i'm doing a similar job right now. same experience level etc. i'm charging $45 an hour, and have extending a fee cap of no more than 12% of the construction value. i think its a little low, but both the client and i are making out better than we would in an office environment.

in the absence of ready-made contracts for unlicensed designers, i would recommend writing a well-crafted letter of intent prior to beginning.

80/hr. min. or 60/hr. if its your first job.

That would give you enough to hire a student to do the drafting for you. It also pays for all of your overhead (prints, copies, models, etc...). Set up your contract @ a fixed fee or with benchmarks for the different phases.

Most impotantly, DO NOT LET THE CLIENT CONVINCE YOU THAT YOUR FEE IS TOO EXPENSIVE. If they want the job enough they will pay. It also helps to do the 15-20 % rule for their budget and show them how much they are saving by using you as opposed to a licensed hack.

Don't undersell yourself simply because you don't have the AIA's little
club card. All the license is for is to raise cash for the AIA and make it easier for the client to sue you when they feel slighted.

Best of luck!

pomotrash you have GOT to get your facts straight on this.

Being a registered architect does not equal belonging to the AIA, however, you cannot belong to the AIA if you are not a registered architect.

If you are an architect, you can decide whether or not you want to belong to the AIA. Getting a license in absolutely no way benefits the AIA, because they have absolutely nothing to do with the registration process.

Having a license also has absolutely no bearing on one's proclivity to be a hack, or not.


fordified, my first freelance job was very similar to your situation and I charged $40/hour inclusive of reimbursable expenses.

Natch that Liberty Bell, but it's so hard to tell these days...or maybe I'm just bitter about the whole process since I'm taking the exams right now. After having designed and built 10 house without a license I don't see the point of having to waste my time or hard earned cash for a piece of paper.

Fordified- she's right on all counts, though I'd disagree with her cost.
If you are in an urban area, you should charge at least $60-$80 per hour. $40 will barely pay the bills and you are worth more. Ask for the stars and you can negotiate for the moon. Of course they could turn you down and hire a student to do the work for $20, so if you want the experience, and feel ok about it, go for less.

or go for the lower rate, and bill reimbursables separately, instead of doing one inclusive rate. This may make your client feel like they know where they money's going a little more, and surprise! they'll end up paying about the same as if you billed out at a higher rate with expenses taken from that.

Good for you! doing the work of getting licensed pomotrash -it's worth it just to be able to say you finished it. My friends in my old office always joked that we were so busy being architects that we didn't have time to become architects. But you'll be relieved to have it out of the way. Good luck with it.

rationalist, good advice, as always, re: separating out reimbursables (and charging 1.1 times cost for them).

I'm not crazy about billing hourly. It always opens you to the client questioning your time & it causes them to get nervous about having a theoretically open-ended invoice. You never, ever want to give them ammunition against you.

You & I both know that there's a limit to the actual value the project will have. The key is to determine the client's expectations. At the start of a job, I like to offer the client an initital, preliminary bit of work, say developing a program, taking as-builts, etc, etc. Just something to get the project going. I estimate my time & put in some fudge-factor for this, 1 -to- 3 days of work. From my estimate I give the client a Flat Fee for a well defined portion of work.

When you have completed the initial tasks, go ahead & bill for Task 'A'. At this point, your project should be more defined. Go to Task 'B', 'C', etc & calculate Flat Costs, or 'Not to Exceed' costs. In order to not
screw yourself, remember, put in a generous fudge-factor. Many people have opinions of what this factor is. Only you really know. If you're slow, or a procrastinator, your factor should be higher. You'll also run the risk of getting to expensive. If so, it's time to work faster & get better @ what you do. Nonetheless, the point is that by providing a 'real' figure, you're giving the client, and yourself, the ability to plan & have a 'known' cost to work towards.

What this does is it allows you to build some rapport with the client - he'll see that you have a good handle on defining the job tasks, it gives the client the ability to know some costs up-front & gives you the ability to size-up the client's wallet, or $$comfort zone. it also breaks the fee into smaller, more palatable bites. The client's gonna always know what he's paying, but I've found that this little bit of psychology makes your life a little easier.

One last thing: Your fee proposal is a valuable tool for the purpose of gauging how high you can go w/ your client. This might sound nuts to you, but I ALWAYS try to make the client fidget, or complain about my initial proposal. if they're not objecting just a little, I know that I'm charging too little. If they go ballistic, well, I know what I must do, now , don't I? Hopefully, 'ballistic' never happens, but you get the point. Either way, negotiate, negotiate, negotiate.

If you are doing this legit and reporting as income then remember you are going to lose 30% of your fee right there. Decide what you think you are worth and add at least 30%. Its amazing how little you make after you include tax and expenses.... (I bill at 75/hr plus costs)

i'm with you mystery. i think about how ambiguous the design process must be for most ppl, and then to apply an hourly rate to that? it can be tought to rationalize. what i do is a much smaller in scale, but the issues are just the same. i apply fixed fees to design work. you know what you're getting. i know what i'm getting. production work for existing cllents, i charge 60-90/hour. sometimes nothing. it all depends on who the work is for and what is the focus and size of their business/organization.

but when you work for a fixed fee, there's the potential for the client to drag the design process into unprofitability with endless mind changing. The beauty of an hourly rate is that the more work they make you put into it, the more they have to pay you, so it's directly tied to their desires.

