Access control and intrusion detection design fee, office building in Sycamore Bend, Illinois

Security devices counted from the architect’s 50% CD floor plans for the basement and Levels 1–5, and priced per floor from an hours-per-device basis plus a fixed allowance per floor. Design comes to 337.4 hours and $62,419 at $185/hr, with Level 4 priced as a mirrored repeat of Level 2.

Architectural floor plans, 50% CD, Oct 22, 2026Office building, basement + 5 levels, 72,000 GSFAccess control (28 10 00) and intrusion detection (28 31 00)Prepared Nov 5, 2026

Summary

Fee proposal

$62,419 for 131 devices, with card-access doors carrying two-thirds of device hours

At the hours basis and $185/hr, design comes to 337.4 hours. The 36 card-access doors are 27% of the devices but account for 120 of 175.9 device hours (68%). The 66 motion detectors are half of the devices and 15% of device hours.

Door count moves the fee most: 2.5 hr per card-access door and 10 hr per automatic entrance, against 0.4 hr per detector.

Door schedule, DD issue

5 doors on Level 3 have no security hardware in the door schedule

The 50% CD plans (Oct 22, 2026) show the server room, UPS room, payroll and finance on Level 3 with card access or door alarms. In the DD door schedule (Sep 30, 2026), doors 3-04, 3-05, 3-06 and 3-13 have non-electrified hardware sets and connecting door 3-17 is missing. Two doors on Level 1 remain only in the schedule. Counted from the schedule, the fee comes out $1,073 lower and Level 3 is short 9.1 hours.

Base the proposal on the 50% CD plans and ask the architect for an updated door schedule and hardware sets.

Typical floor

Level 4 is Level 2 mirrored and can be priced as a repeat

All 18 devices on Level 4 line up with Level 2 flipped about gridline 6. At 40% of the hours, Level 4 drops from 27.5 to 11.0 hours, which takes $3,052 off the fee. Level 3 looks like the same typical floor but has 7 more devices and is priced as its own floor.

State in the proposal that the reduction holds only while Level 4 stays unchanged.

Devices by floor and fee

Pick a floor and switch device types on or off. Click a device for its source on the plans and in the door schedule. Change the door count basis, the mirrored-floor reduction and the hourly rate to see how the fee moves.

Floor
Door count basis
Level 4 mirrored
0Devices on this floor
0Design hours, this floor
0Fee, this floor
0Total fee

No security hardware in door schedule Only in door schedule Device on Level 2 Differs from Level 2

Device count by floor and type

Click a row to show only that device type, or a floor heading to change floors. Hours before the mirrored-floor reduction.

Fee calculation

Sources and method

Sources

  • A-100_A-105_Floor_Plans_50CD.pdfArchitectural floor plans, basement and Levels 1–5, with security device symbols, 1/8" = 1'-0", 30x42, Oct 22, 20266 sheets
  • A-002_Security_Device_Legend.pdfSymbols AE, CA, DA, MD, KP and ER and hardware sets HW-01, HW-12 and HW-201 sheet
  • A-601_Door_Schedule_DD.xlsxDoor number, room and hardware set for each door, with the Section 08 71 00 hardware sets, Sep 30, 202694 doors
  • Owner_Security_Design_Standards_v1.2.pdfOwner requirements: card access at the building perimeter, IT and sensitive rooms; intrusion detection monitored by a UL-listed central station12 pages
  • RFP_Electronic_Security_Design_Services.pdfScope: schematic design, construction documents and 10 design meetings, Oct 28, 20264 pages
  • Fee_Hours_Basis_ESS_2026.xlsxHours per device type, fixed hours per floor and project-wide items1 tab

Method

  1. Each symbol in the legend on A-002 was searched on the six plan sheets. Every hit was tagged with floor, room and grid location.
  2. Door symbols were matched to the door number on the plans and compared with the hardware set in the DD door schedule.
  3. CA and DA use the same square and differ only by a solid triangle. All 52 doors with those symbols were checked against the hardware set or, where none is assigned, against the door tag on the plan.
  4. Each floor was compared device by device with Level 2, as drawn and mirrored about gridline 6, to find floors that can be priced as a repeat.
  5. Fee per floor is count × hours per device type plus fixed hours per floor, times the mirrored-floor factor. Project-wide items are added and the total is multiplied by the hourly rate.

Assumptions and limitations

  • Hours basis: AE 10 hr, CA 2.5 hr, DA 0.8 hr, MD 0.4 hr, KP 1.5 hr and ER 1.5 hr per device, 10 hr fixed per floor and 118 hr of project-wide items.
  • A mirrored floor is priced at 40% of its hours. This assumes Level 4 does not change in later issues.
  • Door counts are based on the 50% CD plans. The DD door schedule is older and differs on Levels 1 and 3.
  • Fire alarm (28 46 00), video surveillance and the door hardware specification (08 71 00) are excluded. Retail and restaurant storefront entrances are tenant scope and excluded.
  • Fees exclude reimbursable expenses. Changes after the 50% CD set are additional services.