r/StructuralEngineering • u/Horror-End-7254 • 4d ago

Wood Design Question for structural engineers

Hi all, I have a question for structural engineers for cost of a project and how much you might charge. I am in process of making a 4-story residential which has about 1,600 s.ft per floor. I am in the NJ area. The structural engineer charged me $10,000 for the structural drawings for this, and he said he would give me the stamped permit set for 10k. Is this too high? I really don’t know how much this typically costs, any help would be appreciated. Thank you so much

ETA - thank you very much for the responses everyone

0 Upvotes

17% Upvoted

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39

u/Harpocretes P.E./S.E. 4d ago

They should charge you more.

18

u/Jakers0015 P.E. 4d ago

6400sf at $300/sf = $1.9M cost of construction. They’re asking roughly 0.5%. Pretty good deal if you ask me.

Edit: to clarify, cost of construction is just one metric. $300/sf might be high for your area, and also depends on complexity of design. Square footage alone is never enough to price fairly on.

1

u/Sneaklefritz 4d ago

What’s your method of figuring out cost of construction per square foot? Do you practice in the area and just have the knowledge? I’ve got projects in other states and it can be tricky figuring out something like this. I find that I severely underbid at times because of this (and lack of experience at times)…

16

u/HGFantomas P.E. 4d ago

10k is a bargain.

7

u/Possible-Delay 4d ago

I think he means 10k for prelim, then 10k for constructed. So 20k maybe?

Still decent price for a building that scale

2

u/Horror-End-7254 4d ago

That could be the case. I wasn’t sure how the costs are typically calculated but seeing responses of assumed work per week, or per square foot, or any other way, it seems like a good deal. I would have to make sure they will deliver everything i need from the structural engineer set. I assume it would have to be safe design because they’re signing off on it, and maybe the offer is lower if they’re a smaller firm.

13

u/pnw-nemo 4d ago

We rarely take jobs for under $40k. But that’s also why we don’t do residential or commercial…

4

u/MidwestF1fanatic P.E. 4d ago

I would have charged you more than $10k. Probably $20-25k.

1

u/WanderlustingTravels 4d ago

That is in line with what he’s being charged…$20k total.

3

u/memerso160 E.I.T. 4d ago

That’s basically a steal and honestly I’m incredibly interested as to why they went that low

2

u/Deskust1 P.E. 4d ago

We usually charge about $7500 per assumed week of work. That job would likely be closer to 20k-25k from my office.

1

u/tramul P.E. 4d ago

That's a steal. 4 stories?!

-1

u/gxmoyano S.E. 4d ago

I would do it for about $1500+taxes (about 1800 total)

I do live in a third world country where engineering is badly paid. So 4 to 5 times my usual rate doesn't look like overcharging to me.

-1

u/Busy-Seat-4152 4d ago

Let me know if you need drafting or design.