Also you can re-negotiate your rate easier than a fixed price. I had a job that came back to haunt me because the Client cocked up the construction. I upped the rate to £25 an hour to a max ceiling of £300 for the inconvenience - and he paid me to help get himself out of the shit with the local planner.

rationalist - that is exactly why i shy away from fixed fee. Especially when my "time estimation" skills are still evolving. (And yes, MysteryMan, I am an ultimate procrastinator, especially when I've already worked a 10 hour day).

in the past, i've given time estimates (that include a reasonable FF) and quoted them a rate (strategically mentioning how it's drastically less than my work billing rate, so as to let them feel like they're getting a deal, which they are). Plus, with the estimates for each design stage, they don't feel at a disadvantage and have a relative budget to cling to. but i do explain that massive changes = massive work & may result in additional hourly costs (duh). so far, no one's really had a problem with that, and it's worked well for both parties thus far i think.

but therein lies the rub: the rate is difficult to come up with and i am historically guilt-prone (ask my girlfriend). hearing how everyone's done it is extraordinarily helpful & gives me much food for thought as new freelance jobs come in & i get better at the negotiation phase.

Great fback everyone. thank you!

rationalist, maybe in what you do, but i write my contracts such that they spell out what the client can expect from the design process. if the client exceeds those expectations, i then have the right to bill for additional services. i have never had a problem with this. the point of all of this is that you must write decent contracts so that both you and the client knows what each is getting and that there are no surprises for either. contracts must be fair to both parties.

Oops. FF = fudge factor, not fixed fee.

What about doing a fixed fee for your work, but with clearly defined objectives to be covered - and counting billable expenses separately? Say you're designing an add-on garage for someone's house, you could specify "inclusive of 3 initial design proposals, and 3 revisions to the selected proposal, the add-on garage. Any work above/beyond this will incur an overage charge of $75/hour or be subject to new fee negotiation depending on the scope of the changes. Billable expenses to be paid in full upon completion of project, estimated at $double-what's expected-so-they're-pleasantly-surprised-when-it's-less," And then make it clear that you'll bill them 1/3 up front, 1/3 after selection of design idea, and 1/3 + expenses at the end of the project before you hand over your drawings and carry it out to completion. That way if the client suddenly wants a 4th revision and for you to add a deck behind the house, they know they can't just stick it in your fixed fee.

That's how I've always billed my design clients, and never been screwed in billing or had anyone even attempt to do so. I also have no qualms about adjusting my rate depending upon circumstances, such as the client's budget/size of company, how much creative control they are giving me vs. how much input they want to have, if it's something i'm really interested in and want to work on, and if it would behoove me in ways other than financial to have a project in my portfolio.

to avoid the never ending desidn process make sure you contract states a limited number of revisions beofre incuring addidtional fees and make sure that your proposal has budgeted for those revisions.

as I mentioned in another thread, the office that I work at is currently consulting with a website marketing firm. This firm's contract sounded something like Susan's reccommendation. The stages of the project were clearly defined in the initial proposal (we interviewed 4 firms) and again in their contract. Also, certain "reimbursables" were outlined in the contract as extra costs not included in the fixed fee.

Since they clearly set out the stages of their process, we are required to sign off on each stage, at which point making changes to that part of the project would incur extra charges.

We are coming toward the final stretch of the website development process, and as clients we have been very careful to follow their progress and make sure that we were happy with a stage before signing off on it. This method seems to make responsible clients out of us, and gives them a legal document to reference for any discrepancy.

Certainly not the only way to do it, but it has its benefits.

susan, you have described my process exactly. it's almost scary. i also have no qualms about adjusting my rate for the similar reasons.

btw, welcome back. i hope you are doing well.

I find it important to statet the scope of work in great detail, and have all reimbursables as an expense that you have them pay directly or with a handling fee ( ie 10% ) I try and make the process as transparent as possible. I set up process that assumes no recycle / revision times. ( I do one complete pass of the design to get it to work and assume that it works with the clients needs ) and then if there are substantial changes because of client, authorities etc then I charge out at an hourly rate to get back to the same stage.

Generally it works well as the hourly rate is 3x the wage so we still profit and the clients are in control of how many changes they make. I find hourly the best bet to an assured profit margins. I also try to set an upset max fee on all jobs but my best clients trust us enough to just let us run at an hourly rate.

The past few posts raise another good point- What to do when the design phase is going nowhere. I am in the process of "firing" a client because the design phase has stretched out longer than it should've.
After absorbing the costs of excceding the design budget and doing everything I could think of to produce a design that would suit their budget and their desire I realized that it may just not have been a good match (it happens).

Whatever you do, make sure you are protected, and can back out of the project if you need to. If you do back out, do it professionally, and in writing. I have heard way too many stories of designers "flaking" on their clients and then disappearing from the job, leaving the client out in the cold.

