How much to charge for review service?

[designer82]

I'm an electrical pro. eng. and am wondering what to charge to review, and provide review comments. for the electrical/fire alarm drawings for a large (146m construction cost) high school.

First of all, I'm a millennial and am very unhappy with what previous engineers set as the cost for engineering. Thru some experience/research an architect can make 10% or more of total construction cost while MEP engineers get about 1% of total construction. Why the **** did engineers set this so low? what a bunch of idiots

going back to my first question... the MEP design (being say a measly 1.5% of total construction) was likely a bit over 2m with Electrical getting likely close to or just under 1m.

What would you charge for this review service to provide the review comments? I am thinking 4% or about 40k. Any thoughts/suggestions?

thx

 

[oldsparky52]

Using our capitalistic methods, charge as much as you can and as little as you need to.

Why are you basing your charges on others? That sounds like socialism or communism mindset, not capitalism.

 

[cpickett]

How many hours do you have/will you have in it, and what is your hourly rate? And set your hourly rate at what you are worth, not what someone else thinks it should be. I know in the commercial/public sector there are 'standard's for what percentage of a job engineering should cost, but I am tired of people saying that engineering costs so much, why does it take so much time, etc... well then those people can go get a degree and do it themselves!

To be fair, most all of my work is on industrial projects that are all unique so every project has to be quoted on hours and materials for that specific job, there are no shortcuts to getting a realistic quote. Also, our competition is not as fierce as the commercial/residential market, so we don't have to bid to every penny, however I still believe that you should get paid for your time at a fair rate. Don't participate in the "race to the bottom"

 

[petersonra]

you need to charge what the market will bear. the best way to figure that out is to look at what others are charging. keep in mind that if you have close working relationships that is sometimes worth more money than if you are trying to bid it.