21/01/2026
A Letter to My Professional Colleagues in the Civil and Structural Design Sector
In case you do not know, engineers are the only professionals on a building project who sign a letter of indemnity. That document clearly states that if anything goes wrong with the structure, the engineer will be held responsible.
So when clients start pricing you anyhow, understand this. Your hands are the ones tied legally.
Interior decorators do not sign indemnity forms, yet many of them collect twenty times, sometimes one hundred times, what engineers are paid, both for ex*****on and for supervision. They carry no structural liability.
Before you sign any indemnity, ask yourself these questions:
What are the commitment fees?
What exactly am I being paid for?
What level of responsibility am I assuming?
The same client telling you there is no money is not negotiating with the interior decorator. They are not negotiating with several other consultants on the project. The issue is always structural design drawings. If you know what some architects collect, you will be shocked.
You are the one doing the structural design.
You are the one whose name is on the drawings.
You are the one who will be held responsible if the structure fails.
Yet you are the one being underpriced.
The cost of hiring a lawyer to defend you in court will be higher than the ₦500,000 you collected with so much liability attached.
Structural design, covering both foundation and suspended floor, should not be less than five million naira. Five million naira and above. Anything below that does not allow adequate time for proper analysis, checks, detailing, and professional responsibility.
If there is no serious payment, there is no indemnity. Simple.
Collect your fee for structural design separately. Then charge for the letter of indemnity. Ten million naira. That indemnity is not a signature. It is a transfer of risk, and it must be paid for accordingly.
If what the client is willing to pay does not give you the time, resources, and professional space to design properly and safely, do not take the job.
Go and teach.
Go into business.
Do something else.
You cannot be the one carrying full structural liability and still be paid peanuts.
That is not professionalism. That is professional su***de.
Stop collecting peanuts while carrying the full responsibility for the building. Structural liability is not a favor. It is a legal and professional burden, and it must be paid for accordingly.
