Budget and fees
Establishing a realistic idea of anticipated costs on a building project of any scale is crucial to its viability. This can be difficult at the early stages and RBD can help in advising clients, based on our experiences to date and the costs of similar completed projects.
When considering budgets, clients commonly forget the costs additional to the build itself, such as statutory consent fees, architect’s and other consultant’s fees. It is always wise also to allow a contingency for unknown costs and extras.
Architect’s fees can be calculated in three different ways: percentage basis, time charge or lump sum. Please refer to the RIAS guide below for a fuller explanation. Fees are normally payable in installments on completion of work stages, for example:
Work Stages, description and fees
A Inception Time Allocation Charge
B Feasibility Time Allocation Charge
C Outline Proposals (Outline Planning Application) 15% of agreed fee
D Scheme Design (Detail Planning Application) 20%
E Detail Design (Building Warrant Application) 25%
F/G Production Information & Tender/Detail Costs 25%
H Construction Phase 15%
For smaller projects it may be feasible to work out a fee quotation based on anticipated hours spent on the job.
Up until the creation of this website and since our foundation in 2001, most of our work has been through previous client referrals and word of mouth. We are happy to make speculative initial visits to meet prospective clients and discuss their project ideas. After a first meeting RBD will write to the prospective client with a summary of the discussion, a fee proposal for the works described and our terms and conditions. A schedule for the next stages can be decided after consideration of the proposal.
Useful Reference