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consultancy fee structure
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Jayant Lakhlani
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Joined: 26 Jan 2003
Posts: 192

PostPosted: Tue Jan 22, 2013 2:03 pm    Post subject: consultancy fee structure Reply with quote

I fully agree with Mr. Nori and fully disagree with Sangeeta and Ajayk.

When we accept working at lower fees (Say Rs. 3 to 5 per sq ft) with a justification that if we do not accept it, someone else is ready to do it or few privileged SE only can get higher fees, it makes us enter a very fantastic trap and if we do not realize it, we remain entrapped life long.

Our office overheads and personal expenses for a reasonably good life style remains same as for those few privileged SEs. So to cop up with those expenses, while working at lower fees, we have no option but to work on more number of projects. Working on more number of projects means lesser of our time input per square feet of slab we design. (If we compare on sq ft basis). So, ultimately the equation becomes lesser fees means lesser input from our side. This trap is very dangerous. It will not allow us ever to think of doing good quality work.

Everyone of us is talking about level of fees with very few talking about level of services. In real estate market, builders are appointing structural engineers by compulsion and not by choice. Structure designed by us is not a selling point for them, as the architectural design is. So why should he pay you more? Here comes a structural engineer's selling point. If you are able to convince him that he will get benefited from your work, he shall be more than willing to pay. I would like to share a recent experience of my own.

One residential tower project designed by us was just completed. In that, four towers (G + 10), of identical design (All towers were identical and all floor plans were identical) were there. Total construction was about 2,50,000 sq ft. When the client approached us for structural design, he mentioned that he was developing the project for lower income group and for that reason was keen on keeping the construction cost low. I understood that he was preparing a platform to lower down structural consultancy fees.

But I grabbed that opportunity and told him that if you want to lower down the cost, why don't we do it in a smart technical way. He was immediately interested, forgetting the negotiation of our fees. I proposed him that let us try few different structural systems (Instead of conventional MRF system that is prevalent in the region) and for each of those, we derive structural cost and based on this exercise we can finalize the most economical one. I also proposed that we will finalize our fees after carrying out this whole exercise as we don't know how much effort we will have to put in that. He immediately agreed as he had not to make any professional commitment at that stage.

After working on this for three months, we were ready with four different options and most economical one was proving cheaper by Rs. 50 per sq. ft as compared to conventional MRF system. So, for 2,50,000 sq ft of construction, he was saving Rs. 1 crore. When we next sit to finalize our contract, we concluded on Rs. 12 per sq ft as our fees. (And that too for total 2,50,000 sq ft without any consideration to typical tower or typical floors) (I hope there is no IT official on SEFI forum)

So, as I mentioned in my earlier mail, clients are ready to pay. We have to learn to make them pay as we wish.

Regards.

Jayant Lakhlani
For
Lakhlani Associates
www.lakhlani.com

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vinayvjs
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Joined: 16 Nov 2011
Posts: 2

PostPosted: Tue Jan 22, 2013 2:25 pm    Post subject: consultancy fee structure Reply with quote

On Tue, Jan 22, 2013 at 7:28 PM, diwakar bhagat <forum@sefindia.org (forum@sefindia.org)> wrote:
Quote:
T before a consultant is held responsible .... Consultant should always come second in line .... If this happens then only the developer will come to consultant with "folded hands" and will pay with. " open hands "
Currently its the reverse .




Dear All,
 

           It surprising that, there is a competition developed withing structural Engineers regarding the quantity of the steel. Less amount of the steel given More projects he will get, so the fame. We being analysing the structure, with IS loading over the model and drawing to the standard are not trusted, where as the one engineer who deos not design, does not look into soil test report, gives about 30 % less steel quantity will be trusted more. even it is multi storey building.

         The builder ( with no ethics ) needs lesser steel in the building. He is neither concerned about the structure nor the people about to dwell in it. The engineers do the same. And when we insist on the design calculation neither the builder gives it nor the other structural engineer.

