Architectural Fees for Residential Projects

How much do architects charge for their services?

This article is Part II of a discussion about architect’s design fees. In the previous post, we discussed how architects charge for their services. In this post, we’ll look at various project scenarios and their associated design fees.

Let’s start with full architectural design services:

Full Architectural Design Services

For full architectural design services, you can expect to pay design fees of 10-20% of construction cost for new construction and 15-20% for remodels.

An architecture firm may charge you based on a percentage of construction cost, hourly rate, fixed fee, or a hybrid combination of those methods. But in the end, the range typically falls within the 10-20% of construction cost.

The big range in cost is based on factors such as the level of design expected, the actual scope of services performed, and the architect/architecture firm’s business model (pay rates of personnel, overhead, location, reputation, etc.).

Once a fee structure is established, architects typically break down their fee into smaller chunks of money/hours and assign them to design phases. For full architectural design services, the phases usually look something like this:

Pre-Design
Conceptual/Schematic Design (SD)
Design Development (DD)
Construction Documents (CD)
Bidding/Negotiating
Construction Administration/Observation (CA)

How architects break down their fee into each phase is unique to the firm and the project depending on the anticipated time needed in each phase.

At YR Architecture + Design, for full architectural design services, we spend a lot of time upfront to get the design intent and concept right. This usually involves a thorough site analysis and 2-3 design options plus concept refinement. Then, during construction, we are diligent to make sure the contractor is building the home properly and according to our design drawings. Because we’ve chosen to spend a lot of time in these phases, our fees are more heavily loaded towards the beginning and end. We’re able to be more efficient during the middle DD and CD phases because we use Revit software to document our design so the process is more streamlined and lean.

So now that we’ve briefly explained design fees as they relate to full architectural services, let’s run through examples of typical fees for 3 different people each wanting full design services but wanting levels of service and attention:

Full Architectural Design Services w/ a high level of design

For custom residential projects where an architect is performing full design services and there is a high level of design involved, the architectural fees will, of course, be on the higher end of the spectrum because more time and documentation is involved. These larger projects are typically more expensive and have a construction cost in the millions of dollars. In these cases, design fees range from 15% to 20% of construction cost.

Design fees can get into the six-figures (and even seven figures!) when it’s all said and done for larger custom high-end residential projects. For these projects, architects are providing a very high level of care, involvement and design sophistication that could require hundreds of details to be thought through, designed, drawn, coordinated, and seen through to their built form. You can imagine that a stack of 50-100 drawing sheets with up to 16 details on each sheet would take a while to create (and that’s just the drawing time).

There’s a lot of other things architects are helping you with on a project like this. The architect may be exploring various design options early on, helping with product selection by visiting showrooms, talking to product reps, and going to remote quarries to help select stone. They may be presenting at local design review meetings and coordinating with numerous building officials. During construction, they may be present weekly for site visits, help to approve change orders or applications for payment, review shop drawings, and any number of other construction administration tasks you entrust them with.

Larger projects like these are very difficult to predict how much time will be involved. For projects like these, it’s very common to see an hourly rate model with a range of approximate fees based on other similar projects of that scale completed by that design firm.

Full Architectural Design Services w/ a moderate level of design

For custom residential projects with a moderate level of design and an average level of complexity, design fees range from 12 to 15% of construction cost. Your architect may be doing a moderate level of design documentation which could amount to 20-50 drawing sheets with various details on them that convey the design intent to the contractor.

Architectural fees for projects with a moderate level of design for average-sized homes start at about $30k and can be as much as $100k. The architect is still providing full design services which would include a few design options in the beginning and then continuing with design documentation and construction observation. There’s still a lot to do. So if you’re spending $300,000 to construct your home, expect to pay design fees around $36-$45k. If you’re spending $500,000, your design fees at 15% construction cost would be $75k.

At the same time, you can work with your architect to provide only the design services you actually need help with. If you want to actively take part in selecting fixtures, products, and paint, then the architect can let you take the first pass at all that research and just advise you on your final options. Or if you don’t want or need the architect to help review payment applications or be as involved during construction, you can ask to limit their services to just those that are useful and necessary. These are just a few ways in which you can work with your architect to tailor their services to meet your design needs and your budget.

Fee structures for these projects vary. Any one of the fee structures (percentage-based, fixed fee, hourly rate, or hybrid combination) can be used successfully. It usually depends on the firm and its experience and preference for which fee structure is used.

