Come together

Residential Architect, March, 2005 by Sonya Sotinsky, Rich Pierce, Kevin B. Oldland, Anthony Addesso, Jeffrey Igoe, Lloyd Rosen, Joseph R. Gluse

So the AIA can't regulate fees ("The Charge Brigade," August 2004, page 13). True. But the real estate agents' organizations can't regulate theirs either. Yet somehow they have all managed to get on the same page and create a baseline industry standard of 6 percent. It's infuriating.

As architects, we need to get together and self-regulate, create a basic bottom line so we are not completely undercutting each other. OK, the builders with tree plans and the "designers"--we can't control them. But we aren't, in troth, in competition with them. They aren't delivering the same product as we are. We could support each other as professionals by creating a general "suggested" guideline. Maybe it needs to be done outside of the AIA.

With so many forces working against the residential architect, can we not come together on this?

Sonya Sotinsky

FORSarchitecture Interiors

Tucson, Ariz.

The disconnect about architects' fees isn't really that hard to understand. People who buy an "average" home in a small town in the Midwest are entirely different from people commissioning an "architect" home in one of our coastal cities. A top-notch design architect spends hundreds of hours creating a custom home, and that work, if done well, makes all the difference in the final valuation of the property. Highly compensated professionals generally earn their pay. Otherwise they wouldn't last that long.

Rich Pierce

Middleburg, Va.

Architects offer a service that has a value to it. And if the "buyer" does not see the value in our services, fee is a moot issue.

The consensus seems to be that plan books are the enemy of the architect and designer, especially as related to fee. But if the custom-home buyer is satisfied by this choice, how do we turn the tables? We must stop quibbling over whether one is a member of the AIA or AIBD or licensed or not and instead pool our ideas into communicating the true value of our services.

Our firm has discovered that where we have success in the residential market is where our clients have a great appreciation for the services we provide. And when that value is a priority for our clients, fees are easily negotiated and our profit margins are solid. We know we cannot be all things to all possible clients, but we have focused on two segments in residential design where the value of services is greatly desired: remodeling and coastal resort housing.

Architects are good problem-solvers. Home additions or major remodeling projects are generated by a problem: the need for more space, some functional disorder, disrepair, etc. And most people want the addition or remodel to become a transformation of the existing home. They want an "expert" and therefore are seeking an architect, and they are usually willing to pay because they value the services rendered.

As for our coastal resort housing market, these are usually baby boomers who are becoming empty-nesters and are in search of the ultimate buy. The kids are either off to college or on their own. Our clients want this home, which will be their final home, to be perfect. When the value is realized by our clients, only then will we command the marketplace and achieve the fees everyone desires.

Kevin B. Oldland, AIA, CSI

AWB Engineers

Salisbury, Md.

How I wish I could put everything into every design I do. Many clients don't want or need that level of creativity. With resale in mind, they don't want something so unique it won't sell, and they don't want a home that would be on the cover of a design awards program. Most people don't want the full services that we provide. I could go on.

I have found that only one in 50 projects requires that kind of effort--and that kind of fee. My designs are well received by my clients and their neighbors, which is what most clients are striving for. And I know I have given the world a better alternative than it would have had without my input.

Simply put, it's like trying to be Leonardo da Vinci in an Andy Warhol world.

Anthony Addesso, AIA

Addesso Architecture-Design-Consulting

Midland Park, N.J.

Your story is a two-part problem. On the one hand yours is the too often typical client who wants the Cadillac for the price of a Chevy. On the other hand, he is a rare client who wants Modern design but lacks sufficient respect for a professional architect to pay a professional fee for custom design. It's another example of the architect's dwindling image from sculptor of home design to a drafting service that can get plans through the building department.

Because there are relatively few modern design houses built, there is no "plan book" to choose from. Most Modern houses are highly customized to a particular client and/or site. I would try to educate this client about the uniqueness of the product he seeks and the nonstandard value the product will be worth.

I think his only viable way to get "inexpensive Modern design" is to find an architect willing to sell a previously built design for a repeat fee, alas, just as the large home builders do.

Jeffrey Igoe, AIA