This may scare some of your side projects away, but we never charge less than $25,000 for a private residence. Beyond that we have a skeleton of what drawings will be needed to complete a project, assign hours to each sheet based on which way the wind is blowing and let the spreadsheets do the rest.
At my old firm, the principle would use Means Square Foot estimating to get a very rough construction cost estimate and then charge 15-25% for a fee depending on how much he wanted the job.
j

15-25%? That seems high. What area are you in and what was the average construction cost for the residences? My partners and I had discussed percentage based fees and had figured 10-12% to be higher end and perhaps 7-9% on the lower end. This equated to a fee of anywhere from $25,000-$40,000 for a single family home.

remember that percentage fees are always based on complexity and consultant fees need to be calculated into the fee that you charge. 7-9% (from my limited understanding) would be very cookie-cutter projects with little or no consultant requirements. 10-12% would be the start of custom design....with the fee going up from there depending on the level of complexity and detail being asked for...but if anyone has more experience on this. this is an aspect of the profession that i wish i new more about.

We charge 15% for larger projects (over 150K approx), sometimes we include the structural in that, sometimes we don't - depending on our feel for how much work is involved and how big the project is. If we're building it we'll discount the fee to 10-12%, although we've found that 10% is really too low and we lose money.
For smaller or less complicated projects (sometimes it's almost drafting because the client doesn't want anything special and we aren't building it) we charge hourly and estimate 8-12% of construction cost for the fee. At times it has worked out to even less, maybe 6%, which is great for the client and we get paid for every hour worked, but that's rare and I always give the higher estimate in case.

That is exactly what I was basing my percentages on, and also, this is the state of Florida. For residential design no architect's or engineer's stamp is required for construction as long as the building meets the basic structural requirements. This obviously takes out a good bit of consideration for consultants.

my boss charges 10% for architectural and 20% for general contracting...

and uses 5% to determine an approximate permit fee...

for construction costs:
new construction = $175/sqft
remodel existing = $100/sqft
new kitchen & bath = $275/sqft
remodel kitchen & bath = $190/sqft

Thanks R.A. Between you, futureboy and cookie I think I've got a really good basis for my fee structure. Though I would ask again if anyone knows of a website or publication that publishes average Consultants fees based on building type and geography? I think getting something like that in a post would be a huge help to a lot of us on Archinect.

Thanks again, guys.

RA Rudolph, just checked out your site...very nice work. how have you found the fee situation work out given that you do both design and construction?

Me and some of my friends did (i've quit in the end actually) a 2 story high single family house for 1000 $. of chours only the architectural part.

just to jump in- one residential office I worked at charged hourly. The boss said that he almost always lost money on a percentage or flat fee basis, because the clients get too wishy-washy, don't know when it is no longer appropriate to be making changes. He said an hourly rate was the best way to keep the client in check on that subject and keep himself in the black.

Generally about 5% of construction cost but base cost /sf is a min. $300.0/sf so although the percentage is low the fee is appropriate. What we have done lately is break the construction into a lock up const. cost ( windows, doors, drywall and exterior finished, I realize its more than lock up ) and then a finish budget which can be about the same to finish or depending on client specs way over the top. So our interior design fees tend to be about $8-$10 / sf of area. I realized that our interior design consultants were just slaying fees and therefore have tried to keep more in the office rather than give it over to someone else. Its taken a few years to have the confidnece and resources to pull it off but it totally makes sense lately.

Generally about 5% of construction cost but base cost /sf is a min. $300.0/sf so although the percentage is low the fee is appropriate. What we have done lately is break the construction into a lock up const. cost ( windows, doors, drywall and exterior finished, I realize its more than lock up ) and then a finish budget which can be about the same to finish or depending on client specs way over the top. So our interior design fees tend to be about $8-$10 / sf of area. I realized that our interior design consultants were just slaying fees and therefore have tried to keep more in the office rather than give it over to someone else. Its taken a few years to have the confidnece and resources to pull it off but it totally makes sense lately.

We charge hourly. Fee tends to end up around 13%-15%.

One place I worked based their fee on project square footage - something like $125 a square foot.

BLK, $1000!!! Even for Architectural only, you low-balled yourself big time. I've got a potential client that I'm meeting with on monday and I'm going to charge him around $700 just to do a design proposal for his Homeowner's Association. If it was your first job and you really wanted to get the commission I still would have charged at least $10k for DD's. I've been searching on AIA (evil I know, but the resources are decent) and one of the main points that occurs in almost every article on this subject is not to sell yourself short. It's important to be confident about your ability and to charge accordingly at the very least. This above all else seems to be the common thread in the research I've done and in the advice from everyone here.

