Understanding Architects’ Fees for Major Home Projects
If you are planning a major home project, whether a whole-house retrofit, a significant extension, or a combination of both, it is completely natural to start by asking about fees.
Many homeowners do. Often early on, before the house has been properly understood and before the wider shape of the project has emerged.
This article explains what architects’ fees actually represent, why they cannot be meaningfully compared in isolation, and how the right fee structure supports a successful outcome over what is often a long and highly personal journey.
A major home project is a long-term commitment
Significant residential projects rarely happen quickly.
In our experience, many take one to two years to deliver. Some take longer. Not because they are poorly planned, but because they are shaped around real lives.
We work with clients who time building work around tenants leaving, around children sitting GCSEs, or around moves to new schools. Others choose to improve their homes in stages over five or ten years, balancing budgets, family life, and long-term goals.
For an architect, this requires a sustained professional commitment. One that needs to remain focused, responsive, and properly supported over time.
That is why it is worth taking care when choosing who you work with. Looking at experience, track record, and client testimonials matters. We often meet homeowners who come to us after a relationship has broken down elsewhere, or where a practice has closed partway through a project. In those situations, time, momentum, and money can be lost very quickly.
A well-considered fee structure helps protect continuity and care throughout the life of your project.
Why fees cannot be defined in a single conversation
It is a common question.
Why can an architect not give a clear fee after one call?
The answer lies in the nature of bespoke work.
A useful comparison is a tailored suit. The cost is not just about measurements. It reflects fabric choice, longevity, how it will be worn, and how it needs to perform over time.
Designing a home is far more complex. It brings together people and the way they live, an existing house with its own constraints, budgets and priorities, regulatory requirements, and a series of decisions that unfold gradually.
Early conversations matter, but meaningful fee clarity comes from understanding how these elements interact, rather than rushing to a number before the picture is clear.
What an architectural fee proposal really involves
A robust architectural fee proposal is not a simple administrative exercise.
It involves careful professional thinking. Exploring options. Identifying constraints. Anticipating risk. Structuring the work in clear stages. And setting out, in plain terms, what is included, what is not, and how change will be handled if it arises.
This work cannot realistically be carried at the architect’s risk.
Practices that attempt to do so often find themselves under pressure later. That pressure can lead to reduced engagement or difficult conversations once a project proves more complex than first imagined.
A clear, carefully written fee agreement helps both parties stay aligned as the project evolves.
How architects’ fees are typically structured
In practice, most major home projects use a mix of the following approaches:
Fixed fees
Used where the work is clearly defined and unlikely to change. This offers certainty when responsibilities and effort are well understood.
Time-based fees
Used where work depends on decisions, discoveries, or third-party input. This is common for unexpected issues, urgent advice, or resolving matters during planning or construction.
Percentage-based fees
Often used as a sense-check against overall project cost. They can help frame value, but on their own they rarely reflect the full complexity of bespoke homes.
A combined approach
The most common solution for complex projects. Some parts are fixed, others remain flexible, reflecting how real homes, real buildings, and real lives behave.
What matters most is not the label, but whether the structure is clear, fair, and robust enough to support the project over time.
What only becomes clear as the project unfolds
Even with careful early thinking, some aspects of a project only reveal themselves over time.
Existing homes can uncover hidden conditions once work begins, particularly within walls, floors, and roofs. Construction brings together multiple trades and sequences that require active coordination and informed decision-making.
These are not failures of preparation. They are normal realities of working with real buildings, especially older homes and retrofit projects.
A sensible fee structure allows the architect to stay actively involved, helping manage decisions, resolve issues, and keep the project aligned with its original intent as it moves from drawings to reality.
Where fee misunderstandings usually come from
Difficulties around fees rarely come down to numbers alone.
They tend to arise when assumptions replace clear discussion. When agreements are not properly read or revisited. When a project shifts direction without pausing to consider how the work is structured.
Equally, architects who underprice work simply to secure a commission can struggle to remain fully engaged over a long project, particularly when unexpected complexity appears.
A good fee agreement exists to support clarity and trust. It should act as a shared reference point, not a source of friction.
How we approach fees at Studio CMA
We are deliberate about how projects begin.
Initial conversations are about alignment. They help both sides understand whether there is a good fit between your ambitions and our experience.
Our Architect’s Home Visit and Appraisal is a paid service because it involves careful, independent thinking. We visit your home, understand your priorities, and work through how your ambitions could be realised within the realities of the building, the budget, and the wider context.
The aim is not to judge ideas, but to help you gain clarity early, so decisions are grounded and realistic before any design work begins.
Fees are discussed transparently and reviewed at the start of each stage, based on the information available at that time.
If you are preparing for early conversations, you may find these articles helpful:
How architect fees fit within the wider budget
Architects’ fees usually form a relatively small proportion of overall project cost.
What matters more than the percentage is the value created. Time spent early on clarity, coordination, and careful decision-making can help avoid costly mistakes later and significantly improve comfort, performance, and long-term enjoyment of the home.
For a broader view on budgeting, this article may be useful:
Why involvement during construction matters
Construction is where decisions carry real consequences.
Unexpected issues need calm, informed responses. Multiple trades need coordination. Design intent needs protecting as the work is built.
Continued architectural involvement helps manage quality, resolve issues, and ensure that what is constructed reflects what was carefully designed.
You can read more about this here:
What to do next
If you are planning a major home project, the most important step is not comparing fees in isolation. It is understanding the process, the decisions ahead, and the professional relationship you are entering into.
We recommend starting with a consultation call to explore whether there is a good fit. If that feels right, the next step is the Architect’s Home Visit and Appraisal, which provides a clear foundation for informed decisions about design, timing, and fees.
Taking this approach requires a little more thought at the outset. In return, it offers confidence, continuity, and a far better chance of creating a home that supports the way you want to live, now and in the future.
Last reviewed and updated to reflect current best practice in residential architecture, fee structures, and long-term home projects.
