Jakes wife died and after 28 months he decided to sell his home and buy one without 7 acres to mow.

The new house will be nicer, but needs 3 nicer rooms.

He made six visits to a construction company architect In one month.

His bill for the plans was $12,000.00

If they are chosen to do the renovations and an addition,
The
Cost of the plans will be deducted from the final bid.

Is that about right , these days ? For charges ?

The company is going to have a billing rate of x per hour. Around here it is around $100 to $200 per hour for residential plans.

Plus having the plans stamped is additional.

The average cost is around 6K for a 2000 to 3000 Sq ft house, but not knowing what you want or making a lot of changes can rack up the hours.

I thought it was too high of a price , initially,
But since one whole laundry room was an addition,from the footer up.

Seems pretty close.
Thanks.

I had a draftsman (not architect, but similar skills) work up a set of plans for a 2700 foot house plus detached garage for $5K in 2023. That included a pretty significant revision after getting initial pricing estimates as well.

This sounds like he got screwed, but he got screwed because he didn't ask the question up front.
Really, really screwed. For just the three rooms, not a whole house? Screwed.

"from the footer up?" That is meaningless to the plans. Cost of construction maybe, but not plans.

Six WHOLE visits? I bet we had 10-12, over a 8 month period. Screwedyscrewscrewed.

What he paid is a retainer/hook, he just didn't realize it going in.

Of course, as sig2392 said if he was just casting about aimlessly and burned (bleepbloopbop)70-100 hours then maybe. On three rooms that seems...... difficult.

Did he sign any sort of contract?

If so, then what does the contract say?

Is he adding 3 additional rooms to the house or is he remodeling 3 existing rooms in the house? Either way 12 grand seems a bit excessive just for the plans.

I.i.understand c.
He is adding a 16'x16'
Laundry room to his existing home, ( with basement)


Enlarging a kitchen by taking out a wall and slightly enlarging a master bath with total upgraded features.

.

I think he'd be silly NOT to just use the company that helped him with the plans.

They are very reputable in the general vicinity.
( Not the cheapest, but do better than average work and good after care)

I guess if you like getting Fed twice I would do it.
Seems like if he switched you run down the rabbit hole of the next guy saying the plans are shit.

I think you gotta man up and call the guy out and try to work through it.

He should have an agreement up front as to what the costs will be. The most likely quotes would be a flat fee, an hourly rate with no cap, or an hourly with a "not to exceed" limit.

If it's $150/hour (which is a reasonable rate), it's 2 weeks worth of time. If he visited 6 times that is probably at least 12 of the 80 hours right there so you're down to 68 hours to design and draw it. Seems like a lot but we don't really know the scope of the work. Are they picking out plumbing and light fixtures? Finishes? Did they do any schematic drawings or renderings? Is there custom millwork? Did they quote any time to oversee the construction process?

We just don't have enough information.

Will see him again at next months breakfast.



He's not hurting for funds.
I am not concerned that he's being cheated.

The aggrement they had up front was,
Yes , the architect could draw up plans.

If he decided to go forward using those plans he had the option of
A. Going with another construction company and paying for the plans or

B. Stay with this company and not paying for the plans.

C. Not building or renovating and paying for the plans.