Reasonable architect rates
Hi – I’m a resident owner in Cobble Hill and am pricing out some renovation with a couple of recommended architects. Their proposals include total architect’s fees of ~20% of the cost of the renovation job. My total budget is ~150K, which makes the architects fees $30K. That seems like a high price given the…
Hi – I’m a resident owner in Cobble Hill and am pricing out some renovation with a couple of recommended architects. Their proposals include total architect’s fees of ~20% of the cost of the renovation job. My total budget is ~150K, which makes the architects fees $30K. That seems like a high price given the state of the economy. Is this just what it costs, or should I expect a lower cost, esp. given the current state of the economy.
Thanks
Hmm, we’re looking at architects for a large (500,000) project and the numbers come in closer to 20% (15% at lowest). Is that more common for high-end architects?
As stated by the previous responders, 20% is high. When we were picking architects for our project in May the quotes were all in the 7-12% range and the project has a similar spend and deliverables as the one you describe.
We ended up going with a flat fee and hourly for needs above and beyond the ones agreed upon in the deliverables.
FWIW we also are paying a separate expeditor for the filling, etc but the architect is preparing all the filing drawings.
Thanks for your responses. The 20% gets me floor plans, electrical, plumbing and verticals, some plan submission (one offers to do this direct, the other requires an expediter) plus weekly onsite consultation, finish (tiles, wood, fixtures, etc.). No project management involved – I’m using a GC that I like to work with who is capable of running the reno himself once the plans are in place – just needs someone to go do for questions.
20% seems high to me as well. My office’s work focuses mainly on renovations of townhouses, apartments and lofts on a variety of scales and budgets in the NYC area. As mentioned above, the scope of the project can directly effect the fee. That said, most of our single family gut-renovations hover at about 10-12% of construction cost. I usually go with a fixed fee with hourly cont. administration at clients request. If you would be interested in discussing your project further, please contact me below at:
mhm@studiolabdesign.com
http://www.studiolabdesign.com
Thanks,
Matt
What Colonel said.
In addition to 20% being very high, when the fee is a percentage of construction costs there is no incentive to rein in the costs. When you go over the contracted price (and you will), the architect gets a percentage of that too. If you decide to get solid gold switch plates, the architect gets a percentage of that too even though he did no more work than would be done for plastic plates.
Go for a fixed price.
We are in the midst of doing a renovation that is more expensive than yours and agreed to a flat fee for the project, plus an hourly rate for any site visits that he has to make. The fee and total visits so far are way less than 30K and the work includes everything the prior poster mentioned except heavy project management. If you are planning to have the architect at the job supervising very often, I could see the % making sense. We only have him come in every few weeks or so, unless there’s an emergency. Johann Grobler is the architect and we are happy.
20% of construction is high.
BUT….what are you getting from the architect and how big is the project?
If it’s a large project and fairly detailed, but your construction budget is low, it might make sense for them to charge 20%.
Are you getting full design, full construction documents, project management during construction, sign-off’s, etc., etc. or are you just getting DOB filing drawings?
12% – 14% is the norm I’ve seen but the percentage is always adjusted based on the scope of the project.
I agree. That seems quite high. Try Ron Eng at Formactiv. He did plans for my place and was no where near overpriced relative to the quality of work he delivered. You can reach Ron at 212-414-2685. Tell him Chris from Decatur Street referred you.
Good luck.