What is the true cost of Architecture?

You see it all the time, homes that scream look at me. Some for the right reasons, other...not so much. What is the actual cost of Architectural Design when you look at the whole picture? Is saving money on design and plans actually saving you money? Below are just some of the reasons that the answer to those questions will always be, quality design, no matter what it costs will always be the better value.

Let's just take a look at a typical home of say, 4,800 sq. ft. livable on a one acre lot. Now, this may not be typical for you or your area, but play along, you'll still enjoy the ride.

Plans for a home of this size can vary from as little as $7500.00 for the architectural portion to as much as $75,000.00. Why the difference? I mean if you hire the individual charging $7,500.00 you save $67,500.00 and surely that is money that can be spent in getting more bang for you buck during construction. The difference comes from several angles. The $7,500 fee will be charged by someone who is new in the industry or has little experience designing this level of home. Chances are they have recently purchased a CAD program and probably went to a trade school to learn how to operate that CAD program. they are probably very proficient at that CAD program, and it will give you great 3D views inside and out of the home they design. It will give you take off to get bids with and lot's of technical information. But, what they can't give you is talent and experience. Because if they were talented, even with a small amount of experience they would be charging much more.

Why does that matter to you? I mean how many ways can rooms be laid out? It's all just as simple as cut and paste, right? Have you ever walked into a home and said, "WOW, i could live here"? Chances are that home was designed by a professional that had talent and experience. How many homes have you walked into and said "what the hell were they thinking?" Those are more often designed by less talented and inexperienced architectural deign professionals or entry level drafters doing work on the side from their job at an architectural firm. The intrinsic value of a good design is priceless and cannot really be quantified. Think of it this way. If you live in the home for 10 to 15 years, if the home is well designed with your lifestyle and needs in mind, you'll probably not think about the design process and fee you paid very often. On the other hand if your home is put together like a cut and paste kindergarten coloring book you will probably think about what could have been on an almost daily basis.

Here are ways that a quality set of plans for a well designed home will save you money that can be quantified. A quality design, according to Realtors can add as much as 25% to the value of a home for resale. In other words a poorly designed home of comparable size to a well designed home sitting next door might sell for 25% less than the well designed home. On a home that costs $1.2 million to build on a million dollar lot, that can be as much $400,000.00 difference in sale price. In 1996 I designed a spec home for a builder. The design was based on a plan that they had spent 8 months working with an Architect on and were just not happy. I made some changes to the floor plan to make it function and flow better then I improved the exterior elevations considerably. The Realtor on the project had valued the home designed by The Architect at $1.2 million. The builder bid out my design and I was right on target for them to sell it at $1.2 million. The Realtor upon seeing my designs raised the sale price to $1.5 million and it sold in framing, bringing the builder $300,000.00 more in pure profit than the other design would have brought. Plus, it sold in framing, there is a good change the other design may have set for months before it sold. So resale value can be much higher. Then there are construction costs. In many projects you will see as much as 10% cost over rides due to changes that have to be made due to errors or omissions in the plans. On a quality set of plans that will be well under 5%. Typically on my projects it's under 2%. On a $1.2 million dollar build that could lead to a savings of almost $100,000. Builders have told me that they save on average $30,000 to $60,000 building fro my plans versus other design firms they have used in the past.

In addition to all of that, then you look at the process. A typical custom home of this size will take 3 to 4 moths to design and draft. Many firms will double that time because if they are charging too little they have to take on too many projects to pay their bills. Then, when plans are submitted how many time will they have to be resubmitted? Typically a governing body red lines the plans on the first submittal and the design firm must make changes or corrections to the plans to conform to codes or requirements the reviewer placed in the red lines. With a quality firm, those plans are revised and returned for a second review and will pass for permits. More often than not the less experienced firms will require 3 or more submittals to finally get permits. Each time it is resubmitted can cost you two or more weeks delay in starting your home. Time you are paying finance fees.

Bottom line: Hiring the less expensive design firm will almost always result in higher costs over all and will end with a home you are not truly happy with. My fees are in the middle of the spectrum. There are inexpensive firms that charge as little as $1 per sq. ft. for plans and designs. There are high end architectural firms that charge 15% or more of your construction budget, which can equate to as much as $30 per sq. ft. My fees are 7% of the construction budget. My observation, with nearly 40 years experience, is that anything less than $8 per sq. ft., which is 4%, give or take, of the budget, is a buyer beware red flag.

I hope your design build process goes perfect!