Project Fee Calculation Worksheet Example

For an M-E-P Consulting Engineer

Method 1 – Percent of General Construction
  • Total General Construction Estimate = $50,000,000
  • MEP portion of the construction = 25% of the total = $12,500,000
  • MEP Design Fee (as percentage of the MEP construction) = 4%
  • MEP Design Fee (as percentage of General Construction) = 25% x 4% = 1% of General Construction
  • MEP Design Fee = $50,000,000 x 1% = $500,000
Method 2 – Percent of Architect’s Fee
  • Total General Construction Estimate = $50,000,000
  • Architect’s fee (as percentage of General Construction) = 10%
  • Architect’s fee = $50,000,000 x 10% = $5,000,000
  • MEP Design Fee (as percentage of Architect’s fee) = 10%
  • MEP Design Fee = $5,000,000 x 10% = $500,000
Method 3 – Total Staff Requirements by MEP Consultant
  • Staff costs (salary plus overhead)
  • Principal: $150 per hour
  • Project Manager: $120 per hour
  • Senior Engineer: $100 per hour
  • Design Engineer: $75 per hour
  • CADD operator: $50 per hour
  • Administrative: $40 per hour

If this project requires the following time commitments:

  • Principal: 25 hours
  • Project Manager: 350 hours
  • Project Engineers (each): 250 hours (total of 3 project engineers)
  • Design Engineers (each): 750 hours (total of 3 design engineers)
  • CADD operators (each): 1500 hours (total of 2 CADD operators)
  • Administrative: 250 hours

The staff costs would total $449,500

If there is a 10% profit, the total MEP fee for this project would be $494,450 ($449,500 x 110%).

Project Management is a complex, hands-on, task specific occupation that requires both the science of managing numbers and budgets as well as the art of managing people and project vision.

A tool the Project Manager can utilize to standardize and automate the fee estimation part of the job is the Project Fee Calculation Worksheet. This worksheet can be manipulated to change costs, percentages, pay rates, profits, markups, and project scope.

The Project Fee Calculation Worksheet was designed to help the Project Manager or the Project Management Team assemble an accurate project fee estimation. The worksheet allows the Project Manager or the Project Management Team to manipulate multiple variables associated with any given project to arrive at a project fee estimate.

This worksheet will save you countless hours of calculations when preparing design fees for clients.

The locked, free version allows you to manipulate and change:

  • Construction Cost Estimates
  • Architect’s Fee Percentage
  • MEP Consultant’s Fee Percentage
  • Staff Hourly Costs
  • Profit Margins
  • and more

The unlocked version allows you to manipulate and change:

  • All the variables shown for the locked version
  • Plus any of the other variables, categories, or percentages in the entire worksheet
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