Our design fee
what you pay us to design the project and prepare the drawings. This is the only figure we set.
How fees work.
We'd rather explain how design fees are worked out than quote you a number that can't mean anything yet.
Why there's no price list here.
Design fees depend on what your project actually involves — the scope you agree, the requirements, the stages you need. A figure given before any of that is known would be a guess dressed up as a price, and it wouldn't help you decide anything.
So instead of a "from $X" that we'd have to walk back later, we've set out how fees are worked out, so you can see the logic and judge it for yourself.
What a fee is based on.
The fee reflects the work involved and the agreed scope, not a rate per square metre.
Fees depend on the agreed scope, project requirements and required stages. Before any work starts, a written proposal sets out the included work, the deliverables and the commercial terms — so what you're paying for is on paper, not left to assumption.
- Work involved and agreed scope
- Project requirements
- Required stages
- Written proposal
Fees are staged, like the design.
Fees usually follow the design stages — brief, concept, developed design, documentation — rather than landing as one lump sum at the start. That means you can decide whether to continue at the end of each stage, with a clearer picture than you had before it. The stages themselves are set out in full on the process page.
- Define the brief
- Understand the constraints
- Explore the concept
- Develop the design
- Prepare the documentation
- Agree the next step
What moves a fee up or down.
We put these on the table early. That's not a promise there'll be no surprises in your build — it's a promise we won't hide the ones we can foresee.
- How complex the project is, and how far you want the design taken.
- The condition of the site or, for a renovation, the existing building — including things that can't be confirmed until they're investigated.
- The specialist or consultant input the project needs.
- How many revisions and which stages are in scope.
- Any support you need with approvals.
Design fees are not your build cost.
Three different numbers people often mix up — here's how they sit apart.
A construction quote
what a builder will charge to build it. That comes from a builder you engage, not from us.
Construction cost
what the build actually costs once it's done, which depends on the market, procurement, site conditions and choices made along the way.
We can't quote or guarantee the build cost — that isn't ours to promise. What we can do is design with those costs in mind, so the numbers your builder or quantity surveyor gives you are more likely to hold up.
Still weighing it up?
Read the practical questions people often ask, or see why we make our process and working boundaries visible.
Tell us about the project and we'll propose a scope.
Share what you're planning and where you're up to. We'll come back with a proposal that sets out the work, the stages and the fee for them.