Artichect - initital consultation fee

newbie2013

Hi,

We are looking to build an extension and are looking for architects so decided to contact a few to see who we could work with.
Some do not charge, yet some do.
I understand the fee is to cover travel costs and to make sure the client is serious, but we only live 2 miles away from their offices and we just wanted to speak to them to see if we get on etc. is it unreasonable to ask if they would forgo the fee, and we would happily pay it, should we decide to hire them.

The first consultation is to discuss how they work and their approach etc - no plans etc at this stage.

Is this unreasonable?

Furts

I would push for a FOC visit, and perhaps have this informally in an evening so that it does not impinge on their working hours. Hence they are not loosing valuable work time.

Anyone can charge for a consultation and I do not see why you should object to this concept. If architects are busy they do not need more leads, and also countless hours get wasted by consumers who expect FOC advice and have no intention of going ahead with an order. Basically the architects will think "time wasters".

Returning to the consultation fee and an analogy is a call out charge with an electrician, or a plumber, or anybody else. Do you question this and then post suggesting it is an unfair concept?

Best of luck with your negotiations.

newbie2013

Furts wrote: »

I would push for a FOC visit, and perhaps have this informally in an evening so that it does not impinge on their working hours. Hence they are not loosing valuable work time.

Anyone can charge for a consultation and I do not see why you should object to this concept. If architects are busy they do not need more leads, and also countless hours get wasted by consumers who expect FOC advice and have no intention of going ahead with an order. Basically the architects will think "time wasters".

Returning to the consultation fee and an analogy is a call out charge with an electrician, or a plumber, or anybody else. Do you question this and then post suggesting it is an unfair concept?

Best of luck with your negotiations.

Because I also work 8-6, an evening would be better for me - I do not wish for them to go out of hours for a FOC - that is why I wanted to meet during working hours, if anything it would cost me, as I have little leave time.

Agree - Anyone can charge for a consultation
I do not have an objection to this, I just wanted to gauge if this was now common practice.

Maybe they start to charge due to the timewasters you mentioned.
Like I say, I have little spare time, and if I have got to the stage of wanting to build an extension, why would I waste people's time?

An analogy of the fee is if you take your car to a garage - they look at it and provide a FOC quote on costs - this is the same approach I am thinking; I am willing to meet them

I do not think I am being unfair or unreasonable in asking if the charge should be applied.
I just wanted to know if this is now the way that all architects are going

System

yeah, asking for a meeting outside of office hours and asking to drop their standard consultation fee is going to sound like a great option for them!!
most people try not to work outside of their office hours, especially not for free!

some offices just have a fee for initial consultation, some will absorb that into their fee if they get the job, some don't charge for it at all - if you want these people to do it then pay their fee, if you don't value them that much look for another company to do it - asking to forego their fee and their personal time isn't going to work out that well.

kkgree1

We've recently had two architects visit to quote for our extension.

Both were happy to visit out of hours (6.15 and 6.30pm) and neither charged for their initial consultation.

We should have got a third quote but found we "clicked" with the second architect as he specialises in residential extensions and had some great ideas on what we could do with our ground floor extension.

His fee was slightly more but hopefully it will be worth it!

newbie2013

the_r_sole wrote: »

yeah, asking for a meeting outside of office hours and asking to drop their standard consultation fee is going to sound like a great option for them!!
most people try not to work outside of their office hours, especially not for free!

some offices just have a fee for initial consultation, some will absorb that into their fee if they get the job, some don't charge for it at all - if you want these people to do it then pay their fee, if you don't value them that much look for another company to do it - asking to forego their fee and their personal time isn't going to work out that well.

kkgree1 has the experience of FOC quotes outside of hrs so I know it is not an uncommon thing.

As I said, it is like a plumber coming round to provide a FOC quote for the work - if they don't want the work then they can decline it.
I just wanted to know if this is a common approach.
I would be happy to meet them within working hours, but as you can appreciate, I don't want to be messed about either, with getting time off work being quite difficult as it is.

I have identified 3 architects now, 2 FOC, 1 did not think that travelling 2 miles down the road is enough of a distance to charge a fee.

newbie2013

kkgree1 wrote: »

We've recently had two architects visit to quote for our extension.

Both were happy to visit out of hours (6.15 and 6.30pm) and neither charged for their initial consultation.

We should have got a third quote but found we "clicked" with the second architect as he specialises in residential extensions and had some great ideas on what we could do with our ground floor extension.

His fee was slightly more but hopefully it will be worth it!

exactly - if you feel you click with the person, they will be easier to discuss things with.

Clive_Woody

newbie2013 wrote: »

Hi,

We are looking to build an extension and are looking for architects so decided to contact a few to see who we could work with.
Some do not charge, yet some do.
I understand the fee is to cover travel costs and to make sure the client is serious, but we only live 2 miles away from their offices and we just wanted to speak to them to see if we get on etc. is it unreasonable to ask if they would forgo the fee, and we would happily pay it, should we decide to hire them.

The first consultation is to discuss how they work and their approach etc - no plans etc at this stage.

Is this unreasonable?

If you only live 2 miles from their office and you only want to discuss how they work then could you go to their office for an informal chat?

newbie2013

Clive_Woody wrote: »

If you only live 2 miles from their office and you only want to discuss how they work then could you go to their office for an informal chat?

Hi Clive, I have already covered this above - I called to arrange a visit but they said their architects are rarely in the office - they are out at client sites all day.
I might just give this one a miss, but it does seem like a lot of architects now go down the consultation fee route

System

newbie2013 wrote: »

kkgree1 has the experience of FOC quotes outside of hrs so I know it is not an uncommon thing.

As I said, it is like a plumber coming round to provide a FOC quote for the work - if they don't want the work then they can decline it.
I just wanted to know if this is a common approach.
I would be happy to meet them within working hours, but as you can appreciate, I don't want to be messed about either, with getting time off work being quite difficult as it is.

I have identified 3 architects now, 2 FOC, 1 did not think that travelling 2 miles down the road is enough of a distance to charge a fee.

plenty do free consultations, the one you want to use don't - they are not going to wave their fee to attend a consultation at an undesirable time.

Some will charge expenses, and some build it into their price - the likelihood is that the company 2 miles away are very busy and don't want to resource hours competing for new work (which doesn't sound that desirable or interesting) especially if you are querying fees at the outset.

If was you I would look elsewhere, find either a semi-retired architect, or a good local technician who can draw what you tell them for a small price

Annie1960

Mine did an initial visit free and said I was free to ask any questions and he did not start charging until he came to measure up and begin drawing the plans.