Enterprise VAR audit
TriMech (& Javelin) Enterprise SOLIDWORKS Licensing, PLM Implementation & Staffing Rate Audit
An enterprise agreement sold through TriMech can cover CAD seats at several sites, a PDM or PLM rollout and contract engineering staff in one relationship, so each part needs its own benchmark. At typical 2025-2026 ranges, a 60-seat mixed SOLIDWORKS estate runs about $247,500 a year, and a contract designer billed at a 52% markup on $55 an hour costs $83.60 an hour. The biggest checks are site-level seat counts, a fixed-scope implementation, and the conversion fee clause.
01What an enterprise agreement through a SOLIDWORKS VAR usually covers
TriMech is a reseller of SOLIDWORKS and related products that, like several large VARs, also offers engineering services and staffing. Canadian buyers may see the Javelin name on comparable paperwork. Engineer Aid is independent of both. This page is a buyer's audit for an enterprise agreement sold through a VAR that bundles software, implementation and people, written for the structure buyers commonly describe.
An enterprise package usually has three blocks, each priced on different logic.
- Licenses: SOLIDWORKS seats by tier and site, PDM (product data management, the vault that controls file versions) and sometimes 3DEXPERIENCE roles. Priced per seat per year.
- Implementation: PDM or PLM setup, data migration, workflow design and training. Priced as fixed fee or time and materials.
- Staffing or engineering services: contract designers or engineers placed on your team, or project work done by the VAR's own engineers. Priced per hour, with a markup over the worker's pay.
The convenience of one supplier is real. The risk is that a discount on one block is paid for by a higher price in another, and a single master agreement makes that hard to see. First check which legal entity signs each order form, then ask for each block quoted on its own order form so it can be benchmarked and, if needed, ended separately.
02Auditing the license block across sites
Multi-site estates drift. A site that shrank still holds its seats, a new site buys at a different discount, and floating pools are sized per site rather than per company. Ask for the seat list by site, tier and license type, and compare it to your own headcount by site.
| Clause or line | Typical 2025-2026 benchmark | Question to ask |
|---|---|---|
| Professional term seat | $3,456-$4,152 / yr (benchmark $3,800) | Is one enterprise unit price applied at every site? |
| Premium term seat | $4,716-$5,496 / yr (benchmark $5,100) | Which users at each site use Premium-only tools? |
| Floating SNL pool | About 24% premium; 2.6:1 users per seat at 75% peak | Can pools be shared across sites over the WAN? |
| Annual uplift | 9.5% compounding is a common unaudited figure | Is there a cap for each year of the term? |
| Seat reduction right | Often absent | Can we reduce seats at each anniversary, and by how many? |
| Co-termination | Common on request | Are all sites aligned to one end date, prorated to the day? |
The seat reduction right matters most. An enterprise agreement that lets you add seats at the enterprise price but never remove them shifts all the downside of a reorganization onto you.
03Auditing a PDM or PLM implementation statement of work
Implementation is where budgets most often move. Ask for a statement of work (the document listing exactly what will be delivered) with the following written in.
- Fixed fee or time and materials? Time and materials puts overrun risk on you. A fixed fee needs a precise scope to be meaningful.
- How many files, vaults and workflows are being migrated? A migration priced without a file count is an estimate, not a price.
- What counts as a change order? Ask for the rate that applies to out-of-scope work and who must approve it.
- What are the acceptance criteria? For example, all released drawings searchable in the vault with revision history intact, signed off by your CAD administrator.
- Is training a fixed number of seats and days? Unused training days should be stated as expiring or rolling over.
Illustration: an implementation estimated at 40 days on time and materials at an illustrative $1,600 a day is $64,000. A 25% overrun, which is not unusual when file counts were guessed, adds $16,000. Ask for a not-to-exceed figure or a fixed fee once the file count is known. Replace the illustrative day rate with the one on your statement of work.
04Auditing contract engineering staff placed through the VAR
If the agreement includes contract designers or engineers, treat it like any staffing contract. The formula is: bill rate = worker's base hourly pay x (1 + markup). Typical engineering markups run 45% to 62%.
Worked example: a designer paid $55 an hour at a 52% markup bills at $55 x 1.52 = $83.60 an hour. Over 1,040 hours (about six months) that is $86,944. Over a full 2,080-hour year it is $173,888, against a base pay cost of $114,400.
