How much architecture costs
The cost of architecture is the fee the discipline charges for the design of the building, and it is the figure the client budgets before the construction, because the drawings are bought before the build. The architect's fee for a residential project is quoted at 8 to 15 percent of the construction cost, and the fee for a project of 450,000 dollars of construction is therefore 36,000 to 67,500 dollars, the range the client prices before the first meeting. The cost is not one number but a structure, the fee for the design service stated in 3 ways, the percentage, the flat and the hour, and the structure of the fee is what this page breaks down, from the percentage of the construction to the cost of the plans and the cost of the change.
The 3 ways the fee is quoted
The 3 ways the architect's fee is quoted are the percentage of the construction cost, the flat fee and the hourly rate, and each answers a different question the client asks. The percentage is the quote for the full service, the fee set at 8 to 15 percent of the construction cost, and it is the standard quote for the residential and the small commercial project, because it ties the fee to the size of the work it designs. The flat fee is the quote for the set, the price of the construction documents for a project of a given scope, and it is the quote the client compares between firms, because the flat number is the one that fits in the budget line. The hourly rate is the quote for the time, the price of the hour of the architect's work, and it is the quote the change order uses, the fee for the hour when the design changes after the drawings issue. The 3 quotes, the percentage that ties the fee to the work, the flat that fits the budget and the hour that prices the change, are the 3 ways the cost of the architecture is stated, and the client who understands the 3 can read any fee proposal the firm sends.
What the fee covers by stage
The fee of the architecture covers the 4 stages of the design, and the cost of each stage is the part of the fee the stage earns. The first stage is the concept, the design of the layout and the form, and it carries the largest share of the fee, the 40 to 50 percent of the total, because the concept is the design the rest of the work draws from. The second stage is the development, the drawing of the concept at detail, and it carries the 30 to 40 percent of the fee, the share that pays for the working drawings. The third stage is the construction documents, the set that issues to the builder, and it carries the 10 to 20 percent, the share that pays for the set the build is priced from. The fourth stage is the construction administration, the visits to the site and the answers to the builder's questions, and it carries the rest, the share that pays for the years of the work after the drawings issue. The 4 shares, the concept, the development, the documents and the administration, are the structure of the fee by stage, and the client who reads the structure sees where the money of the design goes, to the stage that earns it.
What drives the cost up and down
The drivers of the cost of architecture are the 4 factors that move the fee within the range, and they are the size of the project, the complexity of the design, the speed of the schedule and the scope of the service. The size is the first driver, the fee that grows with the construction cost it is a percentage of, and the larger the project the larger the fee in absolute terms even at the same percentage. The complexity is the second, the fee that rises with the difficulty of the design, the project on the difficult site or the project with the difficult structure, because the complexity is the hours the design takes. The speed is the third, the fee that rises with the rush of the schedule, the project that needs the drawings in 3 months rather than 6, because the speed is the overtime the work takes. The scope is the fourth, the fee that rises with the breadth of the service, the project that includes the interior and the landscape as well as the building, because the breadth is the disciplines the work pulls in. The 4 drivers, the size, the complexity, the speed and the scope, are what move the cost of the architecture, and the client who controls them controls the fee, the scope fixed at the brief and the schedule set at the contract.
The cost of the plans and the change
The cost of the architecture plans is the price of the set that issues, and it is the figure the client who buys the plans rather than the full service pays. The set of construction documents for a house is priced as the flat fee of the design, the 8 to 15 percent of the construction compressed into the price of the drawings, and the client who buys the set pays the design fee and not the construction fee. The cost of the change is the price of the hour after the drawings issue, and it is the figure the change order carries, the architect's hour plus the builder's hour for the change the client makes. The 2 figures, the cost of the plans and the cost of the change, are the 2 costs the client meets after the contract, the price of the set and the price of the change, and they are the costs the budget that fixed the fee at the start must carry, because the design that changes after it issues is the design the hour pays for. The client who fixes the scope at the brief is the client who keeps the change order out of the cost, and the cost of the architecture is then the fee the contract stated, not the fee the changes added.
Estimate the architect's fee from the construction cost
| Input | Value |
|---|---|
| Construction cost | |
| Fee percentage | % |
Estimated design fee: $54,000
How the cost compares across the market
The cost of architecture across the market is the range the fee moves in, and it is set by the 3 forces that price the discipline's work, the country, the city and the type of project. The country sets the base, the fee in the United States and the United Kingdom running at the 8 to 15 percent of the construction, the range the market prices the design at, and the markets of South Asia pricing the same percentage against a lower construction cost and so a lower fee in absolute terms. The city sets the premium, the fee in the large coastal city above the fee in the mid size market, because the city prices the work against the construction cost that is higher there. The type of project sets the spread, the fee for the residential project at the top of the percentage range and the fee for the large commercial project at the bottom, because the larger the project the lower the percentage the market accepts. The 3 forces, the country, the city and the type, are what set the cost of the architecture in any market, and the client who quotes the fee against them quotes it against the market rather than against the firm, which is the way the cost of the design is read, as the price the market puts on the drawings the build is bought from.