“How much does it cost to design a home?'”is one of the most common questions I get asked. Unfortunately, the answer isn’t straightforward.

Design and drafting fees vary considerably and are dependent on any combination of these factors:

• project scope (size and complexity of the project)
• project type (new build, renovation, addition, detached structure)
• project delivery method (design-bid-build, design-negotiate-build, design-build, owner-build)
• the scope of services (how much work the design professional is doing)
• the type of design professional you’re working with
• project location and designer location
• reputation/business model of the design professional

Because we are in a service-based business where time = money, more often than not, fees are based on the amount of time we anticipate it taking to do the job (multiplied by an hourly rate).

Regardless of how the fee is structured (whether as a percentage of construction cost, hourly rate, fixed fee, or a combination of these), you can bet that the design professional has done the math to estimate the total hours and has declared a rate that maintains profitability. Architects, designers, and drafters alike do this calculation, whether or not they make it known to you.

So, now that you know that there are numerous factors involved in setting the fees for design and drafting services regardless of the type of professional used, we can move on to looking at differences in rates among the various design professionals.

Let’s look at the difference in design fees between an architect, designer, and draftsperson for residential projects.

Typical Fees When Working With an Architect

A licensed architect is a highly educated and trained design professional who, aside from creating beautiful designs, are licensed to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the public when they stamp their drawings. Because they are licensed, more is legally expected of them, making them liable for their actions.

While they translate your project requirements, dreams, and ideas into a cohesive design, they are also considering other variables like zoning and code regulations, site characteristics, land conservation, environmental issues, and cost data to name a few. They work for you as your advocate and can help in reviewing cost estimates and selecting a contractor. They can even manage your project for you!

The extensive design experience, increased exposure to liability, and the amount of work that architects can do for you and with you are the reasons why licensed architects charge more than other design professionals.

Design fees when hiring a licensed architect can range between 8% and 20% of the construction cost for full architectural design services depending on any number of factors mentioned above. Full design services can include pre-design analysis, design, approvals and permitting, bidding and negotiation, and construction observation. Obviously, the more services the architect helps you with, the higher the design fees.

To give you an example of typical rates to design a custom house: if you’re engaging an architect for full architectural design services, you’ll likely pay over $30k. For large-scale or high-end projects with a lot of designing, detailing, and attention, the fees will be higher.

Architect fees are stated as a percentage of construction cost, a fixed fee, an hourly rate, or a combination of these. Hourly rates vary between $80 and $250 per hour depending on the architect’s reputation, experience, and business model.

Architects can also help you if you need only a few design services instead of the full range of services offered. They can prove to be extremely valuable in the early stages of the project to come up with a concept design. They can also help you navigate the approvals process or fix your floor plan. Rates for smaller services like these are typically stated as hourly rates or a fixed fee

Typical Fees When Working With an Architectural Designer

Whereas architects are licensed design professionals, architectural designers are not. The biggest difference between architects and designers is still the fact that they cannot provide a set of stamped documents, which is sometimes required by various building departments to get a building permit.

The education, training, and skill level of architectural designers vary drastically across the board from one designer to the next. Some have all the creative and practical skills that architects have, but their fees are still lower due to their reduced liability and less licensure.

Design fees for architectural designers range between 5% and 15% of the construction cost or $70 and $150 per hour for full architectural design services. Again, this depends on location and reputation but the rates are usually still lower than those of licensed architects. Then again, interior designers can sometimes charge as much as $300 per hour so there’s that.

Because a designer isn’t qualified to help with all the design services an architect can, the total cost of design fees will be less. For a new custom house, you might expect to pay $15k-$20k for design and documentation services.

Typical Fees When Using a Draftsperson

Draftspeople can perform some of the tasks that architects and designers do, but not all. Their expertise is in drafting and using computer-aided design and drafting software (CADD) to create drawings for construction. They usually don’t usually offer much design services.

Draftspeople can charge by the hour or by the project with approximate rates of $50/hour or 3%-10% of construction cost. Their rates are lower than designers and architects.

For additions and small remodels you could expect to pay between $1k and $2k for their drafting services. For larger projects and whole house remodels you could pay between $2k and $6k.

And remember, if your drawings need to be stamped by a licensed architect, you’ll likely pay another $1k-$3k for the architect to review and stamp your drawings.

Besides using an architect, architectural designer, or draftsperson, there are other ways of getting the house plans that you want.

The two most common ways are working directly with a builder and using a stock plan.

Typical Fees of Working With a Builder for the Design of Your House Plans

There are two types of builders you could work with to create your home: a custom home builder and a production home builder (also known as a high volume builder).

Using a Custom Builder and a Designer/Architect

If you are working with a custom home builder you can usually choose to work with an architect or designer for your home design separately or work with the builder in a design-build situation (where a designer is hired by the builder to provide the design services).

Working separately with an architect or designer gives you the freedom to select whomever you want to work with to design your home. Their design fees fall in line with those mentioned in the above sections based on the type of design professional.

Using a Production Home Builder and Their In-House Design Team

If you are working with a production builder to create the design, they have designers (either on staff or contracted separately) that they typically work with for their homes. You don’t the freedom to select the designer in this scenario. And the cost of their design services is usually rolled into the construction cost of the home.

Because many production home builders have a library of pre-drawn floor plans to choose from, there isn’t much design work involved besides picking finishes in their design center later in the process. If you choose a pre-drawn floor plan, you might have a $300-$500 line item in the contract for the drawing and construction rights to the floor plan you chose. And if you’d like to customize the floor plan and make some small changes to it, you would pay an hourly fee for the drafting time or a fixed fee depending on the company and the extent of the changes. You might pay an additional $1k to $4k depending on the scope of changes and square footage of the house.

Fees for Stock Plans

Stock home designs from a book or online include a vast selection of ready-to-build house plans.

If you decide to purchase a stock home design, the cost typically ranges from $750 to $2,000 and is related to the size and features of the home as well as the drawings or files you’re requesting.

If you want the design customized, the cost varies and is usually based on the hourly rate of the person reviewing, redrawing and making the changes. It might add $1k to $4k to the total price depending on the scope of changes and square footage of the house.

The Cost of Doing the Design Drawings Yourself

And lastly, you can always design and draw your new home yourself. If you have the skill set, the capability, and the confidence to do it, you can save a lot of money. It would, however, be at the sacrifice of the large time investment to do it.

Creating a good home design takes a considerable amount of time -That’s why design professionals charge what they do. Do you have the time to create the design yourself? Do you trust yourself with something as important as your forever home? Can you live with the result even if it’s less than ideal?

In Conclusion: The Best Advice

While there are various ways you can arrive at a design for your home, in the end, the best and simplest advice I can give you is that you usually get what you pay for.

While an architect will be the most expensive, you will end up with a great outcome and have a good chance of recouping the cost of design fees over time in the home. If you don’t have the budget for an architect, choose a person or design service that has a proven track record of creating great home designs that are also of a style that you like.

There’s nothing more expensive than building a home that has a poor design and realizing it after its too late. Making changes after the fact is more expensive than getting it right from the beginning. And choosing to live in a poorly designed home may also have lasting physical and emotional costs that may haunt you for years to come.

So don’t make the mistake of choosing the cheapest design option just because of price alone. You’ll pay for THAT mistake for years and decades to come. Instead, focus on getting the design you want and working with the best team to create the bespoke design. You’ll save time, money, and headaches in the long run if you do it that way.