Did your architect fees stay within estimates?

[Anonymous]

Could you share your experience with architect fees for a renovation? We haven't gone to permitting yet and are already close to the lower end of their total estimate (12-15% of construction costs). Fees are hourly. We expect/ want help with contract administration after we hire a GC. I realize that lots of iterations can drive up fees, but we haven't been doing that. Don't necessarily think that anything is wrong, but trying to understand whether the fees will taper off soon...

[Anonymous]

I’m a GC.

I prefer to work on jobs with heavy architect involvement.

There are a myriad of reasons - it’s professional to professional - there’s no emotion - they can draw and detail for the client - and they can advocate as well as form a buffer.

What often happens is clients often stop using the Architect once the bills start to add up. Then I am flying solo and things invariably take longer and it’s harder to ring fence scope/etc.

So - yes, if you elect to keep them involved you are going to go over.

If you have a good architect they will save you time and money.

That said I would urge caution. Don’t change things - be careful of cutting scope because by the time they re-draw everything you are going to give back a significant portion of your hoped for savings and time is going to really not be your friend.

Make sure they get a good builder on board to keep things in scope and budget.

Good work takes time.

Good luck.

[Anonymous]

I'm surprised you ate working with an architect before finding a builder. Architects are notorious for not understanding budgets, feasibility, everything. You'll definitely be redoing things.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm surprised you ate working with an architect before finding a builder. Architects are notorious for not understanding budgets, feasibility, everything. You'll definitely be redoing things.

I’m surprised by this response. How would you even be able to find a builder unless you know what you’re asking them to build, with some specificity to it? I’ve done an addition with a design-build firm and was less than impressed with their design side. So, for our next project, which will be quite substantial, we plan to work with an architect and then put the project out for bid. Given my preference to involve an architect, I don’t really know how I’d reverse the order of operations and find a builder first, without plans in hand.

[Anonymous]

I would never hire an architect who's fee is tied to total cost

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would never hire an architect who's fee is tied to total cost

OP here. It's not. All the architects I talked to, including the one I hired, provided an estimate of what they thought total architect fees would be relative to construction costs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m a GC.

I prefer to work on jobs with heavy architect involvement.

There are a myriad of reasons - it’s professional to professional - there’s no emotion - they can draw and detail for the client - and they can advocate as well as form a buffer.

What often happens is clients often stop using the Architect once the bills start to add up. Then I am flying solo and things invariably take longer and it’s harder to ring fence scope/etc.

So - yes, if you elect to keep them involved you are going to go over.

If you have a good architect they will save you time and money.

That said I would urge caution. Don’t change things - be careful of cutting scope because by the time they re-draw everything you are going to give back a significant portion of your hoped for savings and time is going to really not be your friend.

Make sure they get a good builder on board to keep things in scope and budget.

Good work takes time.

Good luck.

OP here. Thank you for this thoughtful comment. I agree that working with an architect can save us $$ and headaches in the long run and can advocate for us when working with the GC, and those are the main reasons we decided to hire one rather than trying to skip or work with a D/B. Will keep in mind that even narrowing scope can add cost as it will take time to rework designs.

I'm still struggling with the architect fees at different stages of the project (like when the most hours are accrued, whether permitting is relatively lower lift after the bid documents have been drawn, when contract management is only a few billable hours a week, etc).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm surprised you ate working with an architect before finding a builder. Architects are notorious for not understanding budgets, feasibility, everything. You'll definitely be redoing things.

Architects do work with builders to get a ball park estimate for designs before a permit set is completed. And they also bring vetted builders to the client to bid on the job. That’s the benefit of hiring an architect first.

[Anonymous]

my architect was the ONLY cost that stayed within the estimate.