Full Architectural Design Services w/ a basic level of design

For custom homes with a basic level of design and professional services, we’re talking about projects where someone just wants the basic and minimum design drawings to obtain a building permit. In these cases, the architect may only draw a few details to convey the essential information for the building department to sign off on the drawings and for the contractor to build the project. These drawing sets are smaller with about 10 drawing sheets and leave a lot of work and decision-making to you and the contractor to connect the dots and finalize the design.

For smaller projects and smaller budgets, this may be sufficient if you just want a good set of drawings to start building and you’re willing to do some of the legwork and research yourself. You’ll most likely be responsible for selecting products and materials, for deciding how you want the kitchen cabinetry design and layout to be, and for making sure the contractor is building the house properly. Construction observation and administration for this basic project may even be optional depending on the architect you use.

Similar to the moderate level design projects, any fee structure can be used successfully depends on the firm and its experience and preference.

Design fees for custom homes with a basic level of design services can range from 8% to 12% of construction cost. So if you’re spending $300,000, design fees may range between $24k-$36k.

Again, you can see if your architect will work with you to tailor her design services to fit within your budget. Each architect works differently. Some require certain services for all projects while others leave some services as optional. It really depends on how they work best, how they envision best serving their clients, and how they can help produce the best results. And remember, behind the scenes of all architectural fees is an assumption of the number of hours an architect or firm thinks it will take to complete the project.

Keep this in mind with the fees mentioned above:

The design fee estimates noted above are for architectural services performed by a licensed architect. Should you decide to use a designer or draftsperson, the rates will be less and most likely the services offered will be less. For more information about why architects charge higher rates, read this article.
The fees above are just architectural fees. Fees for engineers and specialists like structural, mechanical, lighting, sustainability, etc will have their own fees which are typically a fraction of the design fees.

Now, let’s take a look at individual design services:

Smaller Projects and Individual Design Services

There are many instances where you may not want full architectural design services. In cases where individual design services or “a la carte” services are more appropriate, fees are typically based on a fixed fee model where a behind the scenes calculation of approximate hours x billing rate is assumed.

Remember, time = money for most architects.

Because the services or tasks are smaller, it’s usually easier to estimate the number of hours required to complete the project and thus get to a fixed fee knowing the hourly billing rate. The architect may not share their hourly assumptions with you, but rest assured, they’ve probably calculated this ahead of time.

Here are two examples of smaller design services:

Example 1: If you aren’t sure if you want to work with an architect for the entire project BUT, you have an idea and just want help translating your vision into a design and getting the big concept right, you can request help for just concept design services.

At YR Architecture + Design, we provide a conceptual design service where we work with clients to define their project requirements and create a design concept that they’re happy with. We package it all up in a document that includes a project summary, concept design drawings, precedent images, and a written explanation of the design intent. Clients are then free to take the drawings to whomever they want to finish the documentation and building. For this service, we calculate approximately how long we anticipate spending on each project to deliver a conceptual design package and assign a fixed fee for this service.

Example 2: In cases where the design service has been systematized or “productized”, the fee may not be based on hourly rates anymore. Instead, it would be based on a perceived value that you’re getting from the service and how much time/money you’d be saving over the alternative (which would be using the services of someone else to do the job). An example of this productized service is when you purchase ready-made designs and floor plans from an architect’s website. It doesn’t cost them any time to give you permission to use the design. They’ve already done the work and are assigning a specific value to the design drawing’s worth.

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to how architects charge for design services. Each type of fee structure has its merits, its challenges, and its natural tendencies for best use. There are many variables at play, there’s a lot of work to do, and there’s a lot of money on the table. Your architect will suggest a fee structure. It’s up to you to understand why they are choosing that method and what it ultimately meets in terms of fees, design quality, and deliverables.

And lastly, while this article doesn’t’ give you exact numbers for architectural fees, we hope that the ranges we’ve provided help put design fees in context with the overall project cost so you can budget accordingly and have better conversations with your spouse and design professional. At the very least we hope you have a better grasp on just how complicated it can be to determine architectural fees and the amount of work that goes into it.

The best and easiest way you can figure out how much it would cost to work with an architect is to have a conversation with him or her. If you can determine a rough construction budget, a rough project size, and figure out how much involvement/level of detail you want the architect to help with, an architect can provide you with a good estimate of their design fees.