All Forum Posts by: Kevin Williams

Hello, I am new to this forum and this subject touched a nerve with me so here you go...

I have been in civil engineering for 28 years. I will be brief and say that it sounds like your being taken advantage of. When a civil engineering contract is put together, it is traditionally for a fixed price "PLAN CHECK CORRECTIONS INCLUDED". It is the engineer's obligation to him or herself as well as the client to anticipate approximately 3 planchecks depending on the complexity of the project. The cost associated with completing those corrections should be in the contract, but not necessarily spelled out, but definitely absorbed into the fixed price.

Depending on the size of the civil engineering company's design staff, it should take approximately 1 to 2 working-day weeks to turnaround a plancheck if the design was done within substantial conformance of the design standards of the governing agency. The traditional time for a civil engineer to require a T&M fee is usually:

1. On the front end during the pre-planning phase of a project which is normally a moving target until you have a final plan that can move forward into final design. This is the norm and I tend to set this at a time and materials basis to an amount not to exceed. In other words, I will set price of maybe $5K-$8K (depending on the project) which I would bill toward for pre-planning engineering. If the amount of work exceeds this amount I would contact the client to let them know, and give them justification for additional cost.

2. Changes beyond the scope of their contracted dictated by the owner or governing agencies or both.

Next project you do, ask the engineer to make sure that their cost covers plancheck corrections so there is an amicable understanding of what is being paid for. Nothing worse than someone knowingly taking advantage of you.

I hope this helps