Jenda; If you send me your email, I will send you a short (5 page) letter type contract I use with residential clients. It has some clauses that the aia contract does not have, like a limit of liability, and acknowledgment that there will be change orders due to unforseen conditions, etc. I have found it useful to give owners a contract just for the preliminary design phase, then once we determine the scope, I give them a contract for the rest of the work. This gives me a chance to see how easy they are to work with, how long it takes them to make decisions, etc. It also does not seem as daunting for the owner to sign a contract just for the first phase, and it lets them see how they like working with you as well, so it is an easier sell. Your fee is going to depend on the scope of your services, like are you providing interior design and construction contract administration, are these bare bones drawings or fully detailed with every tile location shown. I would say the minimum would be 6 or 7 %, but our fees are usually 10 to 12% for full services. Given the budget you stated, I would say that you are probably looking at a budget job, so the fee scope would be less detailed and the fee lower.

Thanks for the contract! A further question arises: What might be a reasonable hourly rate for me to quote, especially for any additional services?
Thanks!

i have to say that this is a remarkable question, part of which the question seems to be rhetorical, and the other is that you are providing design services and not architectural.

80k is not a lot, and if that is not a lot, then they are likely not willing to spend a lot on fees. second, you are not an architect, therefor; spending a lot on a non-licensed intern, would only seem to be a win-win for them.

here's my thought; charge them 20% fee, the times being what they are and all, you could not possibly do it for less.

Wow, reading the first part of this response, I was preparing to hear a lower number, perhaps even as low as 5. Then to see a recommendation of 20, very nice, but unexpected to say the least. If I was licensed, what % would I be looking for? From my past office experience I would have guessed closer to about 15%, considering the scope and budget are pretty small. So this last post is leaving me happier, though more confused.

Probably depends on local, but no one here charges 20%, even for full hand holding services. We have been able to make money at 10%, and that includes overhead, insurance, a real office, etc. Realize that you are not licenses so it would be difficult for you to charge what an architect charges. Even sole proprietors around here realize they might charge $100 or $120 for the "architect" designing time, but they only charge $45 or so when they are drafting. You might look at a blended lower hourly rate. For an intern architect I would guess that would be around $60 per hour, but again, it varies by location. Realize that since you are not experienced, everything is going to take you twice as long, and you can't really expect the owner to pay for that.

residential clients (especially those with very small budgets) are notoriously fickle and prone to shelving projects. i would not recommend a separate schematic contract followed by another to complete the project.
my advice: one contract form start to finish and do the project as fast as you can and get it into construction. time is your enemy.

el Jeffe- hard to argue with that. I can have a broken up contract in my back pocket if it's the only way to get it signed. Though if that's the tipping point, it would seem to raise a red flag to me.

two other things regarding protecting yourself:

1. don't do what a friend of mine did and tie your payment to the client pulling the permit...because, as my friend found out, clients don't always pull permits.

2. a designer can only file a lien if a permit has been pulled.

Thanks for your continuing interest. I've run the numbers, and with the level of service I intend to give and then roughly doubling my estimate to make it accurate, I'm thinking it will end up at close to 200 hours. I'd like to set hourly at 50, but that's $10K, or 12.5%. I feel like anything over 7K is going to scare them off, and that would land at 8.75% and $35/hr. Thoughts?

oh yeah. That's a mistake not to make. Thanks!

If you are asking the questions you have I wouldn't expect to be paying anymore than $5K. Considering you haven't done this kind of thing before, have little to no overhead, won't be sealing the drawings and probably doing as a moonlighting job. Under charge and over deliver, no architectural firm is losing a job because of your work and more than likely they have some friends who might be in the same situation... looking for a small reno. Every job you take or complete leads to the next job.

Its a stepping stone to further your skill and experience and more than likely won't be published in Architectural Record. Do a great job, make them happy and gain some experience from it. Don't try and max out your fee because if you do I will guarantee it won't be a pleasant experience.