If you're a potential client looking to hire an architect, what is your process? How do you search? What are you searching for? Have you found it? Or have you still not found what you’re looking for? (Thanks U2!)
While I am on plenty of social platforms, like Houzz, Pinterest, Instagram, etc. most of my clients come through a Google search, or Home Advisor. Both of which I pay for. So, I guess it does pay to advertise!
What I've noticed these potential clients are most interested in is: Can it be done and for how much? In fact, my Google Analytics point to as much.
These are both questions I am more than happy to discuss & propose on and often times I do, at my expense, for hours per client.
What will always strike me as odd is the expression on the potential clients faces when I tell them what my fees would be to do the work required to get their vision designed, permitted and built. I know they don’t expect it for free, but no matter what my fee quote is, it’s always more than what they were expecting.
This has made me realize that most people really don’t know what an architect does or what they are worth. So, I’m going to spill the beans and hopefully you’ll finally find that which you have been looking for.
Most architects aren’t out there to rake in the millions. Or to even to make a hefty profit. Mostly, they just want to design buildings, keep a roof over their head, food on the table and enjoy life. But in order to do so, we have to go through a minimum of 5 years of architectural education, 3-5 years of internship, 9 or so licensing exams, and then there’s the years and years of experience.
A licensed architect is required for any commercial work, but what a lot of people don’t know is that one does not generally have to be licensed to do residential architecture? So, why pay more for a licensed architect when you simply could hire a drafting service or one of those home design companies selling blueprints at half the cost?
Drafters go to trade school for their degree, they aren’t required to be licensed or pass any standardized tests. In fact, they don’t even have to have gone to drafting school. The same goes for designers.
While many drafters and designers come from the construction industry or similar trades and have years of knowledge on design & construction techniques and how things go together, they usually aren’t involved in all aspects of design & construction, from beginning to end. They may not know all the nuances of the zoning & building codes (yes, there’s always more than one that applies) or how ALL the pieces come together in the end (civil, structural, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, etc.). The more experienced the architect, the better they would be at giving you what you want for what you can afford, and the more would should expect to pay for that experience.
“Full professional architecture and engineering fees will cost you around 10% of the overall cost of construction.””
While I can draft up a house for $2/SF just like a drafting service can, I can also provide the pertinent information on Planning & Zoning restrictions and how to get around them, Building Code requirements and how to ensure what is designed and built is safe, secure and healthy and finally to make sure what was designed and permitted can be built and is built correctly. There’s even an Architectural Licensing Board to back that up and Professional Liability Insurance required to cover your best interests.
Architects can and should be involved in all phases of a project, from preliminary code research, all the way through to issuing the Certificate of Completion for the contractor. Many designers and drafters can dig you into a hole by missing a simple code requirement, sometimes even at the clients request! Likewise, many contractors, either intentionally or ignorantly, will try to do something cheaper. I’ve had contractors use less rebar in the concrete than was required. Or change the size of the framing, or sneak detergent into a concrete mix for better workability. They often convince the client that it will save them money. But that’s also why there are building officials to review the construction documents prior to issuing a construction permit, and inspectors to review the installed work prior to covering up. And architects are there with you all the way. Designers and drafters are long gone by now.
So, what are the costs of an architect?
Architectural fees can run anywhere between 5% and 15% of the construction cost of your project. I keep mine around the 5% range. 15% is reserved for my friends down in Southern California designing houses for the rich and famous in the Hollywood Hills. Add on top of that engineering fees for Civil, Structural, MEP, etc. and you are looking at around 8-10% overall for professional architecture and engineering fees.
On a per task basis, drafting can cost as little as $2/SF. In fact, that’s exactly what I charge for drafting up a typical wood framed house that has already been designed. But an architect does so much more than just draft.
When you apply simple drafting fees on top of all the other architectural fees through the remaining phases, that works out to about $10/SF. Add another $10/SF for the other professional engineering fees. Often the MEP engineering fees get rolled into the Contractors costs for residential construction.
On a per phase basis, you can take that 5% fee (architectural fee based on construction cost) and break it on down, because not every project requires every phase of design & construction.
5% of the architectural fee goes towards Preliminary Design (code research, as-built documentation, site visits, client meeting)
10% of the architectural fee goes towards Schematic Design (taking your programming information and massing it up into 3D and rendering is in a way that you start to see your visions come to shape). This includes meeting with you to address your concerns and making changes
15% of the architectural fee goes towards Design Development (developing the schematic design documents into a more formal set of documents that can be used for preliminary regulatory review, permitting and contractor selection & pricing). This is usually where you would plug in the $2/SF drafting services fee.
5% of the architectural fee goes towards Permitting & Bidding (submitting and working with the Authorities Having Jurisdiction on Entitlements for Zoning, Permitting for building, contractor selection).
40% of the architectural fee goes towards producing the Construction Documents (incorporating permit review comments, contractor input and including the final construction details needed to build it per the design intent).
25% of the architectural fee goes towards Construction Administration (to meet weekly with the client &/or contractor on site, review progress of work, make sure it is getting built per the design intent and code requirements, address contractor requests for more information, review contractor material submittals to make sure they are providing the correct products, reviewing the completed work and contractor pay applications and signing off on the final product).
On an hourly basis, you can expect to pay a draftsperson anywhere between $30 and $50/hour. For a licensed architect, you can expect to pay anywhere between $100 and $150/hour. For designers, you will pay more than $150/hour. I keep my rate competitively priced at around $100/hour, that would be through all phases regardless of the role being performed.
Obviously, every project and client is unique and these percentages and fees should shift accordingly. But this is it in a nutshell and what you should expect to get out of an architect for what you pay.
I just spent $200 of my time writing this instead of earning that money on a paying client. More often than not, I will spend at least 4 hours per client proposal going out to their property, meeting with them, doing some preliminary property & code research and writing up their proposal for my fees & services. What do you feel an architect is worth?