Create a Project Fee Estimate

You can create a fee estimate for a project. The fee estimate applies existing service profile information and allows you to build out your potential fees accordingly.

Prerequisites: Before you can use the Fee Estimate feature, your system administrator must set up service profiles in Configuration. The service profile defines the key components and calculations for the fee estimate: the functional groups, cost groups, phases, and companies (if you use Multicompany).

To create a project fee estimate, complete the following steps:

1. From the Vision Navigation menu, click Accounting > Project Fee Estimate.
2. On the Project Fee Estimate form, select a project record.
3. Use the Service Profile drop-down list to select the service profile that you want to apply to the project fee estimate. If you select and save a service profile and enter the associated information, and then choose a different service profile for the fee estimate, you will lose all fee information that is entered for the original service profile's fee estimate. Each fee estimate can only have one service profile.

   If you are using the German Scale of Fees (HOAI) feature with Vision Fee Estimates, the service profile options are pre-populated based on the German Scale of Fees requirements.

4. On the Functional Groups grid, click Insert and select the functional group to assign to the service profile. The options that are available in the Functional Group drop-down list are based on the selected service profile. Functional groups provide a way to break down the fee across multiple disciplines, companies, and market sectors.

   In cases where functional groups are not defined on the selected service profile, this column is hidden. When this occurs, you may enter one row to define the chargeable cost and the applicable fee.

5. For each functional group, select or enter a fee band, rate, and cost groups (if applicable) to use when calculating the contractor's fee for the job. The options that are available in the Cost Group drop-down list are based on the selected service profile.

   In cases where the service profile has disabled fee bands, you can enter the expected fee without relying on Vision to calculate based on the estimated construction cost and difficulty of project.

6. Enter the fee basis (total chargeable cost) for the functional group. For example, this could be the total construction cost, which is then used to determine the contractor's fee amount.

   You can enter the fee basis directly in this field for the functional group, or if cost groups are associated with the functional group, the sum of the fee basis for the cost groups automatically displays. You must use the Edit Cost Groups dialog box to edit the chargeable costs for the individual cost groups. This amount will overwrite any amount entered in the Chargeable Cost field for the selected functional group. The total amount from all cost groups is used to calculate the contractor's fee, which displays in the Fee field.

   The Fee is calculated based on the selected Fee Band, the assigned Rate, and the Chargeable Cost fields. If multiple functional groups are inserted in the functional group grid, the fee will be calculated independently for each specific functional group.

   If you use Multicurrency, the format of the chargeable cost is dictated by the selected currency.

7. After you calculate the fee, select Create Phases Grid to assign the applicable phases the fee estimate. If multiple functional groups are defined, a set of phases is created for each functional group.

   You can use special services to add phases to the fee estimate that are outside of the scope of work that is defined by the fee within the functional group.

8. In the Summary fields, enter amounts or percentages for the surcharges, additional expenses, and any other expenses associated with the estimate. The Net Fee calculates and displays the total estimated fee.
9. Click Save.