What is the going rate? I am building a 3,000sqft house and have a set of study plans. I could build it without any real plans, but there are rules and I stick to them.
Maybe I am just surprised because I have never seen fee quotes like I am getting now. Also, no changes to the study set and no add ons. What is a fair price?
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Replies
What's a fair price for a pair of sneakers? Or a hamburger? Or a car?
Some depends on the services being included in the fee. What are the services provided and what's the quote?
I design thin shell concrete houses, and in my little corner of the construction industry, the experienced designers are ranging from $1.50/sf-to-$3/sf for designers to $5-to-$10/sf for architects. Different backgrounds, different menu of services, different profit expectations account for the ranges. (And no, I ain't at the $10.)
if you have to have a set of "stamped" plans and already have the plans there are whores in every business... with a little looking if all you need is a guy to stamp what you have with no finish detail or notes then a few hundred bucks will get em stamped if you find the right guy... I'm sorry but to pay someone $10 a sf is way outside my range unless he can show me how to get $200 a sf quaility that can be built for $30 a sf...
pony
I'm hoping he won't go the route of copyright violation. The fee shoulda been clear up front. If it was too high, shouldn'ta even started...shouldn'ta got this far with someone to where he has plans, but isn't happy with the cost of turning them into official prints...unless I misread it. Toward that end, what was the source of the study plans, and who are the fee quotes coming from? And have you looked at building designers, and not just architects (not just for fees, but be/c they might provide different services and one might fit your needs better than the other)?
Edited 4/24/2004 10:35 am ET by Cloud Hidden
The standard fee is 10% of the estimated cost of construction for full services. Full means all design, all necessary drawings (which include a lot of details that stock plans don't), specifying everything needed to build the house right down to the doorknobs, and construction supervision. It's really a bargain if you want a nice house that's exactly you.
Construction costs vary a lot, of course, but typically $70 to $90 per square foot for ordinary, nice construction (not including land or landscaping). So your house may cost $250,000, and a fair fee would be $25,000.
If you want just some quick look over someone else's plans, you could get it for a lot less, but you won't get any detailed service.
If you have study plans, and like the house, then just buy the set and be done. Some will even customize their own plans for you.
Pay real close attention to siting, that is, direction of sun, wind, weather, traffic, topography, views, landscape, etc. Stock plans completely ignore these aspects, and you must think of them yourself or you'll just end up with a box plopped on a lot.
Wow!
Standard is apparently not so standard.
What I see is that you can occasionally get a fuyll archy job done for ten percent , but the more common breaks it down to approx 7-8% for design service and another 6% for job site continuing service with a total closer to 15%. many archies and HOs both prefer to just buy the design service and forgoe the onsite, leaving that to us builders.
That's the local here anyway. every job is a different negotiation.
Another local peculioarity is the sq ft pricing you mention. $70/ft would barely get you anything liveable in todays market. A decent house will be more like 100-110/ft.
I don't necessarily see that people save money on design itself by sidestepping the architect. My design fees end up being close to 6-7%. The savings is in smoother flow and communications, for example, the archy who tells the client that the house they designed can be built for 90 when the real price from the builder is 100. Somebody gets disappointed and the fingerpointing starts.
To the original poster, I would have to ask for purpose of discussion, what are study plans? I haven't heard the term before but I have to assume from the name that they are for study only and not for construction. Possibly closer to concept drawings. neither are intended to be built from and doing so involves theft of copywrited material. it would be helpful for this discussion to clarify your meaning. For one archy to stamp "study plans" from another for construction would be a serious breech of ethics if this is what you are speaking of. Not much different than if my competitors "borrowed" materials off my site to build their house with.
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Your last paragraph is dead-on. If someone took my concept and had prints created from it by someone else, they'd have a nice lawsuit on their hands. Build from it, and it gets even worse (and easier to prove).
When I said study plans, I meant concept drawings and I did get the ok from the orginator of the concept drawing. Like I said in my orginal post. I know the rules and I am following them. I just wanted to hear your ideas to see if what I was hearing made sense. Thanks
I took your comment about rules to mean that you needed an architects plans to be able to get a permit.
So, why not just have the originator of the concept do the plans, or if you are capable of buildiong without plans, why the question? I'm just a bit confused by the lack of information surronding this but I've seen fees all the way from a grand for a concept up to 19% for total involvement. Don't know if there are "standard" fees
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
The orginator is no longer selling these plans. I am not really sure why. It is an "out of state" firm and here in NYS, everything has so much more red tape.
Maybe that the reason? Thanks for your input.
the architects in demand here are getting 12% to 20% for full services.... that's the percentage of construction costs....
top shelf is $30,000 down and get in line
BTW: those are not my fees.. my typical fees are $3000 to $5000 for a major remodeling design
and const. costs for new custom are typically $200/ sf...remodeling is more
Mike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
Edited 4/24/2004 8:02 pm ET by Mike Smith
To you and Piffin, I guess I got good value on my new home, then. It was a two story craftsman style with fiber cement siding, cherry cabinets, handmade tile, ICF foundation, R-21 insulation, Andersen windows, radiant floor heat in the shop, and so forth, on a acre of land. Total cost was $90 per square foot, including land.
wayne... you got good value.. did you hire it built , or does that represent sweat equity ?...
our first house was about the same size, $27,000 including the land... no one would take less than $300k for it now...Mike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
I like the brickwork on your house.
The home I referred to was mostly contracted. I built the front door and garage doors, the kitchen cabinets, a pair of closet doors, a room divider, and installed the ceramic tile and a brick walkway. And I did the wiring. Everything else was contracted out.