Know what the study actually costs before you sign.
Send the protocol and the sponsor’s proposed budget. Get back a visit-by-visit costing workbook that shows, line by line, exactly where the grid underpays — and the language to ask for more.
Most sites negotiate against a number they can’t see behind.
Sponsor budgets arrive as a grid of per-visit payments built from benchmark fair-market-value tables, not from what the work costs at your site. Without your own costing, you’re reacting to their number instead of defending yours.
And the gap compounds. Every screening visit, every unscheduled visit, every procedure the grid quietly folds into a flat rate. A budget accepted in week one gets lived with for four years.
Every number in the workbook is defended.
One working Excel file your team keeps and reuses, structured to sit right next to the sponsor’s own budget.
Per-visit cost sheets
Every visit broken into three phases — pre-visit preparation, visit conduct, and post-visit data work — so nothing the protocol asks for goes uncosted.
Line-by-line comparison
Your cost set against the sponsor’s proposed grid, visit by visit, with every shortfall flagged and totalled into a per-completed-patient figure.
Site-fees analysis
The startup, close-out, pharmacy, storage, and archiving fees the grid tends to omit — surfaced, benchmarked, and turned into a specific ask.
Scenario modeling
What enrolling above or below target does to the study’s economics, so you know the downside before you commit to the site.
Justification language
Ready-to-send wording for each flagged line, so your counter reads as evidence, not a request — lift it straight into your reply.
Matched to the sponsor’s format
Whether the sponsor negotiates per-visit totals or line-item procedures, your counter comes back in a layout that drops onto theirs.
See it the way your negotiator will.
Switch between the views your team lives in. Every figure here is illustrative.
Sponsor proposed vs. your cost
Screening visit — three-phase detail
Fees the grid leaves out
| Fee | Sponsor | Ask |
|---|---|---|
| Site startupregulatory & activation | $4,500 | $7,500 |
| Pharmacy setupIP handling | not listedmissing | $2,000 |
| Records archiving15-year retention | not listedmissing | $3,000 |
| Study close-out | $1,200 | $1,800 |
What enrollment does to the economics
Three steps, one flat fee.
Send the documents
The protocol (or synopsis) and the sponsor’s proposed budget — the same package your feasibility team already has. We sign a CDA first if you need one.
We build the costing
Your review is prepared against the full schedule of activities and returned as a working Excel file, with every line traceable back to the protocol.
You negotiate with evidence
You get the comparison, the flagged shortfalls, and the justification language — ready to send back to the sponsor as your counter.
Built for our own negotiations first.
Hamilton Medical Research Group is an active Phase II–IV clinical research site in Hamilton, Ontario, backed by more than thirty years of investigator-led practice. This is the same costing discipline we apply to every budget that crosses our own desk — run by people who answer to the same margins you do, not consultants billing by the hour.
Your documents stay confidential. We work under confidentiality agreements every day and will sign yours before anything is shared.
One flat fee. Per study.
No subscription, no percentage of your budget, no ongoing commitment.
One fixed price, quoted before you commit. Priced per study, whatever the phase or therapeutic area.
- Visit-by-visit costing workbook, delivered in Excel
- Line-by-line comparison against the sponsor’s grid
- Site-fees analysis and scenario modeling
- Justification language, matched to the sponsor’s format
- Signed under a CDA whenever you need one
A specialist follows up to confirm scope and price before any work begins.
Send us your first budget.
Tell us where you are in the negotiation. A specialist replies from info@hmrg.org within one business day with next steps and a secure way to share the protocol and budget.
- No account to create, nothing to install
- A CDA before any documents change hands
- Your workbook back, ready to negotiate with
Start your review
Takes about a minute. A specialist takes it from there.
By submitting you agree we may contact you about your request. Questions first? Email info@hmrg.org.
From our Insights
All insightsHow to change your email address in the Shared Investigator Platform (SIP)
The email setting for a SIP account lives in Exostar, not in SIP itself. Here are the verified steps to change your Shared Investigator Platform email address.
July 18, 2026Most sites negotiate blind: how sponsor budget grids underpay
Sponsor budget grids underpay research sites because they price a generic protocol, not the study you'll actually run. Rebuild it as your own cost model.
July 18, 2026The independent site's survival guide to consolidation
CROs and private equity are buying research sites fast. Independent sites survive by specializing, owning the patient relationship, and knowing their numbers.