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yatendrapaliwal
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Joined: 25 Jan 2010
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Location: NCR - Delhi

PostPosted: Tue Jan 22, 2013 2:38 pm    Post subject: consultancy fee structure Reply with quote

I totally agree with view of mr Bharath that a reputed body like institution of engineers etc should take lead in fee structure finalization as per scope of works clearly define in different categories.Er. Yatendra PaliwalSent from BlackBerry® on Airtel
From: "Bharathhassan" <forum@sefindia.org>
Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2013 14:30:27 +0530
To: <general@sefindia.org>
ReplyTo: general@sefindia.org
Subject: [SEFI] Re: consultancy fee structure

     Dear All,  The Institution of Engineers should make some regulations regarding fixing up fee and authority to sign the drawings .[should regulate order with out proper structural design the building should not be sanctioned .Building should be signed with qualified structural engineers ] .   Because in my place the building with G+3 or still more floors, the many contractor /engineers will put reinforcement by themselves  without designing the structures .They are not bothered about the safety stability  of the structure not only safety, they are spoiling the image the of structural engineers, The clients will never understand critically / importance of structural designing .   And in addition to above discussion .   Why structural engineers are very less paid compare with other profession ? Especially in my town [Banaglore ] people doesn't know the importance of structural engineers .And companies are also very less  the consultancy are taking an advantage .The person / candidates  got more than 5 years of experience with master degrees holders getting less then fresh software professional or banking or ordinary degree holder its most painful thing compare to other cities bangalore is horrible place for structural engineers .And freshers suffers to get a job .   My humble and sincerer request is charge structures in % or estimate man hour basis and give good pay to working level structural engineers.     Regards   Bharath                               On Tue, Jan 22, 2013 at 11:59 AM, SANGEETA WIJ  wrote:        --auto removed--

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Dr. N. Subramanian
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 22, 2013 4:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Dear Er Sriprakash,

Nice question. In fact, one of the aims of  the Association of Consulting civil Engineers (India) was to discuss this aspect with all the consulting engineers and provide a forum where it can be discussed so that a consensus can be reached on the fee structure. I believe the consultants in Bangalore at least are quoting uniform fee. But at the same time, I am surprised to note about the comments of Er Manohar!

When hair cutting saloons are having a strong associations and uniformly increasing the fee every year, why not engineers do it?

Regards,
NS
sriprakash_shastry wrote:
Dear All

Just a thought. Have you realised maybe that some of your own clients/competitors may be on this forum.

Regards
Sriprakash
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Dr. N. Subramanian
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 22, 2013 4:25 pm    Post subject: Re: consultancy fee structure Reply with quote

Dear Dr Nori,

Glad that you are participating in the discussions. Of course clients will view a company like Shrish Patel & Co differently than a company  which is a small one headed by a fresher. That is why I said in the first message that the fee is depended upon the consultant!

Warm regards and Happy 2013!

Subramanian
nori wrote:
Dear Mr Barua,

I am indeed very happy to read your comments. Congratulations for being frank and forthright.  

I am attaching a scanned message from FIDIC for kind information of all the learned members.
The image is not very clear unless zoomed. I have summed up the main issues  

<if>1. <endif>First of all we engineers, only we are to blame for the sorry state of affairs…
<if>2. <endif>Do good work and tell the world about.  
<if>3. <endif>The compensation for our services has to be valued and performance based and not traded like a commodity. The best trained minds will not choose engineering consultancy if the compensation is not in line with other professions……
Best Regards
V V Nori


From: ibarua [mailto:forum@sefindia.org]
Sent: Monday, January 21, 2013 1:29 PM
To: general@sefindia.org
Subject: [SEFI] Re: consultancy fee structure



21st Jan 2013

I'm surprised that you are talking about charging consultancy fees in terms of rupees per sq.ft. Are we drawing supply contractors?

The fee has to be a percentage of the cost of the project.

For comprehensive services (architectural, structural, etc.), the Council of Architecture (the statutory body regulating the architectural profession) has prescribed certain minimum fees -- as percentage of the value of the work. The practice in the architectural profession is to charge fees as a percentage of the cost of the work -- at least in this backward part of the country where I live and work.

Indrajit Barua.

