Civil Fee 1

[tw]

How do you civil engineers calculate fees for typical site work like grading, parking, roads, drainage, etc? We are mainly structural and sometimes throw in the civil for 60% of Arch fee of the civil portion of work, but that doesn't usually amount to much of a fee.

 

[DMcGrath]

History and past experience has the bulk of influence on our fees. We look at how long it took to do a similar task last time, then apply hours x billing rates. This helps establish a base cost, then a detailed look at the job for "out of the normal" type of things is the next step.

 

[rday]

tw,

I do it just like I do structural. Estimate how much time it will take based on project requirements and complexity. The municipality also comes into play, as some are more difficult to work with than others. Just like any estimating it takes a little experience.

I have heard a $2000 per sheet rule of thumb. The last combined job I did on a 1 acre commercial site the civil fees were about 2.5 time the structural fees (two story building-light frame construction).

Rik