My services during the programing/predesign phase consists of a feasibility study to determine what can be built and how large of a building is permittable for the client’s site. Typically, this service involves a code analysis, review of the local municipality’s General Plan for occupancy/use types, zoning regulations, FAR (Floor Area Ratio), maximum lot coverage, etc.

During this phase, I recommend that my client contract with both a civil engineer and geotechnical engineer. This ensures that a civil plan is ready at the start of Schematic Design, as I design my projects to fit the site and context.

Please note that this is an important service that sets the foundation, so to speak, for an organized process of the following five phases of service. The fee is 10% of the overall design fee, which is set at an hourly rate of $143.

My practice deviates from most modern architecture firms in that I do all of the early Schematic Design (SD) via free hand sketches, study models, sun studies, and hardline drafting. My reasons for this are due to my personal belief that architecture is foremost a human endeavor, one which stands to lose sight of the fact that the resulting spaces are intended for humans, not machines and therefore, must be hand crafted to achieve this effect.

That being said, I am sure that we have all had the most unpleasant experience of buildings that lack that human scale, connection to its context and environment, etc., all of which can likely be traced back to the SD phase, which is why I often tell clients that computers are for architects who do not know how to draw. The SD fee is 20% of the overall design fee, which is set at an hourly rate of $143.

Continuing along the lines of the SD phase, the Design Development (DD) serves aim to build upon the previous two phases by coupling Programing and SD into a more comprehensive design package.

Most firms may begin to introduce details in this phase or perhaps not until the next phase; however, as I strongly believe that God is in the details and that the details are what make or break a project, I start developing custom details at the start of SD and only introduce standard details that may apply to the project during this phase. I’m sure that many of my fellow architects will disagree with this notion, but I’ve seen their work and feel, at the risk of being labeled biased, that my detailed approach to SD and DD is best.

The DD fee is 20% of the overall design fee, which is set at an hourly rate of $143.

Despite my old school approach to SD and DD phases, the Construction Documentation (CD) phase of services is where I finally give in to the computer age and personally complete my documentation (not design) drawings in REVIT BIM (Building Information Modeling).

To this end, I am a perfectionist and do all of my own REVIT modeling to ensure that my construction documents are cohesive, comprehensive, concise, and complete. I follow the CSI (Construction Specifications Institute) guidelines and personally work closely with my engineers and consultants, many of whom I have worked with for many years with great success.

The CD fee is 35% of the overall design fee, which is set at an hourly rate of $143.

I personally handle general contractor bidding under the AIA Document A101-2017 and negotiations with the Agency Having Jurisdiction (AHJ - aka, building department). I have found that this allows for ease of communications and a quicker turn around. It also allows me to build a rapport with the plan checkers and the building inspectors, all of which serves the best interest of the project.

For bidding, I typically recommend three to four prequalified general contractors be considered via invitation only. For nonpublic projects that do not fall under the Public Contract Code, I often advise my clients to select the middle bid and avoid the low and high bids, as experience has taught me the valuable lesson of “profit by change order” (low bid).

My fee for this phase is 5% of the overall design fee.

Please note that as of August 2025, I no longer allow the Construction Administration (CA) phase as an option and in essence, when you sign a contract with my firm based on a fixed fee, the CA phase is included.

My reasoning for this is quite simply having seen too many general contractors attempt to take advantage of my clients once I am no longer involved in the project. Further, I recommend that clients, especially residential clients who perhaps have never been through the process of building a custom home, avoid the “one-stop-shop” trap of the design-build delivery method, where the architects and engineers work for the general contractor rather than the homeowner.

My fee for this phase is 10% of the overall design fee.