MEP accounts for 25–40% of commercial construction cost, yet it's often the last thing priced. We explain how we approach it from the first sketch.
On a typical commercial project, mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems — MEP — account for 25 to 40 percent of total construction cost. On a hospital or laboratory, it can reach 60 percent. Yet MEP is routinely the last line item priced in a conceptual estimate, the most lightly documented in a schematic package, and the most frequently over-run on a completed project.
Why MEP gets shortchanged
MEP is complex, interdisciplinary, and deeply dependent on equipment selections that are often not made until late in design. This makes it tempting to estimate MEP as a percentage of the building shell cost — "about 30% of structural, mechanical, and electrical combined" — rather than from actual quantities. That approach works until it doesn't.
Our approach from day one
Even at schematic design, we produce a systems-level MEP estimate based on building type, occupancy, and mechanical strategy. We flag the major equipment decisions that will swing the number — chiller selection, electrical service size, fire suppression density — and put explicit allowances against each. You know what's a number and what's a question.
The coordination problem
MEP estimates fail most often not because the quantities are wrong, but because the coordination is missed. A duct that needs to run through a structural beam. A pipe that conflicts with the electrical panel location. We build coordination review into every MEP scope, and flag the conflicts that will cost money to resolve.