Structural Fee for Motel in Midwest 6

[SEOH]

Hello,

Looking for sanity check on a project we are working on...

We are preparing a bid for a project in Nebraska for a 3 story, 35,000 sq. ft. Motel. Very basic design- shallow foundations, wood shear walls, wood joists, steel girders, repetitive floors, reasonable spans, etc. Hoping others could provide insight into approximate structural engineering costs for a job like this. Assume about 10 sheets of drawings, associated calculations. Project construction cost is estimated at $4,000,000.

We are estimating right around 0.5% of construction cost.

Kind Regards

 

[calvinandhobbes10]

This is a really great topic for discussion. Appreciate all the posts here, and agree that our industry needs more unity.

In my experience, which seems substantiated here, we structural engineers are simply BAD at developing and providing accurate fees, much less actually tailoring our workload or procedures to fit it. So we just say yes when asked to come down.
For instance, where do you get hourly rates from (the presumed benchmark of what you can "afford")? Actual overhead ratios from your office rent and administrative salaries, or a vague "Market"-ish idea of what you should be billing based on what you feel like others report?

My thoughts on your project, having done a good bit of developer-type work:

--Cost of structure outweighs the amount you can "shave" your fee by. Tighten up gross conservatism, shoot for 50th percentile engineering fee, and 10th percentile structural cost. Maybe $30k fee and try to keep lateral low. A 3-story hotel without strong wind, this is a simple structure---you can probably do shearwalls at 13' and omit all interior OSB except at the lobbies.
--Contractors run the show these days. Can't say it enough. You can't omit structural details to reduce sheet count or save fee/time. You'll be eventually drawing it as an RFI (and explaining a change order) or losing sleep because they missed your plan note and a toenail is now your controlling element. Your drawings need to be complete.
--wood construction and developer jobs = you have way less say/control over the finished product. They might look at your drawings, they might not. Special inspector is likely a high schooler with a clipboard. If you simply want to balance an hours ledger, cutting CA time seems like an easy "fix". But I never do it. Draw them a picture so you can show it to them.
--You say "no bumpouts". I hope for your sake it stays that way. Arch changes hurt. Anticipate, and plan accordingly. I suggest backloading as much effort as you can so you don't have to do it twice.

Let us know what you end up with.