| Building |
| Building costs vary widely depending on location, site access, construction methods and standard of finishes. The procedure used to engage a builder to construct your architect’s design will also have an effect on cost. Under a traditional contract, a “Main” contractor (builder) will be responsible for arranging and supervising the services of not just his own workers, typically block-layers and carpenters, but also all the other tradesmen involved in the project, such as plumbers, electricians, tilers and so on. For this he is paid in the order of 15% of these “sub-contractors” costs. Many clients are tempted to save this cost by arranging the subcontractors themselves, but almost invariably discover that the 15% is a good price for the main contractor’s expertise in this very difficult task. Generally, the smaller the building the greater the cost will be per square foot. Simple buildings, such as a factory shell will cost significantly less per sq ft than a one-off private house, which will typically be at the upper end of the scale. Buildings nearer Dublin will cost up to 10% more than similar buildings more than, say, 50km from the city. Typical ballpark figures for building (August 2010) range from €100 per sq ft to €300 per sq ft for a building constructed under a traditional contract. To this must be added VAT at 13.5%, professional fees which are typically 12% of the net contract amount (including some input from an engineer and quantity surveyor) and fees to local authorities and utility providers such as the ESB or Gas Company. |
| Architects’ Fees |
| It is a common misconception that architects will only accept fees based on a percentage of the building. Most firms, including this one, are happy to carry out the work for either a fixed fee or an hourly rate. For most services we charge our partners’ time at €126 per hour and our assistants’ time at €90 per hour. A flat fee for a typical house of, say, 150 sq m (1,600 sq ft) and costing €300,000 would be in the order €30,000, but we would quote for each project separately. In the case of flat fees it is necessary to make additional charges for any changes arising from issues outside the architect’s control such as the clients changing their mind. We do not generally charge extra for travel. Typically and traditionally architects charge the fees based on a percentage of the building cost (net of VAT). The percentage varies with the degree of difficulty of the task with large simple buildings attracting the lowest percentage fee and small complicated buildings, for example an extension to a Protected Structure (Listed Building), attracting the highest. The percentages might range from 5% to 15% in these two examples. Architects do not charge fees on elements not included in the contract, for example furniture and carpets or sometimes decoration, unless of course they are involved in the selection and purchasing of these items. The RIAI does not publish a scale of recommended or minimum fees but does carry out surveys of the fees charged by its members. The fees described above all refer to a complete service form inception to completion. A limited service, for example to planning permission would cost 35% of the overall fee, (€10,500 in the example used above) or from planning to obtaining tenders would also cost 35% of the overall fee. Monitoring a contract on site to completion costs 30% of the overall. |