Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Feb 09, 2007 7:51 pm Has anyone used an architect and if so, hom much did it cost?
I'm getting some very high figures for going to an architect and then a builder (both for the architcet and, according to the architect, for the builder). On the other hand going to a builder with an architect appears to be reasonable (and affordable). What gives? Around.. 2Feb 10, 2007 8:36 am Hi Casa
The sorts of figures I've heard are around the $7-10k mark. But I guess it depends on the design! Hope that helps. Also keen to hear who you go with! Regards Re: Anyone used an architect? How much do they cost? 3Feb 10, 2007 10:10 am It varies a lot.
My architect was $20K and he was an idiot. I had quotes from $12K to $25K. My sis did an owner build on a new 2 storey house and their architect was $6K. My bro did the same for a major renovation and the architect was $8K. They were reasonably satisfied with their architects. Obviously, I can't pick a good architect. Re: Anyone used an architect? How much do they cost? 4Feb 10, 2007 8:07 pm I’m perplexed about architectural costs. Several sources have now said that $10k to $20k is the go, which sounds reasonable to me depending on size and complexity.
The three architects I’ve approached have basically said that the cost for each phase, as a percentage of the building cost, is: Concept Design: 1% Design Development: 1% Development Approval & Construction Certificate: 2% Tender documentation: 1% Contract Administration: 3% They then go onto say that they base these fees on a building cost of $2,500/m2 plus fittings. I figure that using Building Inspectors just before each progress payment and keeping a watchful eye on proceedings means we can dispense with Contract Administration. That leaves 5% of building cost. Therefore, for a 400 m2 house, the architect is asking for $50,000. A bit rich and good work if you can get it! Builders who have associated architects are asking from $3,000 to $15,500. For $3,000 you can only build with the associated builder and for $15,500 you can put it out for competitive tender. I prefer a freelance architect since I’m more certain that he is not just designing for a specific builder. I think $10,000 to $20,000 is acceptable, but can’t find an architect to play ball. Any experiences or feedback eagerly sought. Re: Anyone used an architect? How much do they cost? 5Feb 12, 2007 9:19 am Ask yourself do I really need an Architect?
I used a Draftsman (through a friend of a friend) to draw me up plans sufficient to pass council approval. The cost $1,100.00 including the Engineers approval. Re: Anyone used an architect? How much do they cost? 6Feb 12, 2007 9:23 am I personally would be very careful about cutting costs in the design stage of a million dollar home. Screw up here and the rest is wasted. Different story on a $250 000 home - less at stake.
Just my POV. 3xb Re: Anyone used an architect? How much do they cost? 7Feb 12, 2007 9:54 am You need to compare eggs with eggs.
An architectural firm who designs the home & manages the construction. i.e. putting it out for tender, doing inspections, preparing the building specifications etc. An architectural firm who is engaged by a builder & purely does the design and documentation ready for submission to council. Architects tend to be involved in the first situation at the upper end of the market & also commercial buildings. The majority of Builders across the board would use a Building Design Firm or an inhouse draftsman not an architect. The last figures I had still show that 'Building Design Firms' account for the majority of residential design work for new homes, renovations & extensions across Australia. Figures from these firms, depending upon the complexity of the home, would generally come in at under $5000 - certainly under $10k Peter Clarkson - AusDesign Australia www.ausdesign.com.au This information is intended to provide general information only. It does not purport to be a comprehensive advice. Re: Anyone used an architect? How much do they cost? 8Feb 12, 2007 7:27 pm ausdesign, thanks for your detailed reply. Out of curiosity, how much would you charge for a custom design of a 400 m2 house on a sloping block?
Bud, for your $20k architect, how large was the building and was there anything particularly unusual about it? All, any more figures for how much you (or someone you know) have paid for an architect. I'd like to pay a fair price for an architect, but still haven't homed in on an exact figure, but tentatively $10k to $20k still appears to be about right. Now I need to hunt down a decent architect who will do a decent design for this amount. Re: Anyone used an architect? How much do they cost? 9Feb 12, 2007 8:58 pm Casa, the house was to be 350 m2 tri-level, 4 bedroom, 4 car garage, study, dining, family and lounge. So not particularly big (except for the garage )
The block is big but steeply sloping, plenty of natural bush. The final design of the house was nothing unusual. One thing that attracted me to this architect was that they quoted a fixed price, including as many re-designs as required, until I was happy, and included the design of the complete package including surrounds (driveway, pool etc). In reality, he spent minimal time discussing anything, did incomplete designs which didn't relate to our brief, thrust his drawings on us, accompanied by demands for immediate progress payments. The thing I learnt from this exercise is, as other people have stated, don't proceed with anything until you are totally happy. My architect had the drainage and Basix people working on unapproved designs which would have wasted even more had I not stopped them.. Don't believe the architect when they say they will fix it later. Lesson no. 1: DON"T PROCEED UNTIL YOU ARE TOTALLY HAPPY. Re: Anyone used an architect? How much do they cost? 10Feb 12, 2007 10:21 pm Bud977, sounds like you have quite a story with your house. From what I can gather you're after a new home, but the architect has let you down. A also gather that although he said that there would be redesigns until your happy, his progress payments were based on time spent rather than satisfactory deliverables.
