Deciding on the consultancy fee for re-measurement contracts in the Sri Lankan construction industry

Abstract

Construction industry is the necessary national backbone in developing countries. Consultants are the stakeholders who supplies objective and independent external service to the client. Consulting is gradually becoming a more standard service, price being the main factor in clients’ contracting decision so consulting firms continually strives for cost reductions to provide a competitive pricing advantage. By conducting a comprehensive literature synthesis history about consulting fee decision criteria and IQSSL fee proposal were determined. Subsequently, expert interviews were conducted. Semi structured interviews and reviewing documents were used as data collection methods. Collected data was analysed using code based content analysis. It was revealed that, procurement methods and the consultancy fee have a relationship. Construction management contracts and the re-measurement contracts has the highest consultancy fee. There are number of factors to be considered when deciding on the consultancy fee. Findings suggested that independent quantity surveying consultancy fee is within the range between from 0.4% to 1.2% of the contract sum and IQSSL proposal has to accommodate number of improvements for it to be practiced in the Sri Lankan construction industry.