Cost estimate of Geotechnical Projects

[soil1999]

Are you aware of any geotechnical book or source that gives guidance on cost estimate for various projects in geotechnical engineering.. ?
I have finished the preliminary design and caculated the quantities. I just want to survey the operations involved in the project with making sure that I did not miss any operation ( or at least I cover the most of the operations). I know that this is experienced based matter, (I have 10 years of experience) but still any source /book that deals with these matters will help.

 

[cvg]

are you talking about construction cost estimates or consulting costs? If construction, it would be useful to know what type of projects and costs you need

 

[soil1999]

Thanks for reply
Any source pertaining to any or preferably both ( geotechnical investigations, Design , Construction Cost and monitoring) will be great. Again would be great if one finds a source (or sources) covering different types of projects Shallow Found, Deep Found (piles, shaft), Pavemenet, Earth structures (tunnels, dams)... and so on.

 

[msucog]

i doubt anything specific exists since geotechnical projects are guided by project specifics, client expectations, desired confidence of site going in to project, etc etc. this is also why there can be huge swings in geotechnical estimates even for a fairly straightforward project. some firms may decide to lowball and default to deep foundations without even trying to consider shallow foundations...yields cheap geotech exploration but expensive recommendations to client. for construction, it is similar but possible based on whether youre actually following the building codes or not.

if someone does happen to know of a good book, i'd be interested to see what it says...

 

[dirtguy4]

This is a very difficult task that you are presenting. Professional associations in Canada typically ananlyze professional engineering salaries with the full range of spectrums from the most senior personnel to the junior woodchuck.

Costs for geotechnical investigations are suspect and I doubt that you will find anything that makes any sense.

For instance, a seasoned geotechnical engineer will cost more, but his/her recommendations will hold more merrit as opposed to a less senior engineered report that will have less substance that you are looking for, but may be cheaper. Remember engineering is about adding value......yes we need to charge for our services, but the client needs to reap the rewards in the end. The end must justify the means........so if you cost the client 10,000 but can save him/her $1,000,000 in cost over runs and extras, well thats value added.

I would suggest that you maybe talk with clients, other professionals and people who use engineers and see what they suggest for rates in your area. Prices for engineering differ in certain locations and can be significantly different as well drilling costs are variable as well.

Good luck with your quest though.

 

[Ron]

As for the geotechnical investigation costs, historical information in your own firm is the best info you'll find. As others have said, any of the "generalizations" will be off target.

As for construction costs, including deep foundations, you might consider one of the RS Means estimating guides. There are several so select the one closest to your project needs. They are usually quite conservative, but they are recognized and defensible.

Another estimating guide is Walker's. It is probably in its 40th edition by now. It is less specific than Means, but still offer some relevant info.

 

[msucog]

And as for these days, there will always be "that cheap firm" lowballing work in ways that I'd call unethical and/or very contractor-like..."cheap is cheap" and those cheap geotechs cost owners many, MANY times the saving of them going with the cheap consultants that prostitute themselves. If an owner wants me to go cheap, I'll automatically default to deep foundations without knowing anything about the site. I'll tell them to take it refusal. Now did that recommendation really do them any good? NO. But it was "cheap"....

I'm off my soapbox now

 

[BigH]

msucog - we should all stay on more. I might have told this before but I had to bid a project for $1500 including drilling in Toronto area back in 1993 or so. This was slightly less than the investigation next door in 1963; but where I had only 6 hours allotted to putting the report together, the earlier investigation had more than 50 hours of engineering time. No wonder some of the "old timers" got so much more "experience" - they had time to ponder. Luckily - we had done the job next door many years earlier - had good experience in the same strata so the report (as do many around the country, I am sure) was not developed from first principals.

 

[itani1981]

Well i agree to all what they have mentioned yet according to my experince , u can use such figures that cover process cost without materails are applicable generally for sandy soil SPT 1 to 30, if you strata is harder or your encountering rock layer figures change

Excavation 4 us dollar per cubic m
Pile drilling 1000 mm dia 120$/m (with materail 300$)
anchor drilling or micro pile 27$/m (cost of anchor with materails around 850$ for 15 m length)
Berliner wall shoring down to 6 m max 150$/square (recoverable wall)
Grouting for base plug 320$/MC (with materail)

Hope the same is usefull

 

[fattdad]

Most of my geotechnical engineering studies range from $5,000.00 to $15,000.00 for commercial and industrial buildings.

There are too many factors to reduce this to a formula.

Completly agree on low-price consultants. Too many projects sit on piles to bedrock 'cause the original geotechnical budget excluded appropriate soil strength and consolidation testing (or the engineer lacked experience).

f-d

¡papá gordo ain’t no madre flaca!

 

[Rockerdes]

Just for info, i am erecting a 200mt bin on a dump,we discovered after a geotechnical investigation the soil was 5.4 below NGL and doing a cost comparison for the client it was found that to do a large engineered soil raft below the RC raft was 1.6 times more expensive that piling down 8 x 500kn piles so never throw any options aside always weigh you options carefully.

 

[soi1962]

Is anyone know how much cost is expected for analysis and design of pile/pier for bridge? thanks for your kind reply.