Do you need plans drawn for building work?
Help with getting Local Authority approvals?
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Our charges

The traditional way that Architects have billed for their services is as a percentage of the overall cost of a particular project. Usually this amounts to around 10% although this varies depending upon the size of the work to be undertaken (large projects may only be 8% whereas small domestic work could be 15% or more).

Planning & Construction Consultants usually charge for their services by the hour. This is done partly because the nature of the work, which is not always a complete construction project, makes this method more suitable. The main reason however is that it is simply a fairer way of charging clients for work done. It means that there is no benefit for designing for higher cost and it also means that the client retains control of how their money is spent.

In fact, many Architects now charge on a similar basis and their scale of fees was laid down by their professional Institute, the Royal Institute of British Architects until 2002 when the OFT ruled that the publishing of fee scales was uncompetitive. These fees vary depending on the type of work being undertaken between £85 - £290 per hour! (the last scale of fees as published by RIBA for 2002 - prior to the OFT ruling - were £50 - £180 per hour - the scale is now 'unofficial')

Foxdale Design has a flat rate fee of £56.00 per hour applicable to all work regardless of it's nature.

So how much will my project cost me?

Obviously that will depend upon exactly what you would like us to do. A straightforward planning application on a relatively modern house will require much less work than a complex change of use of commercial property. What we do however is to give an estimate of the number of hours likely to be required to undertake the work requested. Experience has shown that we can be remarkably accurate with this. Even a short telephone discussion can usually lead to a fairly accurate figure. This enables you to know up front exactly where you stand. Why not give us a call and see, it might not cost as much as you expect.

Are there any other costs?

Again it depends upon what we are doing for you. There could be Structural Engineers' fees but much domestic work can be done without these. Assuming that the work done requires a planning application to be made then there will be Local Authority planning application fees. An OS royalty is usually payable as are fees for the bulk copying of plans but these usually amount to a relatively small sum.

We are happy to discuss the costs of your particular project in detail. Finally, we always set out our fees in writing along with an estimate of the time required before beginning any work.