I have strong feelings about this topic. LK touched on it. This is done to get as much out of the contractor as possible and save money. These owners dont want to pay the fees to have things done the right way. It is BS. This is a trend that I am seeing more and more. I will NOT do them!! I am not an engineer. I will not do anything for free either. The only way this BS will ever stop is if we the electrical contractors somehow band together. Problem is there are to many start up co's out there, who think because they made some money, it is better than working for someone else. It takes years for them to realize they are being taken advantage of, but in the meantime this crap still goes on which affects the rest of us.
Unless I am paid to design, than have an engineer stamp and seal them I dont do it. I urge others to follow suit.
PS. I have a collegue who does them. And wouldnt you know it, everytime we talk on the phone, he goes off on a tangent about he did all this design work, and either the owner/GC used his design and gave him NOTHING, showed it to other Elec. contractors, or he never heard from them again.
WAKE UP PEOPLE!
I am glad you explained the problem, one note I would to make, we always did better and had more refered work, when we worked with the engineer, they are your silent partner, and can make your company shine, plus deliver a professional project, and allow you to profit on most jobs.
Once you start working with an engineer, every part of your business will benifit.
When you found this church project, you would contact your engineer, and have a nice lunch, to discuss the best way to present the budget quote.