How do firms like yours find the balance between competitive pricing, quality design, and firm profitability? Since 1998, thousands of design and environmental firm leaders have turned to ZweigWhite’s Fee & Billing Survey of Architecture, Engineering, Planning & Environmental Consulting Firms for standards on design fees, employee hourly billing rates, subconsultant procedures, and reimbursement policies. The 2008 edition includes the latest available data (collected in the spring of 2008) on fee structures for every major market type, billing rates and chargeability statistics for 29 levels of employee (from clerks up through principals), ways firms usually charge for subconsultant fees and reimbursable expenses, how firms collect payment, and much more. Don’t make another decision about your firm’s fees and contracts without first seeing the latest edition of this report!

If your goal is to price your firm’s services competitively without losing your shirt, then you need to know what firms just like yours are charging for the same types of services. ZweigWhite’s Fee & Billing Survey of Architecture, Engineering, Planning & Environmental Consulting Firms is the standard guideline for architecture, engineering, planning, and environmental firms looking to find the balance between competitive pricing, quality design, and firm profitability. Since 1998, thousands of firm leaders just like you have relied on the rock-solid data in this comprehensive report.

The 2008 edition of the Fee & Billing Survey includes the latest available data (collected in the spring of 2008) on fee structures for every major market type, billing rates and chargeability statistics for 29 levels of employee (from clerks up through principals), ways firms usually charge for subconsultant fees and reimbursable expenses, how firms collect payment, and much more. Don’t make another decision about your firm’s fees and contracts without first seeing this book!

In addition to helping you set fees, billing rates, and other contract details internally, this book is also a great tool to show clients or potential clients. Fee negotiations aren’t always as easy as you’d like them to be, so use the data in this report to tell your client exactly why they should pay what your firm is charging.

If your firm works in any of the following markets, you’ll want to see these survey results:

• Commercial development
• Corporate facilities
• Education
• Health care
• Transportation
• Federal/state/municipal
• Industrial facilities
• Power/utilities
• Multi-family residential
• Single-family residential
• Environmental - public
• Environmental - private

In addition to statistics on contract types for each of the above markets, industry norms for fees as a percentage of construction costs are given for the following services/disciplines (as applicable for each market):

• Architecture
• Land planning
• Landscape architecture
• Interior design
• Civil engineering
• Structural engineering
• Mechanical engineering
• Electrical engineering
• Construction management

Chapter 1—About the Survey

• Firm type
• Year founded
• Region of headquarters
• Staff size
• Number of offices
• Legal form of ownership
• Number of owners
• ESOPs
• Net service revenue
• Prime vs. subconsultant work
• Client base
• Growth rate
• Firm profit
• Work by market

Chapter 2—Billing Rates

• Setting billing rates
• Clerks, drafters, designers & CADD technicians
• Civil, structural, mechanical, electrical, and process engineers
• Architects and landscape architects
• Interior designers
• Planners and scientists
• Project managers and department heads
• Associates and principals
• Survey crew billing rates
• Updating billing rates
• Sharing company billing rates
• Setting fees
• Emergency work premiums