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This is the second installment of architectural fees, you can find the first installment where I talk about fees based on percentage of construction and the Myth of Price Gouging … click here for more. Today we are talking about the specifics of fee structures and how important it is that everyone have “some skin in the game”.
Hourly Fees
I received some questions about hourly fees that I didn’t address the first time around so let’s revisit hourly fees – it’s just like it sounds. There will be a hourly chart for different level positions and you are charged that rate for the time spent. My office has set up hourly rates something along these lines:
Principal – $175 Project Architect/ Associate Principal – $135 Project Manager- $95 Intern Architect II – $80 Intern Architect I/ Drafting 1 – $65The only time we use this format is when the scope of the work is unknown but anticipated to not be very comprehensive but it doesn’t always work out that way. Most people don’t like being charged hourly for fear of getting a surprise when the bill comes but this manner generally benefits people who know what they want and make quick decisions. Even when the work is charged hourly, we try and reduce concerns for the client by capping the amount or identifying financial milestones that indicate progress along the way. The good part for me is that I am guaranteed to make my profit margin although my expertise is mitigated and I am precluded from working extremely efficiently, getting the work done in a fraction of the time and exceeding the built-in profit margin of my hourly rate.
Per-Square -Foot Fees
I find this method unreliable and unreasonable. There are too many moving parts to assign a per-square-foot fee value to designing and producing documents that could be used for bidding, permitting and construction. Since I mainly work on modern style projects, the amount of coordination I go through to detail a masonry building,\; sizing openings to align with the module of the selected masonry unit, water weeps, expansion joints, brick molds on windows, etc. versus the effort to work with a monolithic material like wood siding, or better yet, stucco. The amount of drawings required to properly coordinate one versus the other would not justify a single value cost. As a result, one of two things would most likely happen; since the fee would not be enough to compensate me for my time and overhead, either the quality of the drawings would diminish to reflect the fee, or I would be forced to work at a loss (which hopefully I would figure this out and either change my fees, cut corners, or go out of business). Everybody losses with this fee structure.
Combination Fee Structures
I have an old boss of mine that loves this particular structure. Basically it’s a combination of the hourly and the per-square foot. The schematic and design development portions of the project are hourly. This gives an incentive to the client to be available, make efficient, timely, and decisive decisions. It also protects the architect because regardless of the client, you know that your going to be compensated appropriately for your time. Some clients need to see iteration after iteration of possibilities, need a lot of counseling and reassurances, endless meeting, etc. and there’s no way to know beforehand.
When you move into construction documents, after having secured sign-offs on the designs along the way, the project has a more definable scope and a fee based per-square-foot cost can be used. Any changes to the design during the construction drawings phase needs to be identified as an additional service and the fee reverts to the hourly rate schedule.
Once you are out of construction documents, the fee goes back to an hourly rate during the construction administration portion of the project. This way, the architect can be as available as the client wishes during this time period for project meetings, site visits, installation coordination’s,etc.
For me personally, I have a problem with the combination fee structure method because it rewards the incompetent architect for doing a bad job, because there is a lack of accountability. Let’s say the client gives good instructions, a clear program and a appropriate budget. If the architect doesn’t listen and has to produce multiple designs to get to where the clients has asked, they get paid their hourly rate. Continuing along (and yet another reason this is a bad system) what happens if the architect prepares a poor set of construction drawings? They will be rewarded, again at their hourly rate, for the extra on-site coordination, preparing additional construction documents ”requested” by the contractor, and for checking shop drawings for design work they didn’t resolve during the initial construction document phase. This is one of those instances where the system works with a competent, ethical architect; but fails miserably when you get something or someone else. If you were the client, how would you know ahead of time which one you were working with?
Skin in the Game
I like tell clients that everyone needs to have skin in the game, that both architect and client are accountable to one another and while we both have something to gain, we both also have something to lose.
1. I am going to treat you fairly with my fees and you’re not going to waste my time. 2. I am going to make myself available to you and you’re going to make yourself available to me. 3. You will tell me your “real” budget and I will be accountable for designing a house that meets that budget. 4. If I design a house that comes in over your budget, I will revise the drawings at my cost. 5. If I tell you that you have changed the program and are at risk for exceeding your budget, and you ignore this advice, you should expect to pay me to revise the drawings 6. If you tell most architects that your budget is $500,000, they will assume that this means your construction budget. Make sure that your budget includes monies for professional fees, landscaping and contingency 7. Make sure that you have a conversation in the beginning what scope your stated budget will cover.When everybody has something at stake in the process, and this should not be a surprise, the dialog is markedly improved; clearer goals are identified as a by-product of this process.