From: srinivasan_vasudevan
Sent: Mon, 21 Jan 2013 12:02:58
To: general@sefindia.org (general@sefindia.org)
Subject: [SEFI] Re: consultancy fee structure
Dear all When quoting the consultancy fees on sft basis , one has to be careful as to what is the area for consideration Some builders do not pay for basement areas and parking , ramps etc., as they do not fetch revenue !!!When designing buildings with double or triple basements, where deep excavtion protection systems needs to be considered as part of structural designs , costs to be included in sft cost It is surprising and indeed stupid for structural engineers to be told , there is no fee consideration for the most challenging part of building deisgn !!Vasudevan Consulting engineer Bangalore RegardsTSVcruthi consultants consortium Pvt.LtdrajajinagarBanglore
From: "abubaker_ka"
Date: Sun, 20 Jan 2013 11:21:24 +0530
To:
ReplyTo: general@sefindia.org (general@sefindia.org)
Subject: [SEFI] Re: consultancy fee structure

Dear Viren I fully agree with Mr. Jayant, regarding the fee structure for structural Engineers. But generally there is a common practice in our place. For structural design and detailing one can charge 0.5% of the cost of construction . The cost of construction in our place comes to Rs.1000/sq.ft. for the structural part.That is, the structural consultancy rate /sq.ft is Rs.5.00. This will end up in Rs.4/sq.ft. Or even less at the time of closing the account unless the designer is careful in issuing drawings. According to me the reasonable rate for structural design is 1% of the cost of structure.( Rs.10.00/ sq.ft). Then only one can do good quality work. If the architectural and structural designs are done together, 2.5% of cost of construction or Rs.40/ sq.ft can be charged. This excludes any interior work or site supervision. With warm regards Prof.Dr.K.A.AbuBaker Sent from my iPad On 19 Jan 2013, at 19:21, "jlakhlani" wrote:     
--auto removed--

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efficientdesign
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Joined: 27 Aug 2012
Posts: 3

PostPosted: Tue Jan 22, 2013 6:02 pm    Post subject: consultancy fee structure Reply with quote

Hi to all,
In our multi-storeyed buildings project in Mumbai, Structural engineer
is getting around Rs 3.5 per sqft.
If the price is not based on % cost, one day might come the cost of
construction would be 10,000 Rs /sqft. and SE will still get Rs 3.5/
sq.ft  ie 0.035 % !!!

Have Structural Engineers never heared something called inflation? If
they had heared, they would never agree on per sq.ft basis. very sad &
stupid !


On 1/22/13, diwakar bhagat <forum@sefindia.org> wrote:
Quote:
Dear all

The fee structure as we see as a consultancy fee for structural design is in
a non concluded and in a sorry state and only we ( structural engineers )
are  to blame  as said  in this string of mail.
it would be nice to point out that we ( all structural enggrs put together )
are to blame and we cannot pin point any individual amongst us at a given
point of time to be responsible ...... This is because we individuals have
been forced / dominated /conceeded / accepted fees , which has not still
been unified to an acceptable minimum level amongst us , hence no question
arises of anything going wrong on his (any individual )Part when he
(any)accepts less fees in terms of square foot ...... Because we still have
not formed a consensus of mininimum ... fees and we ourselves have left
ourselves to be dominated by an open market , driven by market desire...
Requirement ... And market need and market  developed fee structure ...
Wherein market (end client ) doesn't understands the following about our
work
a)
importance of structural engineering in permanent infrastructural
development of a country (just think this way after nearly 50 to 75 years no
working / earning person at age of 25 years currently Will live to see a day
in a our country , only the man made structures will remain there and there
will be altogether new set of human beings .... Hence all infrastructural
development is only the long term surviving permanent asset of our country
by which our country will be recognised / appraised / valued ...  This is
very much gauged by , what we see and call other countries as developed
nations .... Like. USA , whole of EUROPE .. Japan .. Singapore... .. And we
can see now China ... Also we take pride in our hitorical monuments ..qutab
minar ..taj mahal ...huge sized temple precints .... Large no of huge sized
forts and palaces ... These have outlived there time and INDIA.... Is
identified by these permanent ..... Monuments ....... No ..mistake ... THESE
ARE STRUCTURES.......

b)
Hoping that as discussed in a).            the importance /significance /
presence of structures can be felt by us in india ... but INDIA As a market
is not able to realise the importance of structures
and sadly there is no specific body which can enforce this upon the
developers ... And the agencies which are making (minting ) money out of
construction industry without paying heed to stringent quality control
issues in terms of construction (testings as stipulated ) and
selecting...... consultants on merit and paying them well.

c)
It is of prime importance that the Indian construction industry realises
its own  lacunae in terms of consultants selection , fee of consultants.
presence of larger no of qualified engineers ( structural .. Mechanical ..
Electrical ..)