Now the conversion clause. If you hire the designer directly and the fee is 20% to 25% of annual base salary, the fee on $114,400 is $22,880 to $28,600. Many staffing contracts reduce or remove the fee after a set number of billed hours, commonly 520 to 1,040. Hiring at hour 1,000 instead of hour 1,041 can cost the full fee if the threshold is 1,040, so get the step-down schedule in writing.
| Markup | Bill rate | 1,040 hours | Fee at 20% of $114,400 | Fee at 25% of $114,400 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 45% | $79.75 | $82,940 | $22,880 | $28,600 |
| 52% | $83.60 | $86,944 | $22,880 | $28,600 |
| 62% | $89.10 | $92,664 | $22,880 | $28,600 |
Ask for the base pay and markup to be disclosed, or at least for the bill rate to be benchmarked. The staffing MSA audit covers conversion clauses in more depth.
05Red flags to raise as questions
Each of these is a question to put in writing, not a conclusion. Buyers commonly find money at these points in combined agreements.
- Is a license discount tied to a services commitment? If the seat price only holds while you buy a minimum number of implementation or staffing hours, the discount is really a prepayment for services. Ask what the seat price would be on its own.
- Who owns the PDM configuration and migration scripts? If the implementer keeps them, every future change goes back through the same supplier. Ask for the configuration, workflow definitions and scripts to be delivered to you at acceptance.
- Does the staffing contract restrict hiring after the assignment ends? Some contracts charge a fee if you hire the worker within 6 or 12 months after the assignment. Ask for the exact period and fee.
- Are contract staff billed for overtime at a multiplier? Ask whether overtime is billed at 1.5 times the full bill rate or 1.5 times the base pay plus the normal markup; the difference grows quickly on deadline weeks.
- Is travel for on-site implementation capped? Ask for travel at cost with a monthly ceiling, or included in the fixed fee.
- Are site counts frozen at signing? Ask how seats move when a site closes or a new one opens mid-term.
06Worked example: one-year cost of a combined agreement
A manufacturer with three sites holds 30 Professional, 20 Premium and 10 Standard seats. At benchmark: 30 x $3,800 = $114,000; 20 x $5,100 = $102,000; 10 x $3,150 = $31,500. License total $247,500.
The audit finds 6 Premium users who only model, and 4 idle Standard seats at a site that shrank. Moving 6 seats to Professional saves 6 x $1,300 = $7,800. Removing 4 Standard seats saves 4 x $3,150 = $12,600. New license total: $247,500 - $20,400 = $227,100.
Add the implementation at $64,000 with a not-to-exceed cap instead of open time and materials, which removes the $16,000 overrun exposure, and one contract designer at $86,944 for six months. Year-one total moves from a possible $247,500 + $80,000 + $86,944 = $414,444 to $227,100 + $64,000 + $86,944 = $378,044, a difference of $36,400 or 8.8%, before negotiating the staffing markup.
07Step-by-step enterprise agreement audit
- Ask for licenses, implementation and staffing on separate order forms, each with its own term and exit rights, and note the contracting entity on each.
- Get the seat list by site, tier and type; reconcile it to headcount and activation logs.
- Confirm the enterprise unit price, uplift cap and seat reduction right in writing.
- For implementation, require a file count, acceptance criteria and a fixed fee or not-to-exceed cap.
- For staffing, get the bill rate, markup basis and conversion fee step-down schedule.
- Benchmark each block separately: licenses against a second VAR quote (see the VAR comparison), staffing against the staffing vs outsourcing TCO calculator.
- Check that ending one block does not change the price of another.
08Run the numbers: engineering staffing agency vs. CAD/FEA outsourcing TCO calculator
The same benchmarks as this sheet, with your inputs. Share link and printable brief open the full calculator page.
Benchmarks are typical 2025-2026 market ranges compiled by Engineer Aid, an independent desk not affiliated with the vendors named. Quotes vary by region, volume and timing; nothing here is legal, tax or engineering advice. Revised 2026-11-06.
Questions buyers ask
Should software, implementation and staffing be on one contract with a VAR?
One master agreement is fine, but ask for each block on its own order form with its own term and exit rights. That lets you benchmark each part and end one without changing the price of the others.
What is a typical markup on a contract engineer placed by a CAD reseller?
Engineering staffing markups commonly run 45% to 62% over the worker's base pay. A designer paid $55 an hour at a 52% markup bills at $83.60 an hour, or about $86,944 over 1,040 hours.
How much is a temp-to-perm conversion fee for a contract engineer?
Typical fees run 20% to 25% of annual base salary, so $22,880 to $28,600 on a $114,400 salary. Many contracts reduce the fee after 520 to 1,040 billed hours; get the step-down schedule in writing.
How do I keep a PDM implementation from running over budget?
Give the implementer an actual file and vault count, then ask for a fixed fee or a not-to-exceed cap with written acceptance criteria. Open time and materials on a guessed scope is where overruns of 25% or more usually come from.
Can I reduce SOLIDWORKS seats during an enterprise agreement?
Only if the agreement says so. Ask for a written seat reduction right at each anniversary, stating how many seats or what percentage can be removed, before signing a multi-year term.