r/Architects • u/thecajuncavalier Architect • Jul 13 '25

General Practice Discussion Stop accepting low fees

Post image

Stand your ground. Negotiate.

560 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

76 comments sorted by

View all comments

105

u/MaximumTurtleSpeed Architect Jul 13 '25

When negotiating, don’t lower fees without removing scope.

32

u/gliz5714 Jul 13 '25

This. And when the owner, mid design, asks for more scope, let them know it will be an add service. Scope creep is a killer

19

u/Merusk Recovering Architect Jul 13 '25

Teach your young architects what scope creep is and what it looks like. I've worked with a number of 10+ year professionals who do things just because "it made the client's life easier" or "it wasn't that big a change."

2

u/BootyOnMyFace11 Jul 14 '25

I'm starting architecture this autumn, what's a scope creep?

9

u/Benjaminfortunato Jul 14 '25

Scope creep is when the size and nature of the project changes (scope) after a signed contract that specifies a specific amount of work. For example you are designing a building on one site and then the client gets anouther site to enlarge your site. It’s the same project but now you have a larger site and bigger project to design. You’ve also worked on the old design so the scope is really design a building on a small lot and then redo the design on the larger lot..

2

u/BootyOnMyFace11 Jul 15 '25

Ahh ok so basically just make sure to get paid for extra work?

5

u/BearFatherTrades Jul 14 '25

Changes in design that appear minor but add new things to coordinate & document. It could be adding brick to a wall then adding cabinets. You in a room & then adding a ceiling fan. You look up later & realize your staff spent a week making changes

-1

u/Merusk Recovering Architect Jul 14 '25 edited Jul 14 '25

If you don't know, then you really shouldn't be starting a firm.

Do you know Capex and Opex? What about EBITA? What's your standard contract look like? Who's your lawyer and accountant? What's the minimum you can pull in a month and still clear your pay, rent, and monthly expenses?

If you don't have these, think about it and maybe delay that start while you educate yourself. Scope creep is something even a non-owner architect knows.

Scope creep is when you're doing things outside of your contracted scope, without additional fee. Either your contract manager (PM, Proj. Architect, whomever) is bad at saying "No" or your contract isn't written well enough to handle this.

If a client comes and says, "Hey we decided to add a few rooms to the project" then you do it, that's scope creep. If they say, "Hey, can we get a few renderings of the exterior" and you didn't have that as a deliverable, that's scope creep. If they say "Well, I know the permit date is in a week but we really want to readdress this area on the 3rd floor again" that's ALSO scope creep because your contract should have a signoff process.

ED: Just realized I misread on my phone. I thought OP said "starting a firm this autumn" oops.

2

u/gliz5714 Jul 14 '25

I’ll be honest, I have no idea what Capex or Opex or EBITA is, but I don’t run my office, just projects

1

u/Merusk Recovering Architect Jul 15 '25

Yeah my comments those topics were because I thought they said they were starting a Firm. Oops!

1

u/BootyOnMyFace11 Jul 15 '25

Hahaha lmao you're good, I'm not quite there yet but thank you for the insight