This post covers civil engineering consulting services cost, rates, and pricing for companies. A civil construction project may refer to creating any infrastructure related to transportation, water, and the environment. It is a subcategory under the field of Civil Engineering that involves not only the construction process of those infrastructures but also the design process and maintenance task. Among the most common examples of such projects include the construction of roads, bridges, railways, solar farms, public parks, tunnels, water reservoirs, dams, municipal buildings, and sewer systems.
Many civil construction projects require the work and input from at least two types of engineers:
- Contracting civil engineers: the professionals in charge of the construction process, transforming mere designs into physical objects. They work with the 3D design team and oversee the construction site. Contracting civil engineers ensure the work is done according to the planned schedules and in compliance with health and safety regulations.
- Consulting civil engineers: The primary responsibility of consulting civil engineers is to give professional advice to the contracting engineer regarding the project. Parts of the consultants’ job include conducting feasibility studies, site investigations, and developing detailed plans. They collaborate with fellow professionals such as architects, surveyors, and other engineers to devise solutions to every problem that may arise during the project.
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Contracting engineers are directly involved in the construction process and take charge of scheduling, observing quality standards, and organizing the workforce. The job is a supervisory role to direct and evaluate the work of contractors and subcontractors. Civil consulting engineers are not as hands-on. They are usually hired for their expertise in such specific fields as structural design, environmental impacts, and planning regulations.
However, some also offer a broader range of consulting services. They are traditionally hired by the client (the project owner), but it is not uncommon for contractors to bring them as an independent engineering team member.
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Rates in civil engineering
Based on salary data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, contracting engineers earn an annual median wage of $87,300 or $41.97 hourly. On the other hand, civil engineers who specialize in management and technical consulting services make $104,410 per year or $50.20 per hour. Most architectural firms have engineering consultants, but there is a slight difference in how the hiring process (and pay) is structured.
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As usual, a firm has a more significant overhead than an independent freelancer, so hiring a consultant from the former will cost more money than the latter for a similar range of services. The cost ranges from $123-$190 per hour. The engineering fee is likely the least expensive in a civil construction project, which can cost hundreds of millions of dollars. The price for all engineering services falls 1% – 2% of the total budget. Much of the money goes into construction, architects, and contractors’ markup.
The total budget to build a new underground tunnel is $10 million; therefore, the engineering fee is at most $200,000 for consulting and contracting engineers. Since the consultant is not as hands-on and will only lend the expertise on an “as-needed” basis, the services should cost much less than the 2% estimate. The per-project rate is based on the assumption that the engineers are hired independently by project owners, not the contractors.
Why hiring a consulting engineer is expensive
A consulting engineer charges considerably more than a contracting civil engineer based on an hourly rate. It is the same with an architectural firm that hires a civil engineer as a consultant. The consultant as a temporary, independent – as opposed to a permanent – member of the engineering team is an efficient option financially for various reasons.
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Taxes
Consulting engineers file and pay their taxes, taken from their income. The employer doesn’t have to handle their tax payment and management. Things are different with full-time employees. Although they are also taxed from the salary, the company must take the taxation affair about the employment. Because independent consulting engineers fulfill the responsibility personally, they must include tax-related costs in the hourly rate.
Hiring a consultant engineer permanently comes with a lower hourly rate. Still, additional expenses will be related to the administrative task of calculating and filing taxes and payment processing fees. At least in the United States, the applicable tax income for consulting engineers includes social security tax, Medicare, state income tax, and federal income tax. There can be city-specific tax depending on where they work as well. It is worth mentioning that higher annual income also means more expensive taxes.
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Zero benefits
Travel, lodging, and insurance expenses are covered in a full-time employee’s contract. They are parts of the employer’s recurrent overhead for as long as the employee remains an active member of the company’s workforce. An independent consulting engineer receives no such benefit. Imagine a consultant working with a client whose project is located 100 miles away from the engineer’s residence or office. The hourly rate received doesn’t cover the unavoidable travel expenses.
Assuming the work requires the consultant to spend a few days in the location, there will be money spent on lodging. The traveling tickets and meals are considered personal expenses, too. The hourly rate is reasonably high because the consultant spends a good amount of money to serve the client well. A local civil engineering consultant might be a good idea thanks to zero lodging-related expenses, although the rate is likely still higher than an equally competent full-time employee. The consultant will charge (indirectly, through the hourly rate) for work vehicle fuel/maintenance, medical insurance, and communication fees.
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Equipment operating cost
Think of an independent engineering consultant as a separate company with its overhead for equipment. The consultant has no luxury of using the employer’s laptop, theodolite, expensive CAD software licenses, GPS devices, and an aerial drone. A client doesn’t (nor should) provide every advanced engineering tool required for the job. High-powered computers are becoming more affordable, but the same cannot be said for sophisticated equipment specific to civil engineering consultant professionals.
Thermographic cameras, for example, may cost a few thousand dollars each. Engineers who work at a 3D architectural design firm can use various advanced tools free of charge because the firm pays for them. On the other hand, independent consultants must reach deep into their pockets to get the equipment. Some of the more expensive gadgets might be insured, another additional cost. Prices for the equipment and the operating cost contribute to the hourly rate.
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Overhead
Some engineering consultants, including freelancers, may need help performing the business’s day-to-day administrative tasks. They also hire assistants to handle taxation, website management, mailings, and accounting, especially during the year’s busiest days. They are running a business by providing consulting services; certain parts of the business management might fall outside the consultant’s area of expertise, so they hire other professionals to ensure the business can run smoothly. Again, part of the cost to pay the wages is included in the hourly rate.
No downtime
Without paid vacations and sick leave, freelance civil consulting engineers have no downtime. They are paid only by the work hours completed. On the contrary, full-time employees receive the same amount every payday regardless of the workload. When independent consultants need to spend a few days off, they don’t have billable hours and must cover the expenses on their own.
Realistically, they need to assume a temporary pause of income – once or twice every year – to engage in activities outside their professional capacity. One of the primary purposes of their high hourly rates is to compensate for those (planned) unproductive days.
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No training
An architectural structural design firm with a full-time civil engineering consultant must consider the expenses related to training and ongoing development. The recruitment process alone is budget-demanding, yet a full-time employee may need further skill development. Hiring a fresh graduate or a less-experienced Professional Engineer (PE) to be trained as a consultant is a viable option. Still, the time and money spent before the employee reaches the level of expertise are almost certainly a monumental investment.
An independent consultant is an expert with enough experience and knowledge in the field; otherwise, the person is not qualified for the job. People can only call themselves civil engineering consultants and offer professional services in related areas when their competence and mastery surpass those of civil engineers. It might take years for a capable engineer to be a consultant to meet the qualifications and requirements.
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Apart from completing a relevant engineering degree and earning a PE license, a civil engineer needs to build a respectable portfolio from diverse projects before one can even begin to offer professional advice to peers. When a firm (or a client) hires an established civil engineering consultant, expert advice is immediately available at an efficient cost. Only some construction companies can afford to include civil engineering consulting services as part of their core business activities because it will require recruiting full-time professionals qualified for the job.
Instead, consultation is a supporting process when the project requires expert advice to tackle complex challenges. Hiring a freelance independent consultant is the most cost-efficient option with low time commitment without sacrificing the quality of the input. The hourly rate is higher than a typical full-time employee at face value. Still, the amount of savings for the job’s duration can be the deciding factor between financial loss and a profitable undertaking.
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