Question is ......how can this be achieved .....

ENGINEERS BILL is an answer and all engineers must take effort to achieve
this .. Also non practising engineers should take effort to get this
accomplished , for this Will be good for the whole nation ,

as this will optimize material consumtion and natural resources of country
and also a better engineered ( designed ) structure will have an  Enhanced
life span and this will also bring about richness to country as shorter life
span of structure requires rebuilding in lesser number of years and again
this consumes all the Resources of our country in shorter time frame ... Say
every 40 to 50 years we renew our buildings in india made of rcc , whereas
internationally this number of years is Much higher ....

d ) all the documents including the structural drawing ( structural drawings
in itself becomes a legal Document as it stands to be the physical /
material proof of structural engineers signed responsibility towards the
society through the client / developer  ) should carry forward a message
that the validity of design and drawing and the legal responsibility of the
structural engineer ceases until and unless the developer puts forth the
documents of testing of concrete , steel , cement and other material used by
him in construction.
This Will mean that the developer will have to be held responsible for any
thing going wrong. In building at later date ....even before the design is
put under question the developer should be held responsible , because its
him who is the person selecting
The consultant ( thru arch mostly ) and incompetent consultants are also
selected    to keep the fee low.... Hence the Developer should be made to
own responsibility
For his non performance and taking no pain in verifying credentials of a
consultant before  selecting a competent consultant.

Having said "all" we have to generate all document and drawings which holds
the "developer responsible" FIRST before a consultant is held responsible
.... Consultant should always come second in line .... If this happens then
only the developer will come to consultant with "folded hands" and will pay
with.        " open hands "
Currently its the reverse .

Regards

Diwakar bhagat


Sent from BlackBerryŽ on Airtel

--Original Message--
From: nori <forum@sefindia.org>
Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2013 03:26:33
To: <general@sefindia.org>
Subject: [SEFI] Re: consultancy fee structure

           
Dear Mr Barua,

I am indeed very happy to read your comments. Congratulations for being
frank and forthright.

I am attaching a scanned message from FIDIC for kind information of all the
learned members.
The image is not very clear unless zoomed. I have summed up the main issues


1. First of all we engineers, only we are to blame for the sorry state of
affairs.
2. Do good work and tell the world about.
3. The compensation for our services has to be valued and performance based
and not traded like a commodity. The best trained minds will not choose
engineering consultancy if the compensation is not in line with other
professions..
Best Regards
V V Nori


From: ibarua [mailto:forum@sefindia.org]
Sent: Monday, January 21, 2013 1:29 PM
To: general@sefindia.org <mailto:general@sefindia.org>
Subject: [SEFI] Re: consultancy fee structure



21st Jan 2013

I'm surprised that you are talking about charging consultancy fees in terms
of rupees per sq.ft. Are we drawing supply contractors?

The fee has to be a percentage of the cost of the project.

For comprehensive services (architectural, structural, etc.), the Council of
Architecture (the statutory body regulating the architectural profession)
has prescribed certain minimum fees -- as percentage of the value of the
work. The practice in the architectural profession is to charge fees as a
percentage of the cost of the work -- at least in this backward part of the
country where I live and work.

Indrajit Barua.

From: srinivasan_vasudevan
Sent: Mon, 21 Jan 2013 12:02:58
To: general@sefindia.org <mailto:general@sefindia.org>
(general@sefindia.org <mailto:general@sefindia.org> )
Subject: [SEFI] Re: consultancy fee structure
Dear all When quoting the consultancy fees on sft basis , one has to be
careful as to what is the area for consideration Some builders do not pay
for basement areas and parking , ramps etc., as they do not fetch revenue
!!!When designing buildings with double or triple basements, where deep
excavtion protection systems needs to be considered as part of structural
designs , costs to be included in sft cost It is surprising and indeed
stupid for structural engineers to be told , there is no fee consideration
for the most challenging part of building deisgn !!Vasudevan Consulting
engineer Bangalore RegardsTSVcruthi consultants consortium
Pvt.LtdrajajinagarBanglore
From: "abubaker_ka"
Date: Sun, 20 Jan 2013 11:21:24 +0530
To:
ReplyTo: general@sefindia.org <mailto:general@sefindia.org>
(general@sefindia.org <mailto:general@sefindia.org> )
Subject: [SEFI] Re: consultancy fee structure