I think a clearly defined hourly rate for various stages is always the way to go. A fixed fee may be an easy means to appear as offering up a "deal", but it will always be seen as a opportunity for some keen (and not-so-keen) clients to flea-market haggle and draw things out...leaving you with the headaches and grief. It is our responsibility as a profession (whether as part of an office or as solo) to manage our unique means of labor and creativity to as efficiently as possible and charge a fair rate for those services...just as other lucrative professions have figured out to do for their own unique skills.

I think what is needed is a consistant pricing system for the work we do...whether it is rendering work, a new breakfast nook, or a new house in itself. The value discrepencies that one person thinks he/she/it should charge versus another is another "hole in our boat" that breeds pricing exploitation and hurts ourselves as a collective. Patients/clients don't hunt for a better deal with lawyers, real estate agents, doctors, or chiropractors ...they accept the price structure that was set forth and maintained by the collective. All architects and designers, not just AIA architects and designers, can benefit from this practice.

i've never had the problems you mention bryden.

i dunno - i think bryden's message is important. i have certainly witnessed similar experiences to him in the sole proprietorship I worked at for 3 years. after being burned through a 30-year career, my old boss will now only work on an hourly basis with clear-cut estimates and reimbursable expenses. He's expensive, yet successful and has explicitly detailed contracts. Hagglers need not apply. whistler's right - transparency is key

transparency is key. this is why i think either fixed fee or hourly is fine. as long as you write a good contract and know what you are doing, you should not get screwed.

my thoughts were also coming from a previous experience with a sole proprietor. He's been in the business a very long time, and simply found that for smaller jobs, an hourly rate helped him get his money the easiest. He'd had big problems in the past with clients dragging the design process out forever and then saying, "well you contracted to design me a house and it's not done yet!" and him saying, "oh yes it is. It was done a month ago, before you changed your mind."

I guess either way you go, the important thing is to address any scope creep issues at the very first indication, not to assume "oh, it's covered in my contract. They know this is beyond the scope." because clients don't always think before they start asking for extras.

i think the reason their are so many different contracts and fee structures out there is because different types of projects warrant different agreements.

personally, in very high end residential, i think hourly+reimbursables is the only way to go. i've even worked on projects where there is a minimum monthly retainage...a monthly sum that can be exceeded if the hourly rate eclipses it. so, say for example, the client chooses to jaunt off to brazil for a couple of months leaving the architect without direction- a minimum fee for those months are still charged.

if you have clients who jaunt off to brazil for a couple of months, that sounds like it would be a very good idea!

My two best clients are two well established businessmen, international travellers who I work on an hourly rate, they pay within 5 working days, and I only charge 5% handling fee. Great projects, When they say jump I just say how high, knowing that they pay and they great the office's full attention. I wish all projects worked that way. But successful clients know the value of service, good work comes at a price and I can honestly say they got the best design work.

Clients who are grinders are worth it. You may not have the confidence to say no to them early in a career but I certainly won't waste my time with them now. fordified has seen it first hand, and I can certained reiterate it without being burned big time myself.

There's a good point raised by Whistler- if you're working w/ good, repeat clients. You treat them differently. First time clients, you've gotta scope 'em & size 'em up.

back to fixed fee stuff. You do this, but only after you clearly define your scope of work. Don't leave too many loose ends - the client always wins in that case.

I DO break up the job & charge per 'phase', or task. I DO NOT allow mission creep to occur. If the client wants something more, then they pay for it as (I love this term) 'additional services', or 'Add-services'.


Back to another point regarding taxes. If you're gonna do much freelancing, you MUST incorporate your business. I'm not even talking about any legal reason. I'm advocating this because of all of the benefits of running your invoices through a corporation (in my case) instead of straight to your bank account. Incorporating correctly (+ using a crack accountant) will keep your tax way below 30%.

Reviving this thread to ask about someone with a couple of years experience. I'm talking with a client about working on a 2500+ home and guest house/garage. My professional experience is in residential so I know some, but not a lot. They know all about the licensing, etc. So I'm doing design and thinking about $30/hr. High or Low?

I'm thinking low. I charge more than that for CAD work.

I agree with a lot of what has been said previously - I've even learned a bit here too. I don't know where you live, but $30 seems low unless you are transcribing drawings and not making any input. I have done some side work in the past and have charge an hourly rate from $40 at the beginning to $60 now. In terms of experience, I have 8yrs and I am 1/3 of the way through the exams. I tell any new clients that I charge straight hourly, plus reimbursables. I give them an estimate of how long their job will take with minimal changes, and when they get a brilliant idea, I always ask them to sleep on it to make sure as I don't want to do any unneccesary work. That's probably a little more straightforward (and more loosely defined) than I might do if this were a full time job, but I've also encountered mostly f.o.c's (friends of contractors) from job's I've worked on. - If you don't know this person or where they're coming from, I would advise getting more detailed - especially when it comes to responsibilities, design, ownership of drawings, etc... - If you've got study guides for the Contracts portion of the exam, I'd read through that at least before signing on dotted lines.

Also, get a good accountant and oncorporate if you are going to do this more than once or twice!