A fee table is the part of a proposal that shows what the work costs. In a professional services proposal it lists the phases, tasks or deliverables, the basis for each fee and the amounts, and ends with a total. A well structured fee table lets a client see what they are paying for and makes changes to the scope easier to discuss.
Choose how to organize the rows
Organize the rows the same way the scope is organized, so each row in the fee table matches a section of the scope. Common options:
- By phase. Common in architecture and engineering, where work moves through defined phases.
- By discipline within phase. Multidiscipline engineering firms show a grid: phases down, disciplines across.
- By task or workstream. Common in consulting engagements with parallel streams of work.
- By deliverable. Useful when the client is buying specific outputs, such as a report or a set of drawings.
Choose the columns
Use only the columns the client needs to understand the fee. A typical set:
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Item | The phase, task or deliverable |
| Description | A one line summary of the work in that item |
| Basis | Fixed fee, hourly estimate, not to exceed, percentage, retainer or another basis |
| Hours or quantity | For hourly or unit priced items, the estimated hours or units |
| Rate | For hourly or unit priced items, the rate applied |
| Amount | The fee for the item |
If every item is a fixed fee, the hours and rate columns can usually be left out.
An example
The figures below are illustrative only.
| Item | Basis | Hours | Rate | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phase 1: Discovery | Fixed fee | $12,000 | ||
| Phase 2: Design | Fixed fee | $28,000 | ||
| Phase 3: Implementation support | Hourly, not to exceed | 80 | $175 | $14,000 |
| Subtotal, fees | $54,000 | |||
| Reimbursable expenses | Allowance | $2,500 | ||
| Total | $56,500 |
Show subtotals and the total clearly
Give the client one number to look for. If the table mixes fixed fee and hourly items, say in the table or the notes that hourly items are estimates. Keep expenses on their own line or in their own section so the professional fee is easy to see.
Handle expenses separately
Reimbursable expenses, such as travel, printing or permit fees paid on the client's behalf, are usually shown as a separate allowance or billed at cost. State which approach you use and whether any markup applies.
Allowances and separately priced items
An allowance is a set amount for work whose scope is not yet known. Work the client may add later is best shown as its own row with its own amount, labeled so the client does not mistake it for a committed fee.
Notes under the table
Short notes under the fee table carry the assumptions behind the numbers: what the fee includes, what it excludes, how hourly items are billed and how changes to the scope are priced. Notes keep the table itself readable.
Keep it consistent across proposals
A firm that lays out fees the same way in every proposal makes internal review faster, because reviewers know where to look. Standard fee structures and templates keep the layout consistent, and a computed table removes arithmetic errors.
Feebeaver: Feebeaver lets you set up fee structures once and computes each proposal's fee table from them, so the basis, rates and caps are consistent and the arithmetic is always right.