It is a reasonable question, and one that is answered badly rather more often than it is answered plainly. Fees vary between practices, between projects and between the stages for which a practice is engaged, so a single figure would be of no use to anyone. What can be set out usefully is how fees are arrived at, which allows one quotation to be read against another.
The three ways a fee is usually put together
A percentage of the construction cost is the conventional basis for a full service, from the first conversation through to completion on site. It has the merit of moving with the project: if the scope grows, the fee grows with it, and if it contracts the same holds in reverse. It is the arrangement that suits most whole-house projects.
A fixed fee suits a defined piece of work with a defined end, a planning application for a single-storey extension being the obvious example. It gives certainty on both sides, provided the scope is written down carefully enough that both parties are describing the same thing.
An hourly rate is appropriate where the extent of the work genuinely cannot be known at the outset: an initial appraisal of a plot, advice upon a planning difficulty, or attendance that falls outside the agreed stages.
Most projects of any size use more than one of these. We commonly appraise a site at an hourly rate, quote a fixed fee for the planning stage once the scope is clear, and move to a percentage for the technical and construction stages.
What a full architectural service includes
The word “architect” covers a considerably wider range of work than the drawings people picture, and the difference between one quotation and another is very often a difference in scope rather than in price. A full service would ordinarily include:
- An initial appraisal of the property, the brief and the planning context.
- Design proposals, drawings and three-dimensional visualisations.
- Preparation, submission and management of the planning application through to determination.
- Technical design: the Building Regulations drawings, specifications and construction details.
- Tender: identifying suitable contractors, issuing the information and reviewing the returns.
- Contract administration and site attendance through construction, to completion and handover.
A quotation that stops after planning is not a cheaper version of the above. It is a different and much smaller undertaking, and the work that follows it will still have to be done by somebody.
The costs that are not the architect’s fee
Several costs sit alongside the fee and are frequently mistaken for part of it. The planning application fee is paid to the local authority. Building Regulations approval is charged separately by building control. A measured survey of the existing house, a structural engineer, a drainage or flood risk assessment, an arboricultural report, a heritage statement or a party wall surveyor may each be required depending upon the project. A good fee proposal names the ones it anticipates rather than leaving them to appear later.
Why the lowest quotation is not reliably the cheapest project
Fees are a small proportion of what a project costs. The construction is the rest of it, and the quality of the information a contractor is given is what governs how accurately that construction can be priced and how much of it has to be resolved, expensively, while the scaffolding is up. A thin technical package is not a saving; it is a deferral, and the sum deferred is usually larger than the one saved.
The other consideration is the house itself. A well-considered design is not more expensive to build than a poorly considered one of the same size, and it is a great deal more pleasant to live in and worth more when it is sold.
What to ask before you appoint anyone
Ask which stages the fee covers and which it does not. Ask what the fee would be to continue beyond the stage quoted. Ask which other consultants the project is likely to need. Ask how changes are charged, and how much site attendance is included. Ask whether the practice is on the ARB register and whether it is a RIBA Chartered Practice, since “architect” is a protected title and the two things are straightforward to verify.
We set our fees out stage by stage before any work begins, so that what is included, what is not and what will be charged if the project changes are all visible at the start rather than discovered at the end. If you would like a view on what your own project is likely to involve, we are happy to give one before you commit to anything.
Written by Thurston King Architects, a RIBA Chartered Practice in Sutton Coldfield. This is general guidance rather than advice on your property: what a particular site will support depends on the property, its setting and the view your local planning authority takes.
