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YEAR ONE / PRICE & WIN

Fee Proposal Calculator

Build a project fee two ways - from your estimated effort and from a percentage of construction value - then test the fee you’re considering against both.

Example figures - replace these with your own.

TIME-BASED

Estimate the work

What does this project cost you to deliver?

Plan this project in days.
StageDaysFee
Brief + concept£3,900
Planning / approvals£3,250
Technical design£6,500
Construction stage£2,600
Other£0
Additional allowance - daysRevisions, coordination or uncertainty£1,950
Labour fee floor28 days£18,200
Project costs you’ll absorbOnly costs the practice absorbs-
TIME-BASED PROJECT FLOOR£19,400

28 planned days at £650/day + £1,200 project costs.

PERCENTAGE-BASED

Build from project value

What does your stage-by-stage percentage structure produce?

Stage%Fee
Brief + concept£3,750
Planning / approvals£3,000
Technical design£7,500
Construction stage£5,250
Other£0
Total6.50%£19,500
PERCENTAGE-BASED PROJECT FEE£19,500

6.50% of an estimated construction value of £300,000.

Compare the two methods

See where the time-based and percentage-based approaches allocate the fee differently.

BriefPlanningTechnicalConstruction
Time basis% basis

Where the bars diverge, the two methods price that stage differently.

Stage / itemTime basis% basisDifference
Brief + concept£3,900£3,750−£150
Planning / approvals£3,250£3,000−£250
Technical design£6,500£7,500+£1,000
Construction stage£2,600£5,250+£2,650
Other£0£0£0
Stage labour subtotal£16,250£19,500+£3,250
Additional allowanceTime basis only - no percentage equivalent£1,950--
Absorbed project costsTime basis only - no percentage equivalent£1,200--
Total fee basis£19,400£19,500+£100

The percentage-based fee is £100 above the time-based floor; the two methods distribute the fee differently between stages.

Test your proposed fee

Check the fee you’re considering against both ways of building the project fee. Exclude VAT / sales tax.

Below your floor

£1,400 below the time-based floor.

£1,500 below the percentage-based calculation.

At this fee you're effectively pricing your time at £600/day rather than £650/day. That's equivalent to leaving roughly 2.2 planned days unpaid.

Effective internal rate£600/day
Equivalent unpriced days2.2 days
Your figures are saved on this device.

This is a planning tool, not financial advice. The time-based floor is the minimum your own estimate implies; the percentage-based fee is built from your own per-stage percentages - neither is a market rate or benchmark, and project type sets no percentage.