You’ve dreamt of your Forever Home for years, collected pictures of houses, doodled down ideas, budgeted & saved your pennies. You are ready to make your dream home a reality. But where do you start? What is the process of hiring an Architect? Let us at SMSA Architectural Services guide you through the process! As your Architect we will help you through the process from planning in your head, selecting a site, preparing schematic design ideas, defining your goals and scope of the project, to preparing code compliant documents and working alongside your contractor to resolve issues during construction. We understand that your home is where you will make memories with family & friends, celebrate holidays and birthdays, enjoy family dinners, and become the foundation to where your family will grow. We want to design a house for you that provides you spaces of happiness, comfort, security, and development in your life.
What is the value of working with SMSA Architectural Services?
Mistakes could cost you more than the expenses of hiring a professional.
Imagine you have begun construction and realized a room is not designed large enough for its function or the structure conflicts with mechanical ducts and plumbing. Changes made to plans too late in design or construction will greatly affect costs for an owner. We want your home to be designed correctly the first time with beautiful aesthetic value! Costs / Fees – How do we calculate a fee and bill for work? Our first step is an Initial sit down consultation – No charge for this consultation. Every project varies so it is important for us to understand what the client is looking for in services by us. Once we have established your scope of work we provide a Proposal and establish a task - fee worksheet tailored to fit your specific project. Our fees are based on either a Fixed Fee, Percentage [%] of Construction Cost, or Hourly Rates depending on client’s preference and project type. Hourly Rate Fees are typically used when the scope of the project requires and undetermined amount of work in Schematic Design Phase until we are able to reach a final solution you will love. An hourly rate chart is provided for different level positions and you are charged that rate for the time spent. If there is concern of going over budget, we will include a not to exceed fee unless authorized. Once we are able to establish the scope and size of the project we can then estimate a Fixed Fee based on a Percentage [%] of Construction Costs, or a calculate a projected amount of hours that will be spent on your project. Typical Architectural Percentage [%] Fees are between 4-15% of Construction Costs based on the project size and type. [See Understanding Professional Architectural Fees] Construction Costs can be based on a square footage index, a contractor’s estimate, or based on costs of a similar project completed. We are not trying to Gouge you in Fee’s. The time we put into designing Your Forever Home is extensive, and we want to be there for you every step of the way to ensure you are getting the best quality of services from us. Billing There are no upfront costs in our design work. We bill only for work completed, typically at the end of the project. If the project is a bit more complex we will bill at various phases of completed work. Consultants & Reimbursables Charged at cost if not specifically included in lump sum fee proposal.
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