Charging for Architectural Services

Recent polling by me of friends and via online group discussions as well as some good old fashion research about compensation for architectural services resulted in some interesting data. It seems the traditional method of billing a percentage of construction cost, usually 8 to 15 percent, is not all that common anymore. Much more common is a fixed fee based on an hourly guesstimate or percentage of construction cost or just plain hourly billing. Or some combination thereof. Some architects also bill on a $ per square foot basis although this seems to be more the territory of drafting services companies. It also seems that architects make a very low hourly wage, particularly if not billing straight hourly due to the nature of architects to want to get everything perfect. You look at a project and think “I should be able to do that in 250 hours and estimate a number based on three hundred hours then spend 500 hours on it and bill for 310. Young architects seem especially susceptible to this. Under charging is a common hindsight of many young but now established firms. I know from experience that only about half to two thirds of my own working time gets billed out. I spend lots of time researching materials and methods, networking, swearing at my computer, replying to e-mails and phone calls, learning new software, checking out potential jobs, site visits, blogging… before I know it I have only 20 billable hours in a week to show for what seems like a long and intense week of work. My own method is to bill hourly at a rather low hourly rate (for an architect) which allows me to do small simple small-town-architect local work and, for more complex projects I add a very small percentage of construction cost which brings my price to a more normal level and helps to compensate me for some of the hours I would never otherwise bill for.

Grumpy Musings of a bike riding architect

I will probably read this post tomorrow and pull it. I just came in from a midday bike ride during which I thunk things.  Before my ride I was poking around the Thermotech windows web site.  Thermotech makes very nice triple glazed, orientation tunable (heat gain) windows that work very nicely in our primarily heating local climate.  I would love to use them on a project but they cost 1/2 again as much as Marvin Integrity windows which are also very good windows but only double glazed and designed to block solar heat gain.  So on a typlical 300 or 400k house that means 30-40 k in windows versus 20 to 30k. This is the grumbly architect part: Clients typically come to me with a budget and a non-negotiable wish list. Sometimes (usually) the two are incompatible.  Always the client says "I want to go green!"  Always the first thing to go is the triple glazed windows, not the third bath or the granite countertops.   When it comes down to it, very few people are really willing to "go green" if it affects their desired lifestyle.

Graduate School

Graduate School

In these days of reconnecting with former classmates via facebook and linkedin I discovered that many of them later went to grad school. Most of us were fried by the time we graduated and there was little if any discussion of more schooling. I have often thought that if I were to go back to school, it would be to study estuarine biology and ecology. Definitely not more architecture. A large part of my practice involves furthering my education (read: un-billable hours) I spend a great deal of time keeping up with the rapidly changing field of residential design. The science is changing on all levels from products and detailing to sustainability and energy use issues to how we as architects actually convey what we design. Many architects and firms have their heads in the sand and follow the models they were taught back in the last century. I think the architects that will emerge at the top in coming years have to be a different breed.

My version of graduate school, in retrospect, was the half-dozen years I spent carpentering after college. It was a good compliment to architecture school and the required internship. At 10 to 13 dollars per hour – no benefits and weather dependant, it also left me rather in debt (similar to graduate school) while my friends started working at larger firms and made much larger salaries.

It's the Economy

Business is generally good for me despite the economy.  I have work enough to keep me busy but I do get nervous.  Right now I have four houses on hold for one reason or another.  If everybody calls and says "go" next week, I will be in big trouble. Also, if nobody calls in the next few months I will be in big trouble although the phone does always seem to ring.   I have a colleague working on getting Vermont Simple House up and running. (Vermont Simple House is my fledgling and not yet up-and-running stock plan business with huge potential)

Cotton Mill Office in Brattleboro

The new office in the old Cotton Mill has proven to be an asset.  It is a much better place to meet clients than the cafe. It is very quiet and has very few distractions.  The building is filled with industry, artists and dogs but is amazingly peaceful and quiet.  My office is good for one person but may feel tight for two.  the windows are big and face west and north to Mount Wantastiquet.  We (my wife and I) are busy writing a business plan, partly because we need to and partly for the yearly business plan competition put on by the BDCC. it concerns the question of the growth of my business and how to structure that growth.  big scary stuff.

trending modern

I have been noticing a trend in my contact with clients and potential clients in the past several years.  the statistics mean nothing due to the small numbers involved. It seems that older people are often more adventurous and less conservative than younger people when it comes to architectural style.  young couples send me messages from thier I-phones while driving around in their Prius's saying " eek! - too modern looking" and the older folk are saying " what if this wall were entirely glass?

New Office

I have been absent from the blog for a few weeks as life got even busier.  I am setting up a small office in Brattleboro at the old Cotton Mill. The Mill is filled to capacity with artists, musicians, woodworkers, massage therapists, dogs, a circus school, a jazz center and other similar organizations and businesses - a very fun place.  This working out of the (not so) spare bedroom in my home has its advantages and drawbacks. I cannot meet with clients here and I am finding it increasingly difficult to put in the hours getting work done.  As my business grows I need to feel and act and be more professional.  That was the plan for my barn but the barn seems to be on the slow track as I have very little time to work on it.  Moving my operations is a pain but exiting as well and I have a rediculous number of new projects. In this age of connectivity I can get help with my work from architecture school classmates on an as needed basis and this will be the first step in the growth of my practice. The next step will be hiring an intern next summer.  I already have someone lined up and needed a place for him.  I am a bit scared and very exited to think about where I will be in two years or five.  The response to this blog and my website, both of which are less than a year old, has been very positive. I think I'm onto something and after years of doing good and plentiful work in relative obscurity in the local economy, it seems to be time to step out on a bigger stage.