If you have any particular questions, please feel free to email them to me: bob@lifeofanarchitect.com. There are many ways fees can be charged, we try and make them simple for our clients but occasionally we have to “revisit” some items along the way and they are almost always associated with one of the 6 items listed above.
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** UPDATED post – ‘How much money does an architect make‘ from November 28, 2011 **
How much money do I make? I never get asked this question even though people are probably curious. There is a perception from the general public (at least those that I run across) that architects make a lot of money. There is also the perception from within the younger members of architectural community that think architects don’t make enough. Both of these perceptions are irritating to me because it removes some really basic considerations from the criteria one should know in order to provide a qualified answer.
Are you any good at what you do?
Do you have a skill set that is in demand?
Are you able to provide more than one basic service with competency?
I graduated from the University of Texas School of Architecture in 1992 (currently ranked as the #5 Best Architectural undergraduate degree program in the country) with a Bachelors Degree in Architecture. My resume is pretty good and have worked in a lot of different types of practices and have run across a lot of different personality types. Most of these people have graduated from various architecture programs from around the country but the different abilities and skill sets among these people is as varied as any slice across any other profession. And surprise – some of the folks I worked with I thought were great and some were terrible. I have had 9 jobs in the last 17 years. Prior to the one I have now (8 years), I have never stayed anywhere more than 3 years, most were no longer than 18 months. Sounds bad I know, but, I could more than likely go back to any of my previous places of employment and get a job (except for one job that was a 4 month stint that has all disappeared from my permanent record…)
According to the United States government Bureau of Labor Statistics - the Occupational Outlook Handbook,the salary range for architects is:
Median annual wages of wage-and-salary architects were $70,320 in May 2008.
The middle 50 percent earned between $53,480 and $91,870.
The lowest 10 percent earned less than $41,320
The highest 10 percent earned more than $119,220.
I know a lot of people who make considerably more than these figures and I know some people who fall below these levels. Of the people who fall above these numbers, the one trait that almost all of them share is that they are not motivated by the money. They do this because it’s what they love to do, at least at some level. Talented architects seem to never take a day off from architecture; it’s part of who they are. They plan vacations around buildings and places they want to see, take pilgrimages to these special buildings, buy books endlessly about architecture, etc.. Bottom line – it’s not just a job and by extension, not about receiving a paycheck.
Several employers know this and endeavor to make opportunity part of the compensation package for younger architects; opportunity to take on new challenges and get to do something above their current pay level. Some of the best firms to work for are also some of the lowest paying firms but they have a culture in place that rewards achievement with more opportunities for achievement. From the firms standpoint the downside to this type of “compensation” is that eventually your best talent will leave because someone will pay them more to continue doing what they are currently doing for you. From a business standpoint, architectural firms will pay someone a lesser salary but provide them with more opportunities to do things that maybe they have not yet mastered instead of having someone do this work who can complete the task in less time (remember that TIME = MONEY). In order to maintain a viable business structure, if someone is going to take longer to do something, you have to have a lower operating expense assigned to that person – seems pretty obvious to me.
I was reading another architectural blog yesterday and someone had asked the question “why don’t architect’s get paid more?”. Paid more?…Paid more than who? Doctor’s? Lawyer’s? Just like in our profession, there are some Doctors and Lawyers who make a lot of money but they don’t ALL make a lot of money. It’s seems pretty simple to me – people who are exceptional at what they do and/ or provide a service that few other can make higher salaries. Doesn’t that hold true with everything? Where did this sense of entitlement come from? People complaining that they went to school for a long time, took a lot of hard tests and don’t make as much as some other vocation from our society. That drives me insane.
Also from The Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Occupational Outlook Handbook, the salary range for lawyers is:
Median annual wages of all wage-and-salaried lawyers were $110,590.
The middle half of the occupation earned between $74,980 and $163,320.
Based on were those lawyers work:
Management of companies and enterprises was $145,770
Federal Executive Branch was $126,080
Legal services was $116,550
Local government was $82,590
State government was $78,540
For someone to determine what they should be making simply based on the fact they are an architect is foolish. There are extremely competent architects out there that don’t make a big salary because they don’t have commensurate abilities to run an office, or communicate, or manage the time spent working on a project. There are also architects out there that are doing tilt-wall construction warehouses and site adapting Circuit City’s and Taco Bells that are getting rich.
The most important thing for anyone considering a career in architecture is to try and determine what you like and what type of projects your skill set is best suited. IF you can do that, than regardless of what your paycheck is, you will be rich.