An architect can really create havoc if he wants to. Imagine this. You ask for $20k promising that this includes as many redesigns as required. You lead the client to believe that they will get several weeks of your exclusive time. You then go and grab a previous design that somewhat fits what you want, spend several hours making it fit your block and then say there, here’s something that meets all your requirements (barely). Not saying that your architect did this, but I'm trying to highlight a potential risk with architects that I’ve been thinking about. Yes, I’m cautious, but in this game you have to be. Although you pay for a great design, the amount of time and effort an architect puts in is really up to him (and his talent). He can rush something together and ask for payment or he can sit down and say this client has about 160 hours of my time and I will apply all my skill, effort and dedication to giving the client a great design. Anyway, I digress. If you're willing to share with us, I wouldn't mind knowing a bit more about your situation. Things like when did this process start, where are you now at and where are you heading. I hope your project is still alive since your house sounds worthwhile. (Also, perhaps you can PM me with the architects name so I can steer clear of him). Once I get the price worked out I'll have to go to the next step and find a good architect. By the way, when I say architect. I also mean building designer, since both professions are formally trained to design residential houses. I’m after a good deal of design effort so a draftsman would not suit. So, I’m going for the $20k figure to design a 400 m2 house on a sloping block that has a fair degree of design effort (passive solar, good siting, good room layout). Now the next question. Can anyoe recommend an architect or building designer? Even a half decent one is worth exploring further (although if anyone has found a great architect/building designer that would be wonderful). I’m in the Sydney area. Re: Anyone used an architect? How much do they cost? 11Feb 13, 2007 4:56 am Casa ausdesign, thanks for your detailed reply. Out of curiosity, how much would you charge for a custom design of a 400 m2 house on a sloping block?. That's a very open ended question Casa. The open ended answer would be $15/m2 plus any engineering design costs. I've read with interest your post Bud977 and it should reinforce for others that anyone who offers unlimited redraws is to be avoided. [in most cases] A good designer will sit down with you & go through your design brief to get a clear picture of what you require. From this they will calculate a cost to do the design work based on many items such as the complexity of the job, how organised you are as a client & more. I can't speak for others but I work on a fixed price [plus a quoted expected extra cost for structural]. The total fee is invoiced at completion. The fee is determined after the initial meeting. I tell clients that after we have basically formulated the correct layout that we will include 3 redraws. This puts the onus back on the owner to carefully study the preliminary drawings and make firm decisions rather than relying on me to constantly redraw the design to "see how this looks" There's obviously a lot of give & take in this from our side that we don't tell a client this. Being a cynic I can say that the general public on the whole will usually abuse this, whether by intent or ignorance. From experience our best clients are people who come to a design brief meeting with a truck load of information, show that they have researched what they're after & are 100% organised. These are usually the clients we target to be involved with & the others I will look at what work load I have & what bills need to be paid. Peter Clarkson - AusDesign Australia www.ausdesign.com.au This information is intended to provide general information only. It does not purport to be a comprehensive advice. Re: Anyone used an architect? How much do they cost? 12Feb 13, 2007 11:51 am Casa, we appointed the architect 2 1/2 years ago, received DA approval one year ago, gave up on building the house 2 weeks ago, and bought a new house last week!
