Civil 3D Training, Implementation and Consultation Services

Microsoft charges $59 per incident, Apple charges $49. I think it’s fair and reasonable to charge $45/hr for eMail or web-based Civil 3D support, a quick lesson, or sound advice.

Unemployment is at its highest rate in years, firms are cutting back like our generation has never seen, yet prices for training and consultative services have remained unchanged and unfairly high for years. I started 1.2.1 Professional Consulting Services in October of last year. While losing a job played a role in that decision, it wasn’t the only motive behind my madness. They say the biggest mistake new consultants make is undercharging for their services. But who decides what prices ought to be? I think you need to price out services in accordance with what the market will bear.

Training Costs
Consider this: As a ballpark figure, I’ll pick a university in the heartland – University of Iowa. Tuition runs about $6500 per semester (in-state). Assuming you take a full load (18 credit hours), you’re looking at roughly $360 per credit hour. That means for a common 3 hour class (class meeting 3 hours/week for 16 weeks), you’re paying $1080 for 48 hours (6 days) of training – that’s $22/hr/student. How can you make money in the classroom? Pack in the students. $22/hour X 8 students X 24 hours = $4224. Using the rule of thirds (1/3 for you, 1/3 for the business, 1/3 for taxes), and assuming the money went to my business instead of the university, I’d pocket $1408. If I did it every week, I’d pocket $73,000 for the year – an honest living.

Direct Client Training
In keeping with the same methodology (fairness and profitably minus greed), consider a drafting/design technician is billable at about $95/hour. I think if you require outside help, we ought to be able pass at least some of the expense of training on to your clients – those you design for. I’ve looked back over the course of the past few months and averaged what it costs to travel (air fare, hotel, rental car, food), and I can teach a 3 day highly customized class, built from the ground up to suit your needs, on-site, including travel, for $95/hr x 8 hours x 3 days = $2280 + $550 for flight + $450 for hotel + $350 for rental car = $3630. I’ll round it off to $3595 for a 3 day class in the continental U.S. and that’s a fair price in anyone’s book. If we work on a live project or use live data, you can probably bill your client a good portion of that.

I’ve seen consultants charge as much as $2000/day or $6000 for 3-day custom on-site training for a few people. To be honest, I can’t justify it, and in this economy, I don’t know a firm that can afford it. I recently saw a proposal for a week of Civil 3D Implementation/Training for nearly $30,000. And to be honest, that’s a reasonable price if you’re just plain greedy. The firm ended settling with a consultant that charged $10,000 for a week of consulting, and saw results. I’d charge $5795. About 1/2 the price for same instructor (co-author of Mastering AutoCAD Civil 3D 2010), same experience, same methodology, same results. And in today’s economy, I think that’s a fair and honest price.

It’s hard to write a post that markets your services, and I struggled with doing it for a long time. Is it too competitive, is it prudent, is it fair? All questions I had. But I guess it boils down to this: The market is hurting while technology keeps moving forward. If learning new technology isn’t made affordable, you run the risk of falling behind, and that’s not a comfortable place to be. Now is the time to train and invest in technology so when the market swings upward again, you’re able to ride the wave with your new lean, technologically savvy engineering machine.

I hate self marketing, it’s uncomfortable for me. But if someone doesn’t react to outrageous prices for consultative services and create a pricing structure every small business can afford, I’m afraid those businesses will be left behind. I have a lot of friends struggling to see the light at the end of the tunnel – help for them ought to be available at reasonable prices. I think it’s fair and reasonable to expect to know how a consultant justifies his or her numbers, I think the numbers ought to be in line with what the market will bear, and I think they ought to be readily available.

Cheers!

Civil 3D Tutorials*
Register Today to access to our comprehensive library of Civil 3D Tutorials for as low as $20.

*Access to the Library is a free service to our clients.