Re: ARCHITECTURE & FEES

    There can really be no way to set a fix fee. The cost and variables
of the project are so different. For example it cost you half as much
to build here in Oklahoma then it does in San Francisco. And the cost
of living is less here, therefor firms can get away with paying their
employees less. So do you fix from state to state? So what would happen
 if the bid for a job came from out of state. Do charge the fee from
the state inwhich the project is being built or where it was
designed? What would happen if a San Francisco company did a job here
in Okla.? If the fee was set by the state the project was built in
then the firm would take a big lose. If the fee was set at the state
where it was design the architects fee would be so much of the total
cost it wouldn't be worth doing the project.
  If the fee was set on the amount of computers and/or people then
what would happen if the to the people that are effiecent at
computers and can do the same amount as work in half the time. If you
do it by time, then the faster guy would be punished for being
better. If done by the amount of people, what happens to the big
offices?
   If you did it by how much the client could afford then an
architect would cheated out of a lot of money. What happens if an
architects spend 200 hrs on a project but the client can only afford
100 hrs. Then does the architect not do his best work?
   The next problem I see with a set fee is the architect ego. Can
you see an I.M. Pei doing a project for the same price of a architect
fresh out of school? I don't.



Drew Deering
ddeering@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

P.S. Take a look at University of Oklahoma's College of Architecture
web site (www.uoknor.edu/architecture)