How Often Do I Pay an Architect During My Custom Home Design-Build Process?
As a design-build architect, I get a lot of questions: How much will my custom home cost? What do I do if my builders make a mistake? Should I include a dining room in my home? The list goes on—and I’m always happy to be as transparent as I possibly can!
But the main question I get from my clients is this: How do architects actually get paid?
Clients rarely come to the table knowing how much we charge, how we collect payment, and what the entire process looks like throughout the design and build of their custom home. So, let’s take a closer look to see how we do it here at Springhouse.
Step One: Your Free 15-Minute Consultation
When a client initially calls our office, our superhero office manager, Jen, schedules a free 15-minute consultation (you can also schedule it here). During this call, Jen assesses if the relationship is going to work on both ends. Translation: Are we a good fit for each other?
This is also an opportunity to discuss what you, the client, are thinking of doing. Is this a full custom home project? A build? A renovation? Don’t fret! We don’t need to know any nitty gritty details. If we seem like a good fit, Jen will schedule a meeting with me, where we’ll talk about the project in general—the budget, the scope, the program, etc. We're not looking to design right away, just an understanding of the services you need, and what we can provide for you.
Step Two: Your Proposal & First Payment
Once the initial consultation process is complete, we’ll send you a proposal, which will outline all of the different phases the project will endure, as well as the cost of each phase—beginning with preliminary design all the way through the move-in date.
If everything looks good, we get to work! This is when the payment process begins. In the beginning, we’ll take a deposit, which is usually around five or ten percent of the total fee. We’ll hold on to this deposit until the end of the project and bill monthly as we work.
Step Three: Preliminary Design & Second Payment
Once you’ve paid the deposit, the first step in the design process is the preliminary design. So, let’s say you start with us on January 1st. In two to three weeks, we’ll sit down to have a meeting to go over a first floor plan and a front elevation to see if we’re heading in the right direction. We like to make sure everyone is happy with the size, layout and style.
If everything looks good on your end, then at the beginning of February, we’ll bill you whatever the percentage of the preliminary design we’ve worked through thus far. We’re usually 30% of the way at this point. If we’re not heading in the right direction and you aren’t satisfied, we’ll hold on the invoice until we’re all on the same page. If everything is looking good, we usually bill you an invoice for 30%, due right away.
Step Four: Finishing Preliminary Design & Final Design Payments
Throughout the month of February, we’ll continue making revisions, elevations, and creating the basement plan. When the first of March hits, we’ll sit down and discuss billing. At this point, we’re most likely 75% of the way through preliminary design. Keep in mind that we only bill for work we’ve done and what you’ve approved. So, if you decide to take a break, or need to sit on the project for a month to think things over, you won’t get billed for that time.
Throughout the month of March, we finish up preliminary design and move into design development. The following month (in this example, it would be April), you’ll receive a bill for the remaining 25% of preliminary design and ten percent of design development.
Step Five: Monthly Construction Fees
As an architect, when we work with you during construction, it’s called “Contract Administration,” where we answer questions and act as your advocate throughout the entire build process. We typically charge a standard rate—a fixed amount every month during the build. For example, let’s say it’s going to be a ten-month build. We would divide our overall standard Contract Administration fee by ten and bill you once per month. During those first few months, we spend a lot of time on site answering questions and making sure everything is built per print. In the later months, we don’t have to make many major decisions, but we’ll still check up to ensure things are progressing in the right direction.
At the end of the entire process, we’ll apply your initial ten percent deposit to your very last payment. And that's it, you're done paying!
To recap: In general, you, the client, will pay monthly for work that’s already been completed every single month, as well as an initial 10% deposit. This lasts throughout the entire process. During construction administration, it's a fixed fee, paid monthly. You can pay with a check, but we prefer you do an ACH transfer. Due to fees, we do not accept credit cards, unless we have determined that ahead of time—we can certainly talk about this if it’s something you want to look into!
*Many times, people will ask if the architect’s fee is included in the construction budget. 95% of the time, the answer is no. The architect's fee is outside of that. So, when we talk about price per square foot, architect fees are typically not included. Ours would be an additional fee to that cost-per-square-foot number.
Have any questions?
Although we covered a lot in this post, you may still have some other questions about the payment process of designing and building a custom home. Whether you’re involved in the custom home process now, or even just considering it, join our free Facebook group—we’ll help you answer any questions you might have! Also, feel free to invite anyone that you think would benefit from this collaborative. You’ll not only get advice from me, but from other people who have been through this, too.
Start the process.
When it comes to designing and building a custom home, nothing beats having a trusted, experienced team of architects on your side. Let’s set up a call to meet, discuss your goals, answer your questions, and settle your fears. We can’t wait to meet you!