# Billing Rate vs Pay



## Jukka Brothers

Hi guys and gals. After passing my PE exam about a year ago and receving no raise/bonus, I've been wondering how my pay stacks up. I know a lot of factors (location, experience, area of expertise, benefits, etc.) play into this so I'll just keep the question simple. What percentage of your billing rate are you paid? I'll get it strarted; I'm at 31.58% and my billing rate is $95. Looking for some good feedback so I can quit thinking about whether or not i'm underpaid. Thanks!


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## Dexman PE PMP

Mine is infinity as I am not billed out (govt employee).

But back when I worked for a consulting firm, I was ~30%.


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## willsee

38% I believe

I don't know what I'm billed out at


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## knight1fox3

Jukka Brothers said:


> Hi guys and gals. After passing my PE exam about a year ago and receving no raise/bonus, I've been wondering how my pay stacks up. I know a lot of factors (location, experience, area of expertise, benefits, etc.) play into this so I'll just keep the question simple. What percentage of your billing rate are you paid? I'll get it strarted; I'm at 31.58% and my billing rate is $95. Looking for some good feedback so I can quit thinking about whether or not i'm underpaid. Thanks!


Hello Jukka Brothers, take a look at this thread which has some good discussion on wage levels after passing the PE.


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## snickerd3

depends on what I am working on. some things are exactly what I make, others have 1.3 to 1.6 ratio to the billing rate.


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## Supe

While we're different that we're a large EPC and don't direct bill clients, it comes out to around 42%. There are overhead numbers, benefits, etc that make that number approximately useless, though.


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## Peele1

I'd guess that your compensation (including benefits) should be between 33% and 50%. In general, I believe that $95 is WAY to low to bill out for a PE. Many charge $150, 175 or even up to $250. I deal primarily in the IT field, and there are a lot of IT contractors that bill up to $250. A licensed professional should be able to command the same as a non-licensed IT support person, IMHO.

You can also look at places like salary.com and glassdoor.com and NCEES magazine and website.


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## willsee

I think the principals/owners at my company are around $125-$150/hr


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## Exception Collection

Depending on where the project is (Oregon=designer rates, Washington=Engineer rates), I get between 30% and 23% of my billed rate.


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## envirotex

28.5 to 33.3% depending on the contract.


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## ALBin517

Part of the reason I went to work for the government was frustration over billing rates.

My pay was not increasing but my billing rate kept going up - making it tougher for me to make budget on my projects.

"Yeah, we are going to take more cash from clients for your work. But you won't see any of it."

I am a Gigantic DoucheBag


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## tmacier

Jukka Brothers said:


> I'll get it strarted; I'm at 31.58% and my billing rate is $95.



Wow…..while I am not sure where you live it is my belief that is really really REALLY bad.


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## Jukka Brothers

Thanks for the replies. If you need a civil engineer on the cheap then I'm your guy apparently!


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## FF8256

Jukka Brothers said:


> Thanks for the replies. If you need a civil engineer on the cheap then I'm your guy apparently!


You and me both. I'm at about the same rate and percent.


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