Thanks, everyone. You've basically created my fee structure for me. :-)

We charge 15% of construction cost which is around $500 and up in this area. Plus any variance/wetlands applications are additional services which are billed hourly. Never include structural engineer, surveyors, lighting designers etc. in our fee. All are reimbursable with a 10% mark-up.

But, for side work I used to charge significantly lower (I doubt someone doing sidework could charge what we charge).

Good luck.

most residential clients, even if they have loads of money, don't really want to throw money down the rabbit-hole which is the architectural design process. they want to know what they will be paying upfront. at least this is what i've heard from clients. and while linking fees to cost may make perfect sense for us architects -- it sounds fishy to a residential client, who may suspect from the get-go that the architect is not paying attention to their budget anyway. to make the fee seem like it hinges on a more-expensive building...really doesn't make sense to the man on the street...or at least that's my experience.

most clients are OK with the hourly fee idea so long as there is a guaranteed maximum fee. of course the max fee does not include consultants or permitting expenses, nor does it cover reimburseables. but it tells the client, the architect will cost X and not much more.

furthermore, i always encourage a client to figure out ALL of the costs that come with a construction project...not to just fixate on construction costs. i give a worksheet to them that covers pretty much any and every cost they might have. i can't post it, unfortunately. what it does, is impress upon them that their "budget" has to include EVERYTHING and that they may need to downscale their ambitions.

frankly, you should figure out (or guess) about how long that a project will take you hours-wise -- add 20% to account for client changes -- multiply that time by your proposed hourly fee -- and then use that as your max fee. if you're doing work on the side, you have probably very little overhead and thus if you work more than your max fee, you're probably still alright financially and you shouldn't charge anything more.

oh. and if you're doing side work, keep in mind that it will probably take you longer to finish the work than it would if you were doing it full-time. make sure your clients are cool with that.

as for undercutting, i don't think that architects really have the power to undercut each other in the residential sector...when our services are undercut from the get-go by tract housing, "custom" home builders, plan magazines, and existing houses. if a guy charges $1000 to do a house, it may seem like an abomination, except that a "custom" home builder might "design" the house for "free".

Thanks futureboy - In addition to the design fees, we charge 18% for construction overhead & profit (which is low in this area, but helps us win jobs & we're a young company).
The fees have generally worked out on the design side, though as I said when we charged 10% we lost a little. We have basically concluded that it takes the same amount of time % drawings to do it whether we're building it ourselves or someone else is doing it. We still need all the drawings for the sub-contractors & a lot of the detailing. Still lots of CA and running around helping the clients pick finishes.
Where we gain is that we are more likely to be hired by someone looking to have the process go more smoothly and not have to find a separate contractor - we also can provide a mugh higher quality for the price than the clients would otherwise get. But, we aren't making that much money in the end, and in fact not enought o keep the business going unless we get much larger jobs (fingers crossed).
If we charged the full 15% arch. fee plus 20-25% for construction (going rates in LA), we probably would not get hired at this point. I know that Marmol & Radziner is able to charge even more than this, for example, but they have a name and a long track record and we can't compete with that kind of firm.

HaHa! I definitely see your point, Ochona. And I shall, of course, take all of that into consideration. Thanks for the input. The time factor and the "ultimate cost" was something that I had planned to talk with my clients about. I also have another pending project for a new single family and an airport hanger. So, you've definitely given me even more selling points to work with.

Thanks.

indeed very nice work R.A. Rudolph.
who did your web site? that is also very nice.

my fees are 15% or 125$ per hour for design and 65$ for drafting. people ask me when i charge hourly, "how many hours" and i tell them in a reasonable situation, it shouldn't exceed 15%. they don't know i am also the drafstman in most cases..
*(% of construction cost)

i know some people charge much more than that (%25 & 300$ per hour)., but they wake up in the middle of the night worrying how they are gonna pay up to the staff, and their clients call them at midnight.

Hey Orhan,
Sounds like how our office works. The principle is well connected in the financial sector and most of our residential clients have well known names and require lots of "extra" service. We include that in our 25% jobs. As a project manager they bill me at $125/hr. The PA is more. Most of our work is in the Bay Area, and especially in "Wine Country".
j

Thanks Orhan - our hourly fees are on the lower end of what you're charging, and yours sound very reasonable. Sometimes our clients call at midnight, but we don't answer the phone :-)
Yuju Yeo, a friend of ours who is a graphic designer did the website.I think she's still working on her own site but if you want her e-mail address let me know...

