the enrolment list descriptions as to which majors gives you a boost. I do know the communications degree goes towards civic planner at least, as I just had a sim do that one! Haven't tested the rest yet.
Physics is what you need for the Green Technician path
What is the 'Eco Artisan' from level 9 of the Green Technician branch?
(Not the 'Eco-Engineer' from level 10).
I have searched high and low in the game itself and online, and there's nothing at all about it.
Hi Samuel. I saw that too, and I initially thought it was a lower rank of the trait you get... but that's not the case. I should've brought it up in the body of the page but try to avoid talking about bugs. In the game files, it appears as a build buy catalog unlock, but when you filter all the items in the pack in buy mode, not one of them indicates that it unlocks at rank 9 of the career and I didn't see anything in my inventory or family inventory. I think this is a mistake and they left it out on accident. I believe it was possibly a weaker version of the big trait but I have no evidence to support it other than their similar naming.
The Eco Artisan is a room unlock like the Civic Solace under the styled rooms!
Eco Artisan refers to the Career Room (in the pre-styled rooms).
How do you unlock the hydroponic planters? Is it through a branch of this career? I've searched everywhere and the only way I've found it is through the showhiddenobjects cheat.
I believe you obtain the hydroponic planter via the "Enthuse about Fabrication." There's information on it under Secret Recipes on this page.
I've been the Civic planner but would now like to use the same Sim to be the green technician but I can't figure out how to. any tips?
One Sim can't complete both branches of the same career, it's been this way since the game launched in 2014
I was able to unlock the smog vacuum using the Civic Planner branch of this career, so it's not exclusive to the Green Technicians. I actually did it without even trying about three weeks into the career.
I've found that you can unlock the fabrication recipes from the Civic Designer branch when your Design Concepts are accepted. This started happening for me at level 9 when I submitted Perfect Design Concepts. I had other levels of design concepts accepted earlier in the career, so can't say for certain if it was due to the career level or the concept quality (both happened at the same time).
I had to remove your links sadly BlackjackWidow, as your comment wouldn't approve with it. I think your post is clear enough without any additional information but if you want to you can try posting your link without embedding it and I should be able to approve it that way.
No worries on the link, I figured that would happen but thought I'd give it a try anyway, in case the pics might be more helpful. The only additional info that I wanted to explain is that you can get the smog vacuum in both branches by submitting designs via the mailbox.
My son is early in the civil career and I'm having issues trying to interview a homeowner. It keeps saying the other Sims are unimpressed by the interview technique in questions even if I build the friendship up to 100. It's still marked me off as having complete the task but I'm wondering if there is a way to actually get a response
Hi. Thanks for the guide and everything you guys have done. I just wanted to share this tidbit I just found: The Communications degree unlocks the Civic Planner branch and the Physics degree unlocks the Green Technician. Hope this was useful and that you guys can check this out.
Hey, thanks for sharing that tip. I forgot to check which degrees are involved :)