The Cost to Hire a Naval Architect and Marine Engineering Service Rates for Companies

This post covers naval architectural and marine engineering rates for companies. According to the BLS, or U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, naval architects and marine engineers design and build ships, from small sailboats to gigantic aircraft carriers. They usually are hired as a team; the naval architectural designers are responsible for the design, whereas the marine engineering services handle the internal systems. You hire them when you want to design and build a ship.

Hourly employment costs

Based on the BLS data (latest, May 2021), the cost to hire a naval architect is as follows:

Naval architects and marine engineers (in the ship and boat building industry)
Percentile	10%	25%	Median	75%	9%
Hourly rate	$30.63	$38.53	$38.53	$49.23	$62.99
Annual wage	$63,700	$80,130	$80,140	$102,390	$131,030

Note: the national estimates do not include average pay rates for self-employed workers.

Ship and boat building companies or naval architectural design firms employ the majority of naval architects and marine engineers (42%)—around 31% work in architectural and engineering services and 18% in government offices. Deep sea and coastal transportation hire 6% of the workforce, and only 2% find employment in research and development services.

Design contractor rates

A naval architect design contract is a concise document containing only four to five pages. The points listed in the document include the roles of the architect and client, the scope of work, estimated design cost, and payment structure. The most common payment structure is an hourly rate scheduled for every milestone in the project. Like most business contracts, there is a boilerplate clause toward the end of the document to specify the governing authority and how the parties might modify the agreement.

Apart from the usual business agreements, there are three notable clauses:

Building rights: the client only pays the architect to make a design and the rights to build one ship based on the design. The actual design itself remains the intellectual property of the naval architect. A builder can purchase the rights to manufacture a few ships.

Designer rights: if any client wants to build more ships of the same design, the naval architect is entitled to a royalty. The amount usually is 1.5% of the total price of the ship. However, no clause prevents a client from purchasing the copyright.

Designer liability: a naval architect will not guarantee the performance of a new original ship design. Unless an identical ship has been built before – which means the design is not original – it is nearly impossible to be 100% sure the vessel will float on the predicted waterline. When a ship undergoes a system failure at sea, it will sink to the point of irretrievability. Determining if the incident was triggered by human error or other causes would be difficult. The naval architect, who designed the sunk ship, will not be held liable for that.

Professional liability insurance

Another thing to note is the need for more professional liability insurance coverage for naval architects. In addition to the apparent reason for the irretrievability issue, the construction of a ship depends mainly on the builder’s expertise and understanding of the architect’s drawing.It would be challenging to determine whether a mistake, which potentially leads to the sinking of a ship, is the architect’s mistake or the builder’s responsibility.

The only way a naval architect can be held liable in the design project is when they do not perform their duties, for example, delivering the complete set of design documents; in other words, they fail to do the jobs specified in a legally-binding contract. In that case, the naval architect must refund the design fee. Beyond such blatant negligence and deliberate ignorance, a client cannot file a lawsuit against naval architects for the ship’s low-quality build, poor strength or durability, and a general lack of seaworthiness.

The alternatives

Hiring a custom luxury marine and yacht design services is expensive for good reasons; among them are the ability to get involved in the design project right from the beginning and the fact that you have every chance to personalize the vessels in any way you want as long as you can pay for it. In case you cannot find a naval architect willing to work with the budget you have, there are some alternatives:

* Ready-made design

The most affordable option is to purchase a ready-made ship design. Depending on the ship’s overall length and the included design documents, the price ranges from $30,000 to around $120,000. A completed design should contain every information necessary for a builder to begin construction, including but not limited to structural drawings, materials, electrical and plumbing schematics, list of equipment, interior or deck plan, and level of finish.

Sometimes purchasing an expensive stock design makes little sense unless immediate construction is necessary. If you can afford a stock design for $50,000, you could hire a naval architect to prepare a custom plan. Although at that amount, you will not receive the most sophisticated ship design or the quickest completion time, at least you can make sure the final result is worth every penny because everything on the ship is exactly as you want it.

* Incomplete stock design

The primary and only reason to purchase an incomplete stock design is customizability. A preliminary design offers only a ship’s most basic building blocks, such as a hull shape and general dimension or layout. The design document only contains construction drawings for major structures and very little else about the specifications.

Depending on size, a preliminary ship design can cost between $20,000 – $60,000 or more. Sitting at the bottom of the range is a design for a small 23-foot sailing ship, and at the end of the spectrum is a massive 80-foot motor yacht. The design has yet to be developed beyond the concept phase, meaning the client has room to customize the details. You still have to hire a naval architect to complete the plan, but the cost will not be as expensive as starting from scratch.

Later stages of development

When the entire design documents are ready, the naval architect and the client send the drawings to various builders and receive bids in return. The selected builder produces a construction contract detailing an agreement about the rights and responsibilities to manufacture the ship per the specifications and drawings provided by the architect in the design documents. The client can retain the services of the same naval architect to manage the project and monitor progress.

A naval architect will ask for additional payment for the extra effort and time. Instead of writing and signing a new agreement, the client can include a relevant clause in the original contract about the work. As the project manager, a naval architect doesn’t have to be on the construction site daily. They only need to be there at the predetermined stages of completion to see if the builder does everything as instructed. A client is welcome to visit each time and see how the design develops from drawings on paper into an actual ship. The architect’s responsibility (not the builders) is to answer the client’s every question about progress.

Proof of concept

Assuming the project runs without significant issues, the day will come when the ship is finally ready to touch the water surface and sail away. The client, the naval architect, and the builder should be there to see if the ship floats. With proper design from the architect and skillful shipbuilding capabilities by the builder, it should. The builder usually thoroughly checks all the systems installed several weeks before the ship is officially lowered into the water. The builder may take the ship for a trial run for meticulousness. The trial allows the builder to experience how the ship sails on water and see if some final corrections are necessary.

For a small ship, the trial run is nothing unusual. The engine is set to full speed, and the captain will make some difficult maneuvers to test the handling. Maneuverability at a slow speed is also an important point to analyze. Crash stop and astern should be in the test checklist as well. At this point, the client may want to inspect the details, use the onboard equipment, and see whether the design has missing features. The trial run addresses the safety systems, too. The ship should be able to initiate an immediate shutdown in an emergency. Somebody has to drop and raise the anchor to ensure nothing is wrong with all the attached mechanical components.

The navigational system, communication devices, and onboard computer should be operational. If necessary, the client should take the handling and put all installed equipment in the test run. It is wise for the client to study the equipment manual before taking the ship to water. In case they have never owned a ship before, they should receive training from the technicians who install the equipment in the first place. A new owner may need a week or two to get used to the new ship and feel comfortable onboard, but this is entirely expected.

How Cad Crowd can assist

Cad Crowd’s team of highly skilled naval architects offers our clients unparalleled marine engineering and naval architecture design services. We cater to diverse clients, from esteemed naval architecture firms to prestigious maritime logistics companies and individuals passionate about creating the ultimate mega yacht for family travels. Our extensive list of services showcases our commitment to providing top-of-the-line solutions for all your naval design needs. Contact us today for a free quote and experience the awe-inspiring results of our exceptional marine engineering design and naval architecture design services.