As a recently licensed architect, doing stamped side jobs is a new thing for me so I feel I am realistic about how much I can charge and recognize there is a learning curve from my end about what is necessary.

I also believe that if I'm going to do a side job in my "spare" time in addition to everything else I'm doing, I better REALLY love the project or feel like I'm really going to learn something.... (or feel like the client knows other people to bring me more work).

That being said, the first single family home I did CD's from begining to end took me about 250 - 300 hours. I calculated my fee as follows: I estimated it would take me about 200. I looked at what I felt I "should" be getting paid from my full time job ($70,000) and divided that by 2000 (# of work hours / year) and that gave me $35 / hour. so that is what I valued my time at. I started off with a $7,000 fee, made money on my reimburseables and had a couple additional services too.

I didn't "lose" any money because I don't have any overhead. Next time, a project with similar scale and scope I'll probably charge 12,000. 300 hours * $40 per hour. It also depends on the level of service someone is expecting of you. I make it clear, this is "extra" for me and I'm doing it in my "spare" time to get all notions of quick turn around out the window.

They are getting me for a much better rate than my normal $100 billable rate, so they normally don't complain. But I don't have a company moniker that gives me the opportunity to charge $100 / hour for my time. I could probably charge more than I do, but I'm working on building a portfolio of a particular type and quality of work that I believe will pay off in the long run and allow me to charge some of the rates as mentioned above. I couldn't do that and don't have clients that would pay that, so my advice to the original poster is know your client, know your market, know yourself.

One thing to be aware of is that unless you are being paid in cash (ie. under the table), your taxes will be significantly higher than your day-job income. You should charge much more per hour than you make at work just to compensate for that (much less the increased risk, overhead, etc).

And, if you are being paid in cash, you need to make absolutely sure that your client is thinking the same way. If the client decides to use your fee as a tax write-off, then you will get caught and not only have to pay the back taxes, but penalties as well.

I tell clients its a max 10%, with percentage discounts on savings on the final account, time savings, decisions etc

New home fees vary a lot the lower the fee the larger the project. I think that our record fee was 8.5% where the Owner had to pay all consultants separately for a $4.25 millon home. Our highest percent fee was for a $2.8 million remodel/addition that working backwards generated about a 16.5% fee to the architect, consultants again separate. I always make client pay structural, MEP or others separately.

Hourly?  Design and Principal  $100 to $150.00. Design Associate $95. CAD Manager $85.00 Staff Architect $75.00, bookkeeping $65.00.

Approval process and administrative by principal $150.00. Deposits between $1,000 and $5,000. held until final payment. once a month billing.AND, contract specifies that there is mediation and arbitration required in a dispute, and that in litigation the prevailing party recovers lawyer fees.

Addition and remodel fees are usually between 10 and 15% of construction cost.

I've been a solo small office in Kansas & Colorado since 1990. Fees vary wildly! for homes between 2000 and 3000 sq. ft. the fees are lower due to price point discomfort by the client. for homes 3000 to 5000 sq. ft. there is more acceptance of higher fees. 

#1 rule? always have  a signed contract, with a deposit/retainer to be applied to final payment.

I was looking to convert my existing restroom back to a bedroom.  I had been converted to a restroom when the previous owners added a master bedroom.    Additionally, I was adding to the Living room, adding a smaller more reasonable size restroom, and remodeling the kitchen.  I had a contractor and their architect come.  They look at the Visio diagrams that I had done as to how I envisioned the changes to look and they said that they would send me more to scale drawings.  I asked if he could give a rough estimate based on what I wanted to do with the house and he told me that it would be approx. $80K and that included the permits and architectural drawings.  Sounded a little low to me, but I didn't imagine that the new estimate would come back at $180K, talk about sticker shock and no break-down of the costs provided.  So basically, he just took my $800 for some very basic drafts, which I really thought resemble mine Visio diagrams and I'm not even in the field :)  I'm in telecom engineering.  Anyhow, we decided to hold off on the project and frankly got a bit scared to call another company as you hear all sorts of scams and people having their house broken down and usable due to unscrupulous construction companies .  Talk about bad business.  If only he would have provided a break-down as projects or provided some realistic estimate. I certainly would have started with some projects as I could afford them.

Always get three bids minimum. I would get 5-6, but depending where you are, GCs and Architects are extremely busy these days.