price setting for residential calcs

huangyhg

price setting for residential calcs...
i'm just starting out (6mo.) doing residential vertical and lateral analysis.  i'm civil, so just sticking with the 2 story and a basement residential calcs.
most jobs are basic, 1600 - 5000 sq.ft. homes designed by drafters and architects. i have been told my prices are too high (complaining) and some have told me they are way too low.
i'm located in sacramento, ca, and just trying to get an idea of what others generally charge. i typically charge $0.50 per sq.ft. ($500 minimum) for up to 3000sq.ft., $0.40 per sq.ft. up to 5000sq.ft.  small jobs (design a couple beams, some joists) from $100 - $300.
i know it's personal information, but any information would be appreciated. i don't want a bad name out here and i most definitely want to be fair to my customers.  thank you!!
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base it on how much your time is worth.  if you spend 10 hours on a 5000 square foot job, and want to make 85$ / hr, its easy enough to add insurance, bills, etc into that and figure out how much you should charge.
its hard to compare different places and types of work as well.  sorry if i'm no help at all, but i wouldn't worry about what others are charging.
it sounds a bit low, even as a calc-n-sketch arrangement.  for a complete package (including cad work), estimate the valuation of the proposed home per square foot and take 1% to 1.25% of that as your design fee.
i would strongly discourage calc-n-sketch design because you have no control over how correctly your sketch will transfer on architect/drafter's end.
oh... i forgot to mention, this is the expected fee in california.  other locations may differ significantly.  
now with the home price increases, the design fee should be peanuts compared to price of the home itself.  beware of those who try to slash the design fees.  they will be the first to sue if anything went wrong.
i agree with aggieyank -
or well at least that’s how i do pricing, i estimate how long it will reasonably take, multiply by the unit rate for whatever particular task it is (using say a lower rate for just pure drafting, versus design & calcs), and voila - a reasonable cost to offset all those other dead weight costs of insurance, software, professional registration, ect... .  it's funny, the rates i use always seem a bit high until i start paying some of those fees, then you quickly re  
i've always been cautious with the per hour charge, that's when i seem to run into problems and my estimate is blown out of the water! but i do ballpark it at $50/hr to check my smaller jobs.
the calc-n-sketch work i do is always checked before i stamp the plans. i'm dealing with the guys who get that 1-1.25% and are paying me...so that explains the lowballing!
that $120 canadian = about $100 american....i'm charging half with my per hour estimates. slowly going to increase those rates.
i take it you all recommend insurance?  i have not purchased any as of yet. any recommendations on coverage or a company? thanks.
i'm assuming you're on your own, so yes, i'd highly recommend insurance.  search through the forums, you should be able to find it.  errors and omissions insurance is what i believe it is called.  you'll probably find something in the "starting and running an engineering business" forum.