Architect’s fees are overall higher than Building Designers, not because they have a higher hourly rate but because they have allowed more time in their fees to complete the project.

Building Designers keep fees lower to service clients that might not want a full home designed or the clients design expectations may be lower.

Architects seek a higher level of design and collaboration with the client. We believe homes need more than a week or so to understand the clients brief and design them properly. The process of selecting materials and designing kitchens and bathrooms is involved so we allow significant amounts of time to design, present, resolve and consult with clients through these personal phases.

You may want the full house designed from inside to out. Architects allow for full interior design as a full services package. This means the scale, volume, materials, textures and lighting are all considered together with the Architecture. Full interior design is a service that isn’t often provided from Building Designers or is limited.

Architects produce detailed FF&E (Fixtures, Fittings and Equipment) schedules, which includes the selection of every material inside and out, plumbing fixtures, lighting fixtures, switches, handles, hinges, locks, fabrics, paint colours, stains, oils etc. All items are sourced with retail costs and samples to be assessed by clients and reviewed. This detailed schedule is then provided to the builder as a full package to price. Clients only need to define the brief and assess selections. All items are selected and balanced to work together in detail. This service takes a considerable amount of time to organize and is a service Building Designers don’t provide in their fee.

It’s proven Architecturally designed homes have higher resale values. While the actual figures are hard to define, if you select the right Architect that designs an appropriate home for the site with good taste and conscious of pricing that an Architect’s fees can be recouped in value that’s added to the project through good design.

Every block of land is different and has different constraints. An example of this might be a contradiction between a view worth highlighting and the direction of North and natural light. Architects allow more time to resolve these issues and maximize outcomes. We consult in detail with clients about priorities to establish the best possible outcome through explore options. We look into detail to how lounge room spaces can be arranged, positioning views, sunlight, TV screen’s and fireplaces in 3d perspectives to illustrate and discuss options.

Complex sites need more attention during early stages of the design which Architects are skilled and trained at studying.

Both a Building Designers fees and an Architects are based on time.

If you feel your project needs more time to design and resolve than a typical house, or you feel your block of land deserves more time, or you need more time in selecting and refining the house, then an Architects fee has more allowance for time.

An Architect is a specialist in design and has greater experience, qualifications and capabilities in providing a higher level of detailed design and maximising design opportunities . We invest a lot of time considering aesthetics combined with functionality to ensure the best possible solution and outcome. As an Architect, our practise takes on around 2-4 projects per year, whereas a Building Designer could be in the vicinity of 20-30 projects annually.

Architect’s designs are more likely to vary more between project to project because they build less of them and consult more with clients about individual tastes which as such defines the projects more uniquely.