See http://www.apegm.mb.ca/keydocs/cguide/index.html that is the guide to the engagement of a consulting engineer and it lists some suggested fee structures including a sliding scale based on the complexity of a project and the cost.

Its published by the Manitoba (Canada) association in conjunction with the local consulting engineering association.

Other associations might have similar documents.

Rick Kitson MBA P.Eng

Construction Project Management
From conception to completion
www.kitsonengineering.com

For Marine (commercial ship shaped)projects the figure for shipyards detailed engineering is probably lower, in the order of 1-2% for a typical tanker for example.
Add to this the cost for owners representation and site inspection ,which runs 2-3% typically.
Third party (Classification society) plan approval and Survey may run in the order of an additional 1-2%.
Rgds,
R. K. Kimmons and Associates, L.L.C.
Marine and Offshore Technical Services
Email: rkkimmons@att.com

You could make an estimate of time for the design and documentation process and apply an hourly rate.

Could you supply some more information as to what the development is? This will give us the chance to give better guidance.


regards

sc

The rule of thumb we use at my firm is that the engineering and administration is about 9 to 10% of the total construction cost. Another useful method of cost estimating for design work is that each drawing you produce costs about $8,000.