Dear Viren I fully agree with Mr. Jayant, regarding the fee structure for
structural Engineers. But generally there is a common practice in our place.
For structural design and detailing one can charge 0.5% of the cost of
construction . The cost of construction in our place comes to Rs.1000/sq.ft.
for the structural part.That is, the structural consultancy rate /sq.ft is
Rs.5.00. This will end up in Rs.4/sq.ft. Or even less at the time of closing
the account unless the designer is careful in issuing drawings. According to
me the reasonable rate for structural design is 1% of the cost of
structure.( Rs.10.00/ sq.ft). Then only one can do good quality work. If the
architectural and structural designs are done together, 2.5% of cost of
construction or Rs.40/ sq.ft can be charged. This excludes any interior work
or site supervision. With warm regards Prof.Dr.K.A.AbuBaker Sent from my
iPad On 19 Jan 2013, at 19:21, "jlakhlani" wrote:
--auto removed--
     




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satish_jain
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Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 3

PostPosted: Wed Jan 23, 2013 7:00 am    Post subject: consultancy fee structure Reply with quote

Good point on Inflation! I have been making the same point to several structural engineers. Keeping low fees(in sq. ft terms) will certainly kill our firms in the coming 4 to 5 years, if you work on the same fees today and 5 years from now. 

Real estate prices increase over the years and our fees gets depreciated - way to go for a country like ours. I have to agree that even I have to take fees in terms of sq. ft as that is the demand no matter what from the clients but we probably reject 5 jobs in 10 just because of low fees offered. We revise our asking rate from year to year based on the inflation and take only those jobs where the client can understand that to provide good engineering, I have to keep good staff and that costs MONEY!


Regards,
Satish Jain

On Wed, Jan 23, 2013 at 12:08 PM, efficientdesign <forum@sefindia.org (forum@sefindia.org)> wrote:
Quote:
           Hi to all,
In our multi-storeyed buildings project in Mumbai, Structural engineer
is getting around Rs 3.5 per sqft.
If the price is not based on % cost, one day might come the cost of
construction would be 10,000 Rs /sqft. and SE will still get Rs 3.5/
sq.ft ie 0.035 % !!!

Have Structural Engineers never heared something called inflation? If
they had heared, they would never agree on per sq.ft basis. very sad &
stupid !





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abhio
...
...


Joined: 08 Mar 2010
Posts: 548

PostPosted: Wed Jan 23, 2013 7:30 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I am glad to hear of Er Lakhani's experience in selling consultancy based on cost optimisation. However, I don't think this is the best or only means of ensuring reasonable fees for the profession.

We have to acknowledge the reality that the client (builder) is not interested in quality. We also have to acknowledge that there are several situations in which a half-baked solution by a less-experienced designer would appear to be more economical than one proposed by an experienced designer who has carefully considered all aspects of the problem. As an example, we had designed a foundation for a tall chimney so as to avoid uplift, whereas a less experienced engineer had only considered stability. Our solution appeared to be unnecessarily expensive, but was the correct one.

I believe that the definition of the word Engineer needs to be protected by law, so that the status of the profession is enhanced and can command adequate fees so as to perform a satisfactory job.
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irshad
SEFI Member
SEFI Member


Joined: 23 Mar 2011
Posts: 9

PostPosted: Wed Jan 23, 2013 8:32 am    Post subject: consultancy fee structure Reply with quote

Dear All,

I fully agree with what Dr. Nori is saying, we ourselves are to be blamed for our precarious condition. In all the projects it is the Architect who hogs the all the limelight and Structural Engineers role is reduced to just some other guy. I feel there need to be some legislation for compulsory structural design and review for all the projects. This will definitely bring the SE’s to the forefront and people will get to know the importance of structural design and the role of a structural Engineer. But I worry if this is not done in a proper way, it will become just a eyewash (the way BMC design and approvals are done).

Regards

Irshad Khan

From: nori [mailto:forum@sefindia.org (forum@sefindia.org)]
Sent: Tuesday, January 22, 2013 8:57 AM
To: general@sefindia.org (general@sefindia.org)
Subject: [SEFI] Re: consultancy fee structure



Dear Mr Barua,

I am indeed very happy to read your comments. Congratulations for being frank and forthright.

