FEES
MOST ARCHITECTS WON’T PUBLISH THEIR FEES. HERE ARE MINE.
If you’ve looked at other practice websites you’ll have noticed a pattern. Plenty about vision and journey, nothing about money. Then you get on a call and the fee arrives as a surprise. I don’t work that way. You’ll always know where you stand, and that starts before you’ve spent a penny with me.
HOW MY FEES WORK.
Architects commonly charge by a percentage of construction cost, by time, or through fixed fees for defined stages. Each method can suit different projects. For the residential work I take on, I use fixed fees for clearly defined stages because it gives clients the clearest view of scope, cost and decision points before work begins.
Each stage is priced separately in the written proposal. You can stop at the end of a stage. A fee changes only if the agreed scope changes, and any change is explained and agreed in writing before the additional work is carried out.
You pay by stage. Each stage is priced separately in the fee proposal. You can stop at the end of any stage. No lock-in, no penalty, no awkward conversation.
The fee doesn’t drift. The only thing that changes a stage fee is a genuine change in scope, for example if you decide mid project that you want a bigger extension, or the site throws up something nobody could have foreseen. If that happens I’ll tell you what it means for the fee before doing the work, in writing, and you decide.
WHAT THE FEE BUYS.
You are not paying for a bundle of drawings. You are paying for the site, planning, design, technical and construction decisions to be made in the right order, with enough information for each next commitment to be properly judged.
THE BEST START FOR YOUR PROJECT.
THE PROJECT CLARITY REVIEW. £450
Before I take on any project we do a Project Clarity Review. It’s a structured assessment of your site, your budget, your planning position and the realistic route to getting what you want built, followed by a written report you keep whether or not we work together again.
Why paid, and why first? Because free consultations produce polite optimism. When you’re paying for my time you get the honest version: whether your site is likely to get planning, whether your budget matches your ambitions, and what the real risks are. Some people leave the Review having saved themselves expensive mistakes.
What you get:
A structured visit to the site or house depending on the project.
Assessment against the relevant planning framework, which means PPS21 and CTY policies in Northern Ireland or local council development plans or the Donegal County Development Plan rural housing policies in the Republic
A written report covering findings, risks, realistic budget commentary and recommended next steps
A clear answer to the only question that matters at this stage: should you proceed?
If we go ahead with a full project afterwards, the Review has already done the groundwork. You’re not paying twice for the same thinking.
THE RISK REVERSAL.
If you appoint me for the project within twelve months of your Review, the £450 is credited against your initial Design fee.
TYPICAL FEE RANGES
Every project is priced individually, but nobody finds “it depends” useful. So here are honest ranges based on the work I actually do. Your written fee proposal will give you exact figures.
EXTENSIONS AND RENOVATION
Typically £3,500 to £9,500.
Survey, design, Planning application, Building control drawings and structural coordination. Single-storey extensions sit at the lower end. Two storey work, complex renovations and alterations to older buildings sit higher. If you only need drawings to Planning stage, or Planning plus Building Control without site involvement, the fee reduces. I will tell you honestly whether that suits your project or whether it is false economy.
Your Project Clarity Review fee of £450 comes off your initial design fee if you appoint me within 12 months of the review.
ONE-OFF RURAL HOMES
Typically £11,000 to £22,000.
One-off homes on rural sites across Derry, Tyrone, Limavady, Donegal and the border counties. The range reflects house size, site complexity and how much site stage involvement you want.
Replacement dwellings and smaller rural houses often sit just below this range. Planning and technical drawings only, or full involvement through tender and construction, are both priced individually. Ask and you get a written figure.
Projects in the Republic also require an Assigned Certifier appointment under BCAR. That is priced separately and I will tell you the figure before you commit, not halfway through. On projects in the Republic where the statutory certification route applies, I can be appointed to provide the Assigned Certifier service. Eligible owners of a single dwelling or domestic extension may be able to opt out of statutory certification; the appropriate route is confirmed for each project.
Your Project Clarity Review fee of £450 comes off your initial design fee if you appoint me within 12 months of the review.
REPUBLIC OF IRELAND PROJECTS: BCAR AND THE ASSIGNED CERTIFIER
If your project is in Donegal or elsewhere in the Republic, it falls under the Building Control (Amendment) Regulations, known as BCAR. This is where a lot of self-builders get caught out, so it’s worth being clear.
Your Architect and your Assigned Certifier are potentially two different roles. The Assigned Certifier is a separate statutory appointment: the registered professional who prepares the inspection plan, inspects the build at key stages, gathers certification from the builder and other designers, and lodges the Certificate of Compliance on Completion. Without that certificate you cannot legally occupy the building.
They can be the same person, but they don’t have to be, and plenty of practices quote for the design work and stay quiet about certification until much later in the process. That’s how a project ends up needing a second professional, and a second fee, that nobody budgeted for.
A typical Assigned Certifier fee for a one-off dwelling is in the region of £3,500 to £6,500 , covering the preliminary inspection plan, staged site inspections, coordination of ancillary certificates and final lodgment on the Building Control Management System. Complex sites and larger houses sit toward the top of that range.
I’m registered as an Assigned Certifier, so I can carry both roles on your project. In my fee proposals they appear as two clearly separated figures, never buried inside a vague compliance line. An opt out route exists for single dwellings and I’ll explain honestly whether opting out is sensible in your case or a risk you’d regret.
HOW A FULL PROJECT IS STAGED
Stage 1. Feasibility and brief. What you want, what the site allows, and what it will realistically cost. Often already covered by your Project Clarity Review.
Stage 2. Design. Sketch design developed with you until it’s right. Not endless. I’ll tell you when we’re polishing rather than improving.
Stage 3. Planning. Drawings, documents and the application itself, argued properly against the policy that applies to your site. Rural planning in this region is won on policy knowledge, not pretty pictures.
Stage 4. Technical design and building control. Construction drawings, specifications and the Building Control submission in Northern Ireland, or BCAR documentation in the Republic.
Stage 5. Tender and construction. Real prices from real builders, then site inspections, certification and keeping the project honest through to completion.
Each stage is a separate fee. You can stop whenever you like.
WHAT’S NOT INCLUDED
Other people’s fees don’t vanish just because a website fails to mention them. Budget for these separately:
Statutory fees, meaning Planning application fees plus Building Control fees in Northern Ireland or commencement and certification fees in the Republic
Surveys, including a topographical survey and, where needed, site investigation or percolation testing
A structural engineer, required on most projects, typically £800 to £2,500 depending on complexity
Other consultants where the project demands them, such as an energy assessor for SAP or BER, ecology, or arboriculture on some rural sites
Your fee proposal will list which of these apply to your project, so the first time you hear about them isn’t an invoice.
NO HARD SELL. JUST A STRAIGHT ANSWER.
If you’re weighing up a site, a purchase or a project, the cheapest money you’ll spend is finding out early whether it stacks up. That’s what the Project Clarity Review is for. If the honest answer is “don’t build”, you’ll get that answer, and it will have been £450 well spent.
Kristian Mitchell. RIBA, MRIAI (IRL)