Structural Engineering New Building Design Fees

[mfstructural]

I am working on a proposal for new design for a 5 story apartment building. First story will be precast concrete with a 4 story wood structure above.

The building is proposed to be 153,000 square feet, about 34k sq ft on each floor. I've attached a few photos below. If I base the fee on approx construction costs, 1% of construction cost (assuming $200/sq ft) is $306,000. I think that is way too high. If I go at $0.50 per square foot for structural, I'm at about 75k. I asked a friend who does design and they said that 65k is a fair fee. It will be repetitive but I'm not really sure on this one. Wanted to see if anyone had any thoughts on this?

 

[LOTE]

How much time/resources do you anticipate it will take to complete the project? I would start at 3X your pay rate with a 10-20% contingency.

If there is repetitive work, there are still costs with putting these into project/section specific plans, review comments, and insurance costs for the additional construction cost.

Is this an existing client, or are you going to be in a low bid situation with other engineers?

Don't sell yourself short. I have a set fee/area for design work that works well and my clients know what to expect, but I always struggle with quoting onsite observations. After every time I finish anything involving visiting the jobsite, I always realize I bid it way too low (fortunately a very small part of what I do). You don't want to get to the end of your 5-6 figure contract and realize you broke even or lost money.

 

[human909]

I presume you based in the USA, but stating so would help other tailor their responses. While the majority of this forum is US/Canada there are plenty of others. Now that I have that out of the way... $65k sounds like enough for a basic design with little further support. But a project of this size is likely to involve a plenty of follow up support.

I would expect you'd want to at least double that figure. To ensure adequate compensation for your work.

 

[W460x68]

The total fee for this would be in the 85k to 100k CAD in my market (Ontario, Canada). This would include construction reviews/administration in addition to design/drawings.