Part of your costs for your project will be the design fees which are often not factored into the overall project budget. There are a lot of things that need to be considered when putting together the fee proposal.  The size, budget, complexity, schedule, location, amount and types of services are all things that can impact the overall fee. There are several ways to structure a fee proposal.  Below are some examples:

  1. Percentage of construction costs.
  2. Hourly rate. Usually this is accompanied by a defined scope of work and not to exceed amount based on that scope.
  3. Fee broken out by phase and or type services.

There are additional things to consider when determining the total budget for your project.  Below are some of those items:

  1. Reviews done by the local planning and/or building department, building permits and other governmental agency requirements for your project will often have fees associated with them.
  2. Factor in other design related fees. Depending on your project, there may be a need to involve other consultants on the project such as structural engineers, landscape designers, interior designers and home theater consultants.
  3. The services listed above are for full design services. For many smaller residential projects, the clients may not require or want services like these. Talk to your designer about the level of service you want or are willing to pay for.

Our desire is to work with you to develop a design that fits your needs, desires and budget.  Par of that is working with you to develop a customized fee proposal that fits you and your project.  The more information you can provide the better.  Images, sketches, site photos, etc, all help in understand what you want and what your expectations are.  This will help us to determine our role in the project and prepare a fee proposal accordingly. We try to completely define our scope of work and send a fee proposal within a week of the initial interview meeting, earlier if at all possible.  We require receipt of the signed fee proposal and the initial retainer (10% of the total estimated fee) as authorization to begin designing your home.