"If a builder builds a house for someone, and does not construct it properly, and the house which he built falls in and kills its owner, then that builder shall be put to death!"
~Code of Hammurabi
For work from home, I try to get about $75/hour... and from the office, I'm billed out at approx $200/hour. Pretty representative for a large firm in this area. Smaller firms typically bill out senior people at approx $150 per hour.
CAD Drafters - $65-$75/hour
Young EITs - $95-$110/hour
Senior EITs - $115-$125/hour
PEs - $130-$150/hour
Managers/Principals - $150-$200 (depending on experience levels and credentials)
Expert Witness/Forensic Engineers - $250-$350/hour
For small jobs (less than 2 days of work), I typically quote by the hour, bigger jobs are usually lump sum based on a number of factors like...the square footage, construction type, expected cost of construction and the schedule of deliverables. Lump sum jobs generally do not work out to hourly rate times the total number of hours spent, but rather it's a actual cost vs expense (personnel salaries, materials, overhead) may or may not equal some profit.
In my opinion, we are professionals, we should demand to be treated and compensated as such. The majority of us spend more time in college, in training or apprenticeships, testing and certifications, etc. than most other professionals to get licensed (with the exception of some doctors or surgeons with a specialty), yet we are constantly beat up as to why our fees or rates are what they are. What you charge should be somewhat in line with others in your area, but in the same sense you should make your clients aware of why your hourly rates or fees are what they are over others who may be "low-balling" to get the job. For instance, liability and experience can have a huge impact. Maybe you or your firm have higher insurance limits (errors and omissions) than a smaller firm or someone in business for themselves. Some projects require higher insurance limits than just the minimum. Maybe you have more experience with a particular project type over another firm bidding against you who is trying to get into the market. Maybe you have more staff and flexibility to meet demanding deadlines or work on multiple projects. These are all good reasons why you should demand higher rates than some. It's risk vs reward...right? Remember when competitively bidding, IMO, there is always someone out there who can do it cheaper, what you've got to convince the client is what service they will be getting from you vs the other guys. Also I've found that if you perform work directly for the end user (i.e. building or facility owner, property manager, etc.) you can generally demand a little higher fee. If you are passing your costs thru an architect or contractor, you can almost always be assured that your costs will be marked up somewhat so that they make a little off of your services as well.
Well said. I do most jobs by the hour and charge $150 for engineering and drafting. Most jobs are 3 to 30 hours. I do my own drafting and justify the fee as I do alot of the engineering while I am drafting. Architects around here are starting to average $125 per hour which is getting "uncomfortably close" to my rate.
Southeast US---For most civil, structural, geotechnical work in our area, fees range from about $110 to $160 per hour for Sr. Engineers. In my firm we do mostly forensic work with Senior Engineer billing rate of $190 to $215 and Principal Engineer rate is $275 to $325 per hour.
