I. ARCHITECTS FEES:

Our fee schedule: We will put together a proposal for you that will outline the work to be done (See here for Process) and what our fees will be. Every project is different; therefore the fees for a project are based on the particulars of that project. If there is more than one way to present a fee structure for your project we will clearly explain the options and the benefits of each as they apply to you.

Basically there are 3 ways to construct your fee:

1. Percentage Based - This is our most common way of charging for our work. Most residential architects do the same. The percentage based fee means that the architect's fee is linked to the cost of construction.

For example, a common architect fee is 10% of construction cost. So if your project is going to cost $500,000.00 the architects fee will be $50,000.00. This includes full services for all 3 phases- start to finish -initial design through the completion of construction when you achieve your Certificate of Occupancy and are living in your new home. 

(Since the true cost of construction can not be known until bids come in, we use an 'estimated construction cost' to bill for our services until we have bids. Then we adjust our fee - up or down. To see how we estimate fees, please read section II on this page. To read the most frequently asked question regarding percentage based fees and the answer to that question, please read section III on this page.)

Our percentage rates are as follows:

8-10% of Construction Cost- for standard services on jobs whose construction costs exceed $250,000 (less than $250,000 construction cost are billed hourly.) Our standard houses are very energy efficient and well designed. They are designed to achieve a solid level of quality and energy efficiency that surpass code requirements and provide longer lasting, lower maintenance homes than are achieved with normal construction for zero or minimal cost upgrade.

10-12% of Construction Cost-for homes that will be certified or achieve energy efficiency levels equal to LEED Homes, Passive House, or any other advanced home rating system. This is due to the extensive research, paperwork and monitoring that we have to do to ensure such levels of performance. This does not apply to Energy Star or Hers Ratings or designs that will achieve standard federal and state rebates. All of our standard houses surpass those ratings.

10-12% of Construction Cost- for homes that will be our simple standard construction, but will require more time for interior fit out. This cost applies to more advanced interior services, millwork packages, assistance in shopping for furnishings etc. (If you want both a LEED home and a fabulous millwork package- we will work out a fee.)

2. Hourly -This is simple, we bill for the time we spend working on your job.  We will bill different rates for each employee working on the job but as an estimator/ average you can use the rate of $100/ hour. We bill for time drawing, making phone calls, emailing, billing, mailing, printing, going to the jobsite, measuring, etc...anything associated with your job. 

One of the hardest things for people outside the creative world to understand is how time consuming design and the creation of drawings can be.  Simply moving a wall 6 inches can create hours of drawing time in the reverberations it causes throughout the rest of the project- window sizes and layout, structural design, electrical and plumbing routes. Everything works as a whole and must be analyzed each time one small move is made.  

One reason we do not love working hourly is that it makes everyone very cautious about each phone call or email or site visit. We know that communication can make or break a job. The less communication, the more problems have a chance of arrising. We like all of our jobs to go really, really well. Glitches and misunderstandings make us loose sleep at night. We want everyone to feel free to communicate and over communicate!

We usually use the hourly rate for smaller jobs only. They are less complicated than the big jobs but often take as much work as a big job. 

All jobs whose estimated construction costs are less than $250,000 will be billed hourly.

3. Fixed Fee- We can use this fee structure if a client comes to us with a clearly definable project scope of work (like a new 4,000 square foot house.) We cannot do a fixed fee if it is unlikely that the project scope will stay the same through the course of a job. A fixed fee will be determined for each job individually.

We are flexible. We can work with you to determine which plan works best for you. It is possible to mix the way we bill the phases - for example design and construction administration can be billed hourly and construction documents then may be billed at the percentage rate. We can come up with fixed fees for design packages only,etc. 

II. CONSTRUCTION FEES:

Your Budget: Every home owner is thoughtful of the budget - whether your project is a small remodel or a large second home. How much will it cost? Can you afford to do what you want to do? We are your partners in these concerns. Your financial concerns will be an integral part of the process. We make sure your resources are being handled efficiently and effectively. We will help you figure out how to get what is most important and to help you put a plan into place. We feel it is of the utmost importance, no matter how big or small the project, to start with a master plan. Whether you are only doing on a piece at a time or the whole thing it is important to have a clear path.

