Structural Fee for Midrise Construction 1

[IsaacStructural]

I've found a couple threads on small residential construction projects and others on simple commercial construction, how about multi unit residential construction fees? how do you guys price for this sort of work? Do you usually go per sheet or % construction cost? The project I'm looking at is 4 stories, parking on first floor, and about 50 units.

Any advice would be appreciated.

M.S. Structural Engineering
Licensed Structural Engineer and Licensed Professional Engineer (Illinois)

 

[strucguy]

For multi-unit residential projects...I have seen fee typically vary between 0.55 to 0.65 dollars per square foot. But this is for projects that are very straight forward. This fee can go up depending on the complexity of the job.

 

[IsaacStructural]

Thanks Strucguy. Do you typically ask for the square footage, or just do some calculation on your own?

I'm working out a proposal from the construction cost and the number of sheets and am interested to see how your method works, I've never estimated that way before, though it seems just about as simple and straight forward as the other methods.

M.S. Structural Engineering
Licensed Structural Engineer and Licensed Professional Engineer (Illinois)

 

[strucguy]

Yes, we do ask for total square footage and proposed cost of the project to arrive at our fee.

 

[MiketheEngineer]

And I have heard of guys charging 1% to 2% of the proposed cost. Just an idea. I figure mine by looking at the job - figuring about how many hours and multiply by $150 per hour.

What ever works....

 

[hokie66]

It is very difficult to follow any guidelines in this type project. It depends so much on the complexity of the architecture, how much variation there is from floor to floor, etc. With four stories of units over parking below, you will invariably have a transfer floor, and therein lies much of the work. A lot also depends on the founding conditions. In short, price it on the scope of work, not on any rules of thumb.

 

[kipfoot]

This is stating the obvious, maybe, but be sure to clearly delineate the size, cost, and features you've assumed in your proposal. It's easy to assume something straight forward based on a preliminary sketch and a phone call and learn later that, "oh, by the way, the owner wants an atrium...and we need deep foundations....and there's a canopy...and there's no walls on the first floor."

I usually work a fee a couple ways to zero in on a number. Once you've done this one, you'll also have previous similar projects to use as a starting point.

 

[IsaacStructural]

Thanks Kipfoot, that is essentially what I wound up doing, I came up with a number based on the number of sheets I anticipated and then compared that with an estimate based on the construction cost. The numbers seemed to be in general agreement. As you mentioned, I hope to build a catalog of these buildings, from which I can draw more specific conclusions going forward, but I have to start somewhere.

Thanks again!

M.S. Structural Engineering
Licensed Structural Engineer and Licensed Professional Engineer (Illinois)

 

[JedClampett]

If the building is to be used as a condo, I would up my fee. As I've stated in other forums, condominium design results in the highest number of lawsuits of any design type. You have a large number of potentially dissatisfied owners with a probability of some of them being lawyers. They have association meetings where the biggest loudmouths run the show. And any problem is likely to be grounds for going to court and suing all involved.