Architect Fees?

[hukgwai]

Question for any of you who have custom built before. Just wondering if I'm getting screwed over. I've been quoted roughly 10K for complete plans to build a 2500sqft walkout bungalow with a 4 car garage in Edmonton and thought this was a bit on the high side. Is this reasonable as it's 4 bucks a square foot to plan out and is realistically 60 hours of work with revisions? The design company has a good reputation for detail and design, but wow 10K, or am I turning into a cheap-ass in my middle years?

[Sugarphreak]

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[Lex350]

Clearly you don't have that much experience with Architects. 10k is nothing for a house design from any architect with a half decent reputation. $100 per housr is also on the light side. Most smaller desgn firms charge at least that.

[adidas]

Sugarphreak where do u work if u dont mind me asking?

[VWEvo]

Just had my house designed by an architect, $10 000 is about right.

Bottom line, if the architect got you the design you wanted, gave you great ideas and helped you along the way, $10k is fine.

[frozenrice]

If you go through a real archtectural firm (where the principal(s) holds an actual degree in architecture) the fees usally run a fair bit. From what I understand, architects are legally required to work projects over a certain square footage. It requires that an architect actually stamps drawings in the same way that an engineer signs off/stamps engineered drawings. This means that they legally need to be certified/reigstered and liscensed as an architect which requires fees just like engineers to make them legit. This is why they cost so much.
Most residential homes aren't big enough to require an actual architect to sign off on. Usually you can get away with drawings done by an architectural technolgist or draftsperson which will run you about $1.00-$2.00 sq ft depending on what you need them to do and their level of experience. I know of two architectural techs that provide these exact services. Using either one of them shouldn't cost over $5000 max for a house that size.

[Sugarphreak]

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[hukgwai]

Thanks for the tip VWEvo... it's probably better to buck up and have no regrets, versus going to a cheapie firm and kicking myself down the road.

Not sure if they are an Architecture Firm... here is their link: http://www.designinnovationsinc.com/
I believe their hourly rate is 140 per hour. The reason I thought they would be less pricey is because they've designed tons of these moderate size bungalows, and couldn't they just take a previous design, make some changes and go from there?

Another question: Is it best to have the design firm in the same city you are building in, or is that irrelevant?

[frozenrice]

Originally posted by Sugarphreak
Are they running it out of their home frozenrice? That is a pretty good gig if they can do it for 5K.

They are home based and as long as they have a steady flow of work, they make a decent living.



OP, it looks like a home builder that you are building with not an architect. You can always ask the designer what credentials they have. A usual dead give away is where they went to school. Tech school/college vs university.

In terms of location of the designer, it does make a difference as they will need to be familiar with local bylaws affecting the design. Yes, there is the building code that rules over most of it, but there are usually local bylaws on top that need to be considered (ie, location/setback of the project on the property, grading bylaws, zoning bylaws etc). On top of that the bulidng code can sometimes be vague and varying governing municipalities can interpret codes diffently or be anal/focus on certain pieces of the codes more than others.

[Sugarphreak]

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[hukgwai]

OP, it looks like a home builder that you are building with not an architect. You can always ask the designer what credentials they have. A usual dead give away is where they went to school. Tech school/college vs university.

Thanks for the tip, Design Innovations was recommended by my builder to do the design work (along with BossDesign.ca, but their plans didn't appeal to me as I'm after a more contemporary home).