PM sent. The reason I liked the idea of an architect re-doing the drawings as many times as required was that another architect quoted a price which was to "design a 2 storey box with 4 bedrooms, 2 car garage, 1 kitchen etc". Sounded too rigid to me. I didn't waste the architect's time asking for re-draws. His first plan was a fully drawn and dimensioned layout which bore no relation to our design brief. What a waste of time on his part. From my limited knowledge of architectural procedures, I would have thought that sitting down with your client with a piece of paper and a pencil and bandying about a few ideas would hone in on a design that you could develop before hitting Autocad. The design was done based on progress payments. I'll dig out the quotation and give you an idea on how it was broken up. Some friends of ours are working with their architect on a new house. They complain that he spends TOO MUCH time with them, discussing things for hours. I wish my architect was like that. Re: Anyone used an architect? How much do they cost? 13Feb 13, 2007 7:18 pm Bud977,
Thanks for the feedback. Sad to hear that the architect, that was employed to make your dream happen, ruined things. You move quickly. Decided 2 weeks ago to give up building and bought the next week. My wife would love someone as efficient as that. I'm quite slow at things. For the DA approved plans did the architect in question draw up the plans or someone else? I'll have to carefully choose my architect. It sounds like your friends have found a good architect. Can I have the architects' names? Cheers, Casa Re: Anyone used an architect? How much do they cost? 14Feb 14, 2007 10:10 am Quote: From experience our best clients are people who come to a design brief meeting with a truck load of information, show that they have researched what they're after & are 100% organised. These are usually the clients we target to be involved with & the others I will look at what work load I have & what bills need to be paid. Peter, so do you have a check list for your client prior the first meeting? cause I'd like to have one before I can bring to the meeting, and I believe most client needs a check list and use the list to help them do the homework..and build the research on it. Re: Anyone used an architect? How much do they cost? 15Feb 14, 2007 4:56 pm Where: Brisbane
What: 30sq double story, double garage, 4 bed, study, rumpas 2.5 bathroom, alfresco, portico With: Colorbond roof (anticon blanket) concrete drive with pavers over the top, additiona 7m x 3.5m concrete & paved caravan parking area, blanco appliances, low voltage lighting, all floor coverings, fully ducted air con, smooth render & paint finished brickwork, 84m of fencing + side returns with gates, 6m W aluminium bi-fold door to alfresco. How much: $312k, including all site costs (guaranteed start date & 20 weeks build time) Cheers, Northlakes Re: Anyone used an architect? How much do they cost? 16Feb 14, 2007 8:54 pm Quote: Peter, so do you have a check list for your client prior the first meeting? cause I'd like to have one before I can bring to the meeting, and I believe most client needs a check list and use the list to help them do the homework..and build the research on it. Not to hand but if you look on our website - Information Articles > 'Getting Started' or 'Individual Requirements' you may get some helpful info. Peter Clarkson - AusDesign Australia www.ausdesign.com.au This information is intended to provide general information only. It does not purport to be a comprehensive advice. Re: Anyone used an architect? How much do they cost? 17Feb 20, 2007 1:43 pm OK. Here is how the progress payments to our architect were broken up:
Upon acceptance of agreement - deposit $4K Upon acceptance of site analysis, sketch plans and 3D models $4K Upon completion of detailed design $4K Upon receipt of Council lodgement $6K Upon receipt of Council approval and tender documents completed $2K On reflection, (isn't hindsight wonderful ), for the first $8K, we got crap. The site analysis is done by another consultant, which we had to pay a separate fee. The sketch plans were unsatisfactory and not to our design brief. The 3D computer model was useless as we hadn't even agreed on a floor plan yet. So what were we paying for? Anyway, it's a relief to have pulled out of the future construction. I would suggest that you stay away from custom built houses if at all possible. The cost of building is $1,500 to $3,000 per sq metre, making it 2 or 3 times the cost of a project home. You are also up for about $50K in additional upfront costs for the architect and associated consultants. Then, you are building an unproven design, so could be risky. If you decide to go with an architect designed home, make sure you are happy with everything at the earliest stages possible. Due to the increased costs, it is unlikely you could re-coup your costs in the short term so make sure you are going to stay there for a while. In the end, enjoy having something unique! Re: Anyone used an architect? How much do they cost? 18Feb 20, 2007 5:40 pm From what I can gather:
* Project homes cost about $800 to $1200 per sq metre. * Custom designs cost about $1500 to $3000 per sq metre + $50k for the design There is a middle solution that probably appeals to me. Some custom design builders have their own architects that perhaps are subsidised. They will do a custom design for somewhere between $5k to $20k. They are also at the low end of the $1500 to $3000 per sq metre. This does make it almost twice the cost of a project home, but you do get a design specifically for you and presumably a better quality. In Sydney, Grande Homes, Chateau Homes and Merit Homes appear to offer a fair dinkum custom house at a reasonable price. There are also wolves in sheep clothing. These are the builders that say that you can have a custom house, but really they are just supplying a project home with some of the walls moved to where you like. I found with Binet Homes that every thing I suggested was rejected as unworkable. When I looked at their portfolio of design they all look very similar. Are they offering (and charging) one thing, but giving you something less? 7 11996 As title suggests, looking at using the interlocking Pentablock stacked stone products to replace failing timber retaining… 0 17868 Your build is relatively simple, I believe your job can be easily done by a good building designer, you really do not need to pay for the architect. Remember, architect's… 3 10986 |