starting a design consulting firm

[Amit Pandya]

I have just started working with several design build firms in town and am acting as a sub-consultant working on concepts to working drawings to managing projects through construction. I typically assign a design fee relative to the project size and then bill an hourly rate for the detail dwgs. and any additional time spent on the project. I am wondering if there’s some quality advice to how I should bill my clients as I am new to the game. Also is it necessary to have each indivdual project in proposal written contracts? Or does a established working relationship over time surpass the proposal process? Any advice would be helpful!

Thanks,
Amit

[Randy Royer]

You should have at least a letter agreement for each project stating the scope of work and fee structure.  Your professional liability insurer will want to to have a formal contract with a number of CYA clauses in it…  You leave yourself ‘exposed’ without any type of agreement.

[mark foster]

Are the design build firms your clients?

[Andrew Garulay, RLA]

This original post is two years old according to the date on it.

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