Your overall budget will include:

The cost of construction, and separately: the architects fee (maybe 10% construction cost), the structural engineer's fee (maybe 1-2% construction cost), a surveyor, town fees for permits (maybe 1% construction cost)

Other fees that MAY be required: any other  engineer's fees (for example a civil engineer for site drainage or a mechanical engineer for HVAC needs if needed) landscape designer, interior designer, alternative recourses consultants- like solar, geothermal or water collection- these trades may or may not be rolled into the construction fee.

If you are getting your house rated for LEED or Passive House or even a HERS score you will need to pay for the rating and certification of those things. Please see the various links at the left for more information on these rating systems.

Construction Costs:

Construction Costs are very difficult to determine accurately ahead of time. The economy, cost of materials, costs of labor all play a large and complicated roll. Also the work methods and personality of each contractor makes a big difference. but we do have some gauges.

WE DO NOT PRICE CONSTRUCTION. WE WILL NOT BE ABLE TO TELL YOU HOW MUCH YOUR JOB WILL COST. THE BEST WE CAN DO IS GIVE YOU SOME BALLPARK IDEAS BASED ON CURRENT PRICING THAT WE ARE EXPERIENCING ON OTHER JOBS. 

These are the ballpark figures we would use to set an 'estimated construction cost' if we are working with a percentage based fee.

In Fairfield County we start with the number $200/ square foot for new construction as a down and dirty basic. It is hard to build for less than that. Yes you can get a cheapo builder home for more like $150. But we have priced custom homes with cheap builders and we have priced them modularly. Usually the low prices they promise fall apart when you start saying things like 'but I don't want vinyl siding' or when you say 'can I get solid core doors?' or when you say 'but I want the house to be well insulated'.

So we start with the following costs per square foot:

$200/ sf for new construction or gut renovation. This number can easily get to $300 or $350/ sf  or more in Fairfield County. $200 is a starting number.

(This number includes all construction from foundations and framing to interior finishes and installation of appliances and all fixtures- from a hole in the ground to a nice livable space. It does not include site work, landscaping, significant millwork, special interior finishes, alternatives like solar or geothermal, or professional fees (architects, surveyors, engineers,etc.)

$150/ sf for significant renovation or deep energy retrofit

$100/ sf for basic interior remodeling

$25 or 50/ sf for very light alterations

Here are some common costs for individual features:

$15-50,000 for a new kitchen

$5-10,000 for a new bathroom

$35-$50,000 for a new 2-3 car garage

$15,000 - $20,000 for a true masonry chimney or outside fire place

DEEP ENERGY RETROFIT:

$30,000-$40,000 to re-envelope a 3,00 sf ranch or a $5,000 sf colonial (new siding, new insulation, new roof - does not include new windows)

$25,000-$40,000 for a new window package for a 3-5,000 sf house. this means all new well insulated, aluminum clad, wood windows. This is a nice/mid priced window.

(So a true and full deep energy retrofit/ re-enveloping of the house would likely cost between $60,000-$80,000.  Is it worth it? What is the return on investment? There are a lot of variables involved but our clients who have done deep energy retrofits have saved $3-4,000 in houses in which they were spending twice that a year on heating and cooling. that means a 20 year payback- which seems like a lomg time. BUT when we also factor in that these houses were old and run down and needed new windows, roof and siding anyway the ROI time goes way way down. Now the only additional cost was for the new insulation which accounts for about $10,000. Which means only about a 3 year ROI. Plus the house now looks great, doesn't have mold or moisture issues, smellls clean and fresh, is really quiet and has a great re-sale value. )

$6/Watt - for Solar Photo-Voltaics (electric). An average family of 4 would get about a 5kW sytem ($30,000) and would get about 1/3 of the price taken of with federal rebates and state incentives, (so end cost about$20,000). Thus PV system would cover about 2/3 of the annual household needs

III. The Most Frequently Asked Question Regarding Percentage Based Fees:

"How can architects justify a percentage based fee? So ,like,  if I buy a really expensive refrigerator, my architects fee goes up? How do they get away with that?!?!"

