Question 1

Where are you located?

Accepted Answer

We work out of Douglas County, Colorado.

Question 2

Which areas do you serve?

Accepted Answer

XEG works all over the Front Range, Western Slope and beyond. We have experience working in over 12 counties across Colorado.

Question 3

How are your fees set?

Accepted Answer

Engineering and design fees should be around 6-12% of the total construction budget. That is the industry standard for sound and thorough engineering.  Generally speaking anything below that percentage will force the engineer/designer to over design or under design. It could lead to delays in construction because of insufficient information.  Cutting corners in a design may cause higher construction expenses.  Engineering regulations clearly state that an engineer must practice engineering in a careful and diligent manner, which by default means that there must be time spent on the design.

Question 4

Are you going to give me the cheapest fee?

Accepted Answer

No, XEG is on a mission to elevate the AEC industry. Cheap and good cannot simultaneously exist in our industry. Our fees are competitive, but XEG is not on a race to the bottom of the barrel.

Question 5

How to choose an engineering consultant?

Accepted Answer

Whether you choose XEG or not, one of our main goals is to elevate the engineering industry. We understand that comparing engineering consultants and their proposals can be challenging, as not all plans are created equal, and discerning true value from differing fees requires industry insight. Just as you wouldn't choose a heart surgeon based solely on the lowest cost, selecting an engineering consultant by picking the lowest fee proposal is rarely the best starting point for your project.
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Why is this crucial?

While engineering fees typically represent a modest 2-3% of a project's total life cycle cost and 6-12% of the upfront construction costs, this seemingly small investment has a profound impact on its long-term success and ultimate value. The engineering consultant wields significant influence on the construction and maintenance costs. Cutting corners in the design phase and cookie cutter solutions could lead to higher costs later on. 
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So, how should you choose the right engineering consultant?
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Here are two key questions to guide your decision:
1. Experience and Qualifications: Are they truly qualified for your specific project? Have they successfully executed similar projects to the one you've presented?
2. Value-Based Fee: Considering their qualifications and the comprehensive value they provide, does their fee proposal represent approximately 6-12% of your estimated total project cost?

Question 6

Why cheapest is most expensive at the end?

Accepted Answer

The other day,  a client ask me if I could figure out ways to make his development cheaper. What started as a harmless question from a client, led me to think about how misunderstood the engineering profession truly is.

It seems as though a lot of the time the general public thinks that engineers are like artists or architects. I mean just think about fancy staircases, expensive chandeliers, fancier finishes and the like. Many of these items can be value engineered to save money, but is that the case in civil engineer? This may sound absurd to even say, but when was the last time that a civil engineer designed a luxurious stormwater detention basin, or an embellished sewer pipe? You get the thought, right? Most engineers take the applicable code and design to the minimum compliant standard unless there is further development down the road to account for a larger than usual piece of infrastructure or a very good reason to over design.

If you know me you know I  love a good deal. I use my phone until its cracked in twenty places, I buy great value brand everything, and my car has over 200,000 miles.

I am all for living cheaply and avoiding unnecessary expenses, but when it comes to development projects there is nothing more harmful than going cheap on both a design fee and construction.

I have been part of multiple projects in which a pretty penny has been spent, and because of a cheap decision by the engineer, contractor and sometimes owner — projects incur hundreds of thousands of dollars more than if they were done right from the beginning.  Simply said if you don't have the money to do it right, don't do it at all. Think of the repair costs of lifting a settling foundation, or having to re-do a septic system that costed a quarter of a million dollars, or having to redo residential driveways because they are insanely steep. These aren't fictitious scenarios, these are real people with real stories.

The other one that drives me crazy is surveying services — I once asked a surveyor for a survey that he had done 2 years back and he told me: "The survey is in my old computer and it crashed". For some reason there are these (usually) small survey firms, that run very cheap services. When I say cheap, I mean 3 or 4 times cheaper than other firms.  I cannot tell you how many times a customer has come to me and said: "We already did a survey, so no need to worry about it". When you get the CAD files, they are a disaster, the survey does not have a usable surface, and the survey is missing important information.

Don't misunderstand that there are ways to save construction costs by performing careful engineering, that is not what I mean. There is another FAQ that deals with this very issue.