Fees
There are two numbers on any project: our fee, and your build cost. They behave differently, and most of the confusion about architects’ fees comes from mixing them up. This page sets out how ours is structured, what moves it, and what sits outside it.
How the fee divides
Our fee is a percentage of the build cost, agreed before we start and fixed in the appointment. It is drawn down in stages as the work is done, in these proportions:
| Stage | Share of fee |
|---|---|
| Initial brief and sketches | 2% |
| Planning | 33% |
| Detailed design | 45% |
| Construction stage | 20% |
| Total | 100% |
| Contract administration | 4%, in addition |
Contract administration sits outside the hundred because not every client wants it. It covers preparing the itemised estimate of goods and services against the scope of work, and the contract meeting with your builder.
The percentages are rounded. The split is drawn from how we have actually invoiced completed projects, not from a published scale.
What you get at each stage
Initial brief and sketches — 2%
Establishing what you want, what the building and the site will allow, and whether the two can meet. Small, and deliberately so: it is the stage where changing your mind is free.
Planning — 33%
Measured drawings of the existing building, proposed plans, sections and elevations, the Design and Access Statement, the forms, and the submission itself. Where a second body has to consent — a conservation area panel, or the Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust — this stage carries a second set of drawings prepared to that body’s requirements.
Detailed design — 45%
The largest stage, and the one that decides whether the building can actually be built as drawn. General arrangement drawings, demolition drawings, services and lighting design, and the room-by-room design work: kitchens, bathrooms, en-suites, cloakrooms. Then the schedules the builder prices and works from — scope of work, sanitary, lighting and electrical, finishes, doors and ironmongery, windows, joinery.
Construction stage — 20%
On-site inspection and contract administration while the work is built, including valuations and instructions.
What moves the number
- A second consenting body roughly doubles the planning stage. A listed building, a conservation area or the Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust means two submissions, each with its own drawings prepared to its own standards.
- The number of wet rooms and bespoke joinery items drives detailed design more than floor area does. A nine-bedroom house with seven bathrooms carries far more schedule work than a larger house with two.
- How much of the construction stage you want — some clients want weekly inspection, others want us at key stages only.
What sits outside the fee
These are costs clients are often not told about until they arrive. They are ours to be clear about up front.
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| CDM co-ordination, where the project requires a principal designer | 3% of construction cost |
| Purchasing furniture, fittings and art on your behalf | 12% of purchases, plus bank charges |
| Contingency we advise you to hold | 8–10% of build cost |
Not included: local authority planning fees, building control fees, structural engineering, party wall surveyors, and the surveys a particular site demands — measured, arboricultural, ecological or heritage. These are paid directly to the people providing them, and we tell you which ones your project needs before you commit.
What we do not do
We do not quote a fee before seeing the building, or the site, and understanding what you want from it. A percentage quoted over the phone is a guess, and guesses move in one direction. The first conversation is free and carries no obligation.
Written and reviewed by Kathy Basheva, Director of Studio Basheva
ARB-registered architect (reg. 078188F) · RIBA member · Chartered planner, RTPI
Last reviewed October 2026.