About Design Fees

"What?!!! How Much?!!!"
If you haven't worked with an architect, that may be your initial reaction when you look at an architect's proposal for services. What I say to that is yep, it does look pretty high. But to get past the shock you need to look past the proposed price and then the overall cost of building a project. Compared to the cost of construction it's pretty low, about 10-20 percent depending on level of detail and involvement. And if you think an architect's fees are high, they're actually dwarfed by the contractor's fees, which a competent contractor works very hard and takes on tremendous liability to get.
You also need to look at what you're getting. A good architect doesn't charge a big fee and then whip out a couple of drawings to justify it. What your design professional is doing for you is interpreting your needs into a concise, detailed set of documents that ensures your project is done the way YOU want it. What your design professional is doing for you is making sure that your building complies with local codes, ensuring that it is properly engineered, getting permission for you to build your project (ie permits), and much more.
Furthermore, an architect's job is tough - detailing a project for construction is extremely involved.
Take these things into consideration before closing the door. Of course check into your design professional; make sure you learn all you can about the firm, and know that the fee is not necessarily the be all end all price, but the architect's first sentence in a conversation. Enagage in that conversation and open up to the possibility of quality in your investment. I wish you the best of luck whatever you decide.

Credit Where it is Due

I keep a couple of subscriptions to architecture related magazines coming my way: Dwell, Architectural  Record, etc., and I like them,  I do, however, have a hard time actually reading them. It seems that I like to look at the pictures and move on with my life. Partly it's that I'm busy - perhaps also it's some problem with paying attention, I'm sure the factors are numerous (plug my disdain for architectural critics here). BUT, I think I found the big reason why I can't seem to stay interested in these things: and that is that the the people who receive credit for the featured work do not do the work.The fact is, folks who do the work are stashed away somewhere in the building where they are not seen. These people are paid very little and are treated poorly.
Being in the industry, I can say that very few architects actually know how to "draw." And I guess that's where I feel separated from the people posing in the magazines; it's like a fat person looking at a supermodel.