Many clients claim
that a simple question to an architect like ‘how much do you charge?’
is usually met with a long winding story, sounding at best confusing and at
worst evasive. The truth is
that determining architectural fees is a mystery to most people including
architects themselves.
Most clients expect
an answer like the one they would get from a shop selling sugar, bananas or
clothing, which frankly is a bit unfair on the architect. The reason architects give such elusive answers is because they
fear to commit themselves without brief or clearly written terms of
reference. Even where briefs are
properly written, architects are the worst people when it comes to keeping a
grip on the scope of services – partly due to a constant desire to have the
best design and in part due to changes initiated by the clients. It is not unusual for a client to
change their mind about the design and ask for modification after sign off or
completion of design. Unless, the
architect and client are friends, ordinarily the architect should charge for
these changes. Yet many wont and
some will – depending on the relationship between the client and architect. All the above factors help to
perpetuate the myth that architects are expensive and many start avoiding them.
There
are many different ways architects charge for their professional services;
hourly, percentage of construction, some combination of the two, or a cost per
square metre of construction. It
does not make things easier when you learn that a mixture of these can easily
be used on a single assignment. Indeed the Architects Registration (Conditions
of Engagement and Scale of Fees) Bye-Laws of 2009 recommend an hourly rate for
stages A to B and a percentage of construction for stages C to F. Charging fees as a percentage of
construction costs is usually met with a lot of opposition from clients and
very few architects or clients understand how it works. In my office, we
typically use the hourly rate for determining fees and I cannot recall a single
job that we have signed a contract or billed using percentage of construction
method. For us, this is the best
way we can determine how much our service is worth but also it is easier for a
client to understand. Did I just
say clear to understand? Well, the
truth is that many times there are complications and misunderstandings in this
method also. One of the things
that seems to always cause confusion and argument is the number of hours spent
on an assignment. Then there is
the issue of additional services – some clients believe that what we categorise
as additional services like planning application and approval, should actually
be part of our normal services. If
you are going to engage an architect – especially for a residential house, be
sure to confirm what services he is charging you for. It is better than being surprised with a bill you did not
plan for.
Hourly Rates
Probably the
clearest way of charging, we have an hourly rates for different level positions
(administration, drafting, project architect, partner, etc.) and these are
charged for the different stages (preliminary design, schematic design, design
development, construction documentation, bidding and negotiation, and construction
supervision or civil works contract administration). Through some experience, we have an idea, for instance, how
much each of the personnel will spend on each stage of assignment to produce
drawings for a residential house. We
generally use this format when the scope of the work is not very comprehensive,
unknown, or if a client specifically asks for it. Again through experience, we are aware that most clients
don’t like being charged an hourly rate mainly because they want to have the
freedom to change designs and general scope without the fees heading north. As a result although, we charge an
hourly rate, for most small works (e.g residences and other small buildings),
we cap the fees using the square metre rule. A 3 Bedroom residential house (approx 120-150 sq.m) will cost
less in fees than a 5 bedroom one (160-200 sq.m). There are some significant
advantages to using this billing method, chief of which is giving a client
assurance that the fees will not change as a result of changes in design or
scope. In order to protect
yourself from the famous client who never makes up their mind on final design,
you must include a clause in the contract to protect you from endlessly
designing. The Architects’
Registration (Conditions of Engagement and Scale of Fees) Bye Laws of 2009 give
guide lines on what is to be charged per hour.
Percentage of Construction Costs
These percentages
vary by practice. The Architects’ Registration (Conditions of Engagement and
Scale of Fees) Bye Laws of 2009 guides what percentage to use according to the
class of buildings. According these byelaws the percentage should vary from 3%
for simple buildings like warehouses and sheds to 7% for the more complex
buildings like hotels, private residences, hospitals, theatres etc. Although
most architects prefer this method of determining fees, clients hate it and
most will avoid it. This billing method has run into problems and many
clients/developers are increasingly against it.
There is an
understandable concern that the architect will specify expensive materials and
drive the cost of construction up so that consequently his fees (which are a
percentage) are also unnecessarily high.
One way of dealing with these fears as a client is to state your budget
in advance so that the fees are fixed as a percentage of that budget. If the architect comes up with an
expensive design that does not fit within the budget earlier stated, you as a
client may choose to revise the budget without revising the fees or ask the
architect to redesign so that the cost is within the budget earlier
stated. The most amazing thing is
that almost invariably it is the clients that keep revising their needs
(program of requirements), which inevitably lead to a cost higher than the
original budget. This is where
serious arguments and misunderstandings may come up.
There are arguments
that charging a percentage guided by law, the architects are in essence a
cartel taking advantage of the client(s). In some markets like the European
Union, percentage of construction costs guided by mandatory scale of fees has
been totally banned. It has been
argued here in Uganda that this method of billing directly contradicts the PPDA
guidelines on procurement where architects are usually selected using the
Quality Based Selection method or 2-Envelope bidding. In many cases, the Architect’s fees are not anywhere within
percentages recommended and it gets worse if the architect is not the lead
consultant.
