Phases help determine fee breakdown and billing. Payments of design fees are made monthly as the project progresses. These payments are based on the amount of work completed in that particular month.
Our design fees are set at the beginning of a project as either a fixed fee or an hourly fee with an estimated number of hours to complete. The total fee is then divided into the individual phases by percentage of the total fee (for fixed fees), or as an estimated number of hours per phase (for hourly fees). This process gives you an understanding of what the design fee will be from the beginning, helping to avoid surprises down the road.
Our design fee varies from project to project depending on the following factors:
OWNERS:
The number one variable that affects our fees is the homeowner. Quick decisions and fewer design studies will have lower fee then multiple studies and research on materials. There are hundreds of decisions to be made. The more decisions you let us make the quicker the process will be and the lower the fee. The more decisions you would like to re-examine, the more time we spend on design and research.
PROJECT SIZE:
The bigger the project, the lower the percentage of fee (in relation to the construction cost) because larger projects have an economy of scale. Larger projects are more efficient.
PROJECT COMPLEXITY:
A very simple house or addition will be less expensive then a house with a lot of built-in design features like steel stairs, built-in cabinets, complex ceiling soffits and custom detailing
LEVEL OF DRAWING DETAIL:
To save fees a less extensive set of drawings can be used. This requires a contractor who can make decisions on their own. Owners take a risk that they will not like all of the results. We can also omit the selection of finishes and materials from our services if you want to take responsibility for your own selections.