I'm wondering if it's common for consulting firms to charge ridiculously high fee's for smaller projects they don't really want unless they can make a huge profit off them?
I think its common practice for any outfit to go in high on a job they don't want But consultant always charge high no matter what and I am not sure I have ever seen a consultant that wasn't justifying there job
I wanted to get some help with a rezoning application and I think they decided to treat me like I was a big developer with deep pockets and had no idea. I just wanted some guidance on what to include in the application. $16,200 of which $5000 is for a Roadside Development Permit. I didn't need a Traffic Impact Assesment. I was told that would cost $6000 because it needed an engineer but a Roadside Development Permit is a lot simpler and would be much cheaper. $5000 isn't much cheaper. It's still 80% of the TIA! I have a meeting with another firm on Thursday. I'll take a draft of what a friend and I were thinking of submitting. I have a pretty good idea of what the county wants and I think it will come down to how much opposition there is from neighbors. Very little from an earlier meeting I arranged with them.
Just remember in consulting if you are not part of the solution there is great money in prolonging the problem.
I'm going to meet with a firm in the new year. They quoted around $11K which is still expensive but quite a bit lower. The guy actually responds to me e-mails which I think shows he's interested in the project. I want to meet with him and go over everything in person and how to react to different questions that could come up. Possibly a plan B too. Seems strange to sign a contract when you've only conversed through e-mails.
The local library had been torn down this spring because of water leakage and mold. This fall they announced they were hiring a firm to design a new library for $750,000. I should have been an architect. This is by no means a large structure
And it'll look like some strange thing that no one wanted. But it makes a statement. Joe H
A multi-office firm is going to be more expensive than a 1 man show. We typically avoid residential work because there isn't enough money for the hassle. Most people want to know the cost up front and thats not an easy thing to pin down sometimes. We usually will offer a time and materials option but that rarely gets accepted.
like this. Why couldn't it have been a rectangular building
I have seen this become a negative when work slows down. If you quote high, instead of simply "no bid" or bid with your regular pricing, and just explain that you are busy, you won't get asked to bid later on. When times get lean, your phone won't ring, as your potential customers remember your high prices, even though you would lower your prices to stay in business.
One of the local shopping malls wanted s price from us. Rear parking lot. New storm system remove existing asphalt re gravel re shape re pave. At the time. Another company did the snow removal there. We didn't want to take it from them, so we bid high. Then they decided if we were that high on the plowing that they could probably get the parking lot redone cheaper and called off the job