Typical Design Fee

[Anonymous]

Just curious, what are your flat rates for designing residential work? I know it is a broad question but give a ex.

[Anonymous]

Therefore a builder set should be a minimum of $2... Oh about the attitude.. sorry.. working on Sunday does that to me..

[Rakela Raul]

"If the local market will only pay $6-7 psf - or about 5% of the construction value, I'd submit that it isn't worth taking on residential projects. "

im finishing our last residential project as a matter of fact....no more residential.

[Anonymous]

Hello
Dont blame builders for your woes,They have there own issues that they have to deal with, including high risk,low profits & now heaps of Bulls**t. legislation driving up costs.Lets face it clients dont want to pay for more than they have to, and they are the ones driving the costs down.The software companies also have to take resposibilty,I see clients and Design Brokers with $99 kiddy Kad Modelling programs with no qualification or experience?,Telling me how to build a house? ,To the unscrupulous unprofessional Builder thats money for jam.
Good Luck

[Rod Jurich]

Cole_Construction wrote:
Just curious, what are your flat rates for designing residential work? I know it is a broad question but give a ex.

How long is a piece of string? ':D'

[Vitruvius]

Just so we're comparing apples to apples - I consider 'custom residential' to be a project commissioned by a client for themselves. In that case the architect provides full services (design, CD's, tendering & site visits). And that is the kind of project and scope which requires +15% to make commercial sense.

If the project is commissioned by a builder/developer, that would be 'production residential' which relieves the architect of tendering, site visits and I presume involves a more basic set of drawings with no interior elevations, millwork details etc. I've never done this type of work but it would seem to require a fee closer to 10% on the basis that there's a minimum economy of scale regardless of how many drawings, or how big the project.

For projects paying under 5% it would almost seem more commercially viable to prep up a portfolio of really great stock plans for various lot sizes and flog them in volume at 1-2%. At least that way you're playing the same game as the builders and you'll both make decent money.

"How long is a piece of string?" --- depends upon whether you want to make a noose with it or use it to tether your yacht!

Cheers, Cameron

[Anonymous]

Vitruvius wrote:
Just so we're comparing apples to apples - I consider 'custom residential' to be a project commissioned by a client for themselves. In that case the architect provides full services (design, CD's, tendering & site visits). And that is the kind of project and scope which requires +15% to make commercial sense.

If the project is commissioned by a builder/developer, that would be 'production residential' which relieves the architect of tendering, site visits and I presume involves a more basic set of drawings with no interior elevations, millwork details etc. I've never done this type of work but it would seem to require a fee closer to 10% on the basis that there's a minimum economy of scale regardless of how many drawings, or how big the project.

For projects paying under 5% it would almost seem more commercially viable to prep up a portfolio of really great stock plans for various lot sizes and flog them in volume at 1-2%. At least that way you're playing the same game as the builders and you'll both make decent money.

"How long is a piece of string?" --- depends upon whether you want to make a noose with it or use it to tether your yacht!

Cheers, Cameron

Great Post, my thoughts exactly.

[Anonymous]

When doing custom residential, I always bill hourly through SD, then based on the final design, I quote DD, CD and Construction Administration as a fixed fee. By the time we're through design, I have a petty good feeling whether the clients know what they want, and how competent they will be dealing with the GC.

[Anonymous]

Good post, hourly through SD is an excellent method to handle the wandering mind of a client. I have only started to use that very same technique.

Along the same lines as fee with residential. What about the developer who wants to purchase one plan and use it for 4 homes. With variations to the facade and finish. Their response is, "You only drew it once, why should I pay 4 times?". Response, liability and intellectual property rights are worth "x" amount of money." Are they going to sell it once or four times? So the arguement continues.

[Rakela Raul]

When doing custom residential, I always bill hourly through SD, then based on the final design, I quote DD, CD and Construction Administration as a fixed fee. By the time we're through design, I have a petty good feeling whether the clients know what they want, and how competent they will be dealing with the GC

ideal fee structure for custom design

[Vitruvius]

Can you imagine applying the same logic to software? Or music? Or film?

"Gee Bill, we've already paid you for one copy, why should we pay you for copies 2 - 50? You don't have to recompile the software 50 times?"

Using that logic, musical bands would only ever sell one album. Studios would only sell one DVD, and Apple would still be operating out of a suburban garage.

Architects should really latch on to the copyright bandwagon. Our work is exactly the type of effort it's intended to promote and protect. And, to be fair, a developer paying a licencing fee for homes 2,3 & 4 is still doing well on the basis that he's paying a reduced design fee on those homes.

It's a developers job to hammer down everybody on costs - reasonably or unreasonably so. And it's our job to reject fee structures with an unreasonable commercial basis.