1. Introduction to Fixed Fee Estimates
A fixed fee estimate in descon.ai helps you plan project costs under a lump-sum contract. You start by defining the total project fee, then allocate costs across deliverables, tasks, and resources. This ensures accurate tracking of both profit (gross margin) and expenses throughout your project’s lifecycle.
Why It’s Important
Top-Down & Bottom-Up Accuracy: Set an overall fee and target margin, then break it down (or build it up) to maintain balanced estimates at every level.
Scalable Structure: Use deliverables to represent project phases (e.g., Pre-Design, Design Development, Construction Documents), tasks to detail the work, and resources to track costs for each person or role.
Flexible Margin Adjustments: You can update your target gross margin anytime—descon.ai lets you reconcile changes by prompting you to update costs at each level.
2. Starting the Estimate
2.1. Navigate to the Estimate Tab
Open the relevant project in descon.ai.
Go to the Estimate tab in the project navigation bar.
Click “Create New Estimate” (top-right corner).
2.2. Choose Your Method
From Scratch
Enter a name, lump-sum fee, and target gross margin.
The platform calculates a target cost based on the fee and margin.
From a Template
Select a pre-saved template from a similar project or use one of the default templates.
This copies common deliverables, tasks, and resources to save time.
Note: You must enter a lump-sum total fee, but you can manually multiply your sq.ft by its rate to get a lump sum.
3. Understanding the Structure
Project Fee: The total amount you charge the client (lump-sum).
Gross Margin: The percentage of the fee that remains after subtracting direct costs.
Deliverables: High-level project phases or milestones (e.g., Pre-Design, Design Development).
Tasks: Actions required to complete each deliverable.
Resources: Individuals (or roles) performing tasks.
4. Top-Down vs. Bottom-Up Approaches
4.1 Top-Down (Typical for Lump-Sum Contracts)
Set Total Fee & Target Margin: e.g., $100,000 fee and 30% margin.
Allocate Deliverable Costs: Decide how much of the total cost each deliverable consumes (by percentage or direct value).
Break Down Deliverables into Tasks: Allocate task costs within each deliverable.
Assign Resources: For each task, add relevant resources and specify hours or cost shares.
Check & Update: If the child (task/resource) costs don’t match your parent (deliverable/project) targets, descon.ai flags discrepancies. Click “Update” to reconcile the mismatch, either by:
Adjusting the child costs to match the parent target, or
Updating the parent cost to match the child total by clicking on "update cost".
4.2 Bottom-Up (For Detailed Hourly Costing)
Set Fee & Margin to 0 (or minimal) initially if you want to build from the ground up.
Add Tasks & Resources first: enter hours and resource costs to calculate direct costs.
Click “Update” at each level to roll up costs from resources → tasks → deliverables → project.
Finalize the top-level cost to match the sum of all child items, automatically adjusting your gross margin.
5. Creating Your Deliverables, Tasks, and Resources
Add Deliverable:
Click “Add Deliverable”.
Name it (e.g., “Pre-Design Phase”) or import from the repository.
Allocate a cost (or percentage) toward it based on your project fee or a bottom-up calculation.
Add Tasks:
Click “Show Task” under a deliverable.
Add one or more tasks (e.g., “Feasibility Study,” “Concept Drawings”).
Assign an estimated cost or keep it at 0 if you’re doing a bottom-up approach.
Assign Resources:
Within each task, click “Assign Resource”.
Choose from the Resource Catalogue, which has predefined roles and hourly rates.
Adjust the hourly cost if needed—the estimate cost overrides the default catalogue rate.
Specify the hours required for each resource to calculate the total task cost.
6. Balancing the Estimate
Throughout the process, descon.ai ensures your top-down targets match your bottom-up calculations:
Warnings: The system flags mismatches if child-level costs (e.g., tasks) don’t add up to the parent-level cost (deliverable or project).
“Update” Button: Click it to align costs. When clicking update, the sum of child items, will automatically roll up to the parent cost.
Final Check: Confirm no warnings remain. Balanced estimates mean top-down costs = bottom-up calculations at each level.
7. Saving & Managing Your Estimate
Once all deliverables, tasks, and resources are properly assigned and balanced:
Confirm the final project cost and gross margin.
Ensure no warnings are displayed.
Click “Save Estimate.”
Your estimate is now ready! You can edit it later as your project evolves. Keep in mind that changing costs or hours may retrigger the balancing prompt.
8. Best Practices for Architecture Firms
Name Deliverables as Phases: For architectural workflows, consider naming deliverables “Pre-Design,” “Schematic Design,” “Construction Documents,” etc.
Use Templates: Save time by creating templates for common deliverable structures—especially if your firm repeats similar project phases.
Track Resources Effectively: Keep your Resource Catalogue up-to-date so cost overrides are the exception, not the rule.
Balance Early, Balance Often: Don’t let mismatches pile up. Reconcile each deliverable after assigning tasks and resources to keep your estimate accurate.
9. Troubleshooting
Need to Adjust Gross Margin? You can always edit the target gross margin. When reconciling, the platform will recalculate or prompt you to update costs.
Accidentally Saved an Unbalanced Estimate? Simply reopen the estimate, address any warnings, and click “Update” at each required level.
Conclusion
With descon.ai’s fixed fee estimates, you combine the speed of top-down planning with the precision of bottom-up cost checks. This gives architecture firms a flexible, reliable, and efficient way to price projects. Once your estimate is in place, you’re ready to manage timelines, tasks, and resources with full financial visibility—all within descon.ai.
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