What does an architect charge in Delhi?

It is the first question most families ask us, and a fair one. The short answer: in Delhi an architect is usually paid as a percentage of what the project costs to build, and the Council of Architecture – the statutory body that registers architects in India – publishes the scale that the profession works from. The longer answer is below, because what you pay depends on what you ask for, and the cheapest fee is not always the best value.

The three ways architects charge

A percentage of the cost of works. This is the method the Council of Architecture (COA) sets out in its Conditions of Engagement and Scale of Charges. For comprehensive architectural services on an individual house, the COA scale is 7.5 per cent of the cost of works; for a single housing block or a site up to half a hectare it is 5 per cent, and for larger sites the percentage steps down as the project grows. Non-housing buildings – offices, hotels, hospitals, showrooms – are at 5 per cent. Interior architecture and landscape architecture are each at 7.5 per cent of the cost of the works assigned. Those figures are the Council's published scale; what a particular studio charges is agreed between architect and client, and is often lower for larger projects.

A rate per square foot. Many Delhi practices quote a fixed rate on the built-up area instead. It is simpler to budget, and it works well for builder floors and apartments where the area is known on day one. The thing to check is what the rate covers – concept only, or working drawings, interiors and site visits as well.

A lump sum. For a defined scope – a façade, a set of approval drawings, a single room – a fixed fee is the cleanest arrangement. It needs a clear brief, because anything added later is a change.

What the fee actually buys

"Comprehensive services" in the COA's language means the whole journey: taking the brief, the concept and its revisions, the drawings for sanction from the authorities, detailed working drawings that a contractor can price and build from, help with appointing contractors, and periodic site visits through construction to see that what is built matches what was drawn. Documentation and bill verification are listed separately in the scale.

At Genre of Design the design fee is usually split into stages that follow that journey, so you pay as the work is delivered: on appointment, when the concept is approved, when the drawings go for approval, when working drawings are issued and during construction. Interiors, if we do them, are a separate scope with its own fee.

Why fees differ between architects

Three things move the number more than anything else. The first is how much is drawn. A set of twenty drawings and a set of two hundred both produce a house, but only one of them lets a contractor price accurately, and the difference usually shows up as variations and delays on site. The second is who comes to site, and how often – our own site engineers visit the homes we design in Delhi, Jodhpur and Udaipur, and the principal architect reviews each stage. The third is the scope: structure, services, interiors, landscape and approvals can each be inside or outside the fee, and a quote that looks low may simply leave them out.

Questions worth asking before you sign

Ask what the fee includes and excludes, in writing. Ask how many site visits are part of it, and who makes them. Ask whether structural and services consultants are inside the fee or appointed separately. Ask what happens if the brief changes. And ask to see a full drawing set from a completed project – it tells you more about what you are buying than any number does.

Talk to us

We have designed homes, builder floors, hotels and offices from our studio in Sarvodya Enclave since 2009, and we are happy to explain how we would scope and price a specific project – a conversation costs nothing. Call +91 95996 95099, or see what we do for houses in Delhi, builder floors and farmhouses.

Source for the percentages: Council of Architecture, Conditions of Engagement and Scale of Charges, coa.gov.in.