I am attaching a scanned message from FIDIC for kind information of all the learned members.
The image is not very clear unless zoomed. I have summed up the main issues

1. First of all we engineers, only we are to blame for the sorry state of affairs…
2. Do good work and tell the world about.
3. The compensation for our services has to be valued and performance based and not traded like a commodity. The best trained minds will not choose engineering consultancy if the compensation is not in line with other professions……
Best Regards
V V Nori


From: ibarua [mailto:forum@sefindia.org (forum@sefindia.org)]
Sent: Monday, January 21, 2013 1:29 PM
To: general@sefindia.org (general@sefindia.org)
Subject: [SEFI] Re: consultancy fee structure



21st Jan 2013

I'm surprised that you are talking about charging consultancy fees in terms of rupees per sq.ft. Are we drawing supply contractors?

The fee has to be a percentage of the cost of the project.

For comprehensive services (architectural, structural, etc.), the Council of Architecture (the statutory body regulating the architectural profession) has prescribed certain minimum fees -- as percentage of the value of the work. The practice in the architectural profession is to charge fees as a percentage of the cost of the work -- at least in this backward part of the country where I live and work.

Indrajit Barua.

From: srinivasan_vasudevan
Sent: Mon, 21 Jan 2013 12:02:58
To: general@sefindia.org (general@sefindia.org) (general@sefindia.org (general@sefindia.org))
Subject: [SEFI] Re: consultancy fee structure
Dear all When quoting the consultancy fees on sft basis , one has to be careful as to what is the area for consideration Some builders do not pay for basement areas and parking , ramps etc., as they do not fetch revenue !!!When designing buildings with double or triple basements, where deep excavtion protection systems needs to be considered as part of structural designs , costs to be included in sft cost It is surprising and indeed stupid for structural engineers to be told , there is no fee consideration for the most challenging part of building deisgn !!Vasudevan Consulting engineer Bangalore RegardsTSVcruthi consultants consortium Pvt.LtdrajajinagarBanglore
From: "abubaker_ka"
Date: Sun, 20 Jan 2013 11:21:24 +0530
To:
ReplyTo: general@sefindia.org (general@sefindia.org) (general@sefindia.org (general@sefindia.org))
Subject: [SEFI] Re: consultancy fee structure

Dear Viren I fully agree with Mr. Jayant, regarding the fee structure for structural Engineers. But generally there is a common practice in our place. For structural design and detailing one can charge 0.5% of the cost of construction . The cost of construction in our place comes to Rs.1000/sq.ft. for the structural part.That is, the structural consultancy rate /sq.ft is Rs.5.00. This will end up in Rs.4/sq.ft. Or even less at the time of closing the account unless the designer is careful in issuing drawings. According to me the reasonable rate for structural design is 1% of the cost of structure.( Rs.10.00/ sq.ft). Then only one can do good quality work. If the architectural and structural designs are done together, 2.5% of cost of construction or Rs.40/ sq.ft can be charged. This excludes any interior work or site supervision. With warm regards Prof.Dr.K.A.AbuBaker Sent from my iPad On 19 Jan 2013, at 19:21, "jlakhlani" wrote:
--auto removed--





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Dr. N. Subramanian
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 23, 2013 3:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Dear Er Abhio,

Clients ask the Engineer to quote on the basis of square feet only in regular buildings. In other areas like transmission towers, chimneys etc., they normally do not negotiate much, as the job is not mundane and as there are not so many competitors!

Best wishes,
NS


abhio wrote:
I am glad to hear of Er Lakhani's experience in selling consultancy based on cost optimisation. However, I don't think this is the best or only means of ensuring reasonable fees for the profession.

We have to acknowledge the reality that the client (builder) is not interested in quality. We also have to acknowledge that there are several situations in which a half-baked solution by a less-experienced designer would appear to be more economical than one proposed by an experienced designer who has carefully considered all aspects of the problem. As an example, we had designed a foundation for a tall chimney so as to avoid uplift, whereas a less experienced engineer had only considered stability. Our solution appeared to be unnecessarily expensive, but was the correct one.

I believe that the definition of the word Engineer needs to be protected by law, so that the status of the profession is enhanced and can command adequate fees so as to perform a satisfactory job.
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