The answer to this question is multi layered and actually depends on how 'high end' the job is. 

First of all, most people (unless they are quite wealthy) tend to buy their own refrigerator and have it shipped to the jobsite where the contractor installs it. The cost of the refrigerator is never a part of the construction cost (only the cost of labor to install it is). Therefore whether the cost of the refrigerator is high or low, it has no impact whatsoever on the architect's fee. This is true of many things like lighting fixtures, tile, paint, etc.

However some things that are more high end do change the cost of the labor on the job. For example if you buy a very specially sized refrigerator that requires unique installation and front and side panels to match the millwork, this usually makes the contractor's cost of installation go up and then the architect's fee goes up. But what does that have to do with the architect? If you buy such a special refrigerator, the architect has to plan the refrigerator's installation much more carefully, design cabinets to surround it more specifically and design the panels that go on the surface.

The same is true of specialty tiles. The installation is harder and the architect has to do very specific layout drawings for that tile (the architect just can't write a note saying 'install tile x', the architect has to show in drawings, and sometimes specialized written specifications, just how to install that tile.)

Or sometimes, if the client is wealthy enough and does not want to shop for and arrange shipping for their refrigerator, etc. the architect ends up doing the shopping and specifying of the refrigerator and the contractor arranges for payment and shipping to the job site. In each case, this involves extra time and work for both architect and contractor. If each were getting paid by the hour, this time would factor in as a number of hours for each.

The bottom line is that almost everything that complicates a job or adds time spent for the architect, adds to the fee. As it should. The only way architects make money is by billing for time spent.

The same is true of changes. A client once asked why the contractor and I kept billing for changes made in the field. After I pointed out that it was clearly part of his signed contract, (We were working with a fixed fee for this client and billing hourly for changes in the field) I explained that changes (significant ones) are often more costly to make after construction is started. Things have to be re-arranged and often re-arranged in a hurry. The scheduling of sub contractors, wiring, plumbing, HVAC, millwork, etc is all a dance of timing. If a change comes in the middle everybody has to stop and often undo work, delay and re-schedule. This means more work for everybody - primarily the architect and general contractor, who have to arrange it all.  

I explain that it is like a car. If you ordered a brand new car, custom- just for you - and the shop told you that you would have it in 2 weeks. Then, 1 week in, you called them and said you changed your mind- you actually do want that sunroof and the on board GPS systems after all, this would most likely delay and definitely add to the cost of the car. It would probably end up costing you more than it would have if you had ordered it all up front- because they have to go back and re-work the car already in progress.

Architects are not like interior designers- we do not get a fee on top of each purchase we make for a client. (99% of the time we don't buy anything for a client.) Contractors bill the same way architects do, it is simply harder to see because they often spread it out through the cost of each trade or through the cost of materials. Some contractors show the number separately as a 'construction management fee' and it is often about 10% of the construction cost.

Designing a house or a renovation project is extremely complicated. A lot of balls need to be kept in the air at once. It is hard work and involves a lot of concentration and worry. Good architects care deeply about the jobs they work on and make best effort to do an excellent job. Same goes for good contractors. We put in a lot of time and effort.

At Trillium, we do not nickel and dime over the percentage base fee. You may sign a contract for a $500,000 construction cost and our fee would be associated to that. If through the course of construction your construction cost jumps to $567, 896. 23  because you decided you wanted that millwork in the living room and another bathroom renovated, our fee will go up. But it will go up to 10% of maybe $560,000.00 we are not trying to milk you for every penny, but we did do a lot of work on that millwork package and helping design that bathroom...

Percentage based fees are the oldest, most tried and true way that architects have found to bill for their work. It is not a precise science but the way it works in its 'relative' relationship with construction cost seems to be the most fair way to bill without tracking every hour. We track our hours anyway (in house) but find that the constant analysis of hours by ourselves and clients is time consuming and like I said before- people usually find it very hard to believe that it all takes as long as it does. But it does- it really does.

We hope this helps to understand the percentage based fee. Please ask questions at any time!