It depends.
Some clients want everything included: preliminary design, bid set, construction documents, specifications and field observation.
For a 4890 s.f. Ranch plus full basement, my boss charged about $78,000. We helped with the selection of fixtures, and materials. We specified everything (my boss, really. I just helped selecting the fun stuff, lucky me, I did not have to be worried about prices). I think the builder does not have to guess or call for anything (still, once in a while he does and I send him back to the plans)
As my boss says, someone have to pay for the time of the contractors when they loose time trying to figure out things so it is better to have everything clear before construction starts.
We visit the site for field reports once a week (sometimes my boss, sometimes I do) then I write a report and email it to the owners and to the GC. I also take pictures of the progress.
The client told us exactly what they like in the begining (contemporary / prairie style / clean looking design - they are in the prairies of illinois) and we started their design from scratch considering the specific shape of the lot. The house is fully accessible since the owner eventually might need to use a wheel chair.

It's a percentage of construction cost, not final value. In my area, it runs from 13 to 20 percent, which DOES NOT include any construction supervision or site visits.

Typically, they talk with you about the house size and what sort of finishes you like, come up with a rough cost per foot, figure their fees from that, subject to revision.

Frankly, I think it's a little unfair-- you'll get no credit for any 'sweat equity' you provide, but the architect will benefit from every little upgrade. I really wanted a particular floor in the greatroom, for instance, but saved about $10k by 'downgrading'. Wouldn't have been any added work for the architect had I gone for the good one, but he still would have received an extra $1,300/$2,000.

Visits to the site are not inclued in the arranged price. I think it depends on how many hours per visit and they pay accordingly but I do not know how much an hour. Some clients are very busy and they do not have the time to take care of some situations.

Percentages vary. Down to 8%-9% in some areas.

If your question is about the cost of architectural plans, it's a whole different story.

I've never paid more than $4K for plans from an architectural technologist moonlighting from a major firm, essentially turning one or more model home floor plans that I regularly harvest from new home sales pavillions into working plans. We meet once, then I pick up the finished plans stamped by a structural engineer and the rest is up to me. The last plans from a technologist I built from cost the client about $8K. They had lots of meetings and changes.

Typically it's a percent as noted above.

Our architect did something that we thought was fair: He had his percent, then did preliminary plans, and then did an estimate of what it would cost. He based his percent on that. And it was a figure we were comfortable with.

Turns out it cost more because contractor prices had increased. We made the painful decision to increase the project expense, but at least the architect didn't benefit from having blown our budget. Also meant that when we picked out nicer granite (or whatever) it didn't increase the fees.

Long story short, if you do a percentage, ask to lock in the total price for the fees before you start adding in nicer fixtures and stuff.

I just went through this process and interviewed four architects. The first wanted $500 to do a site visit and "rough sketch", deducted from his fees if we used him which he said usually ran 15-20K but I never got the details of what that included. Another was for $17K without construction oversight, $23.7K with construction oversight. Another was $35K which included working with the contractor but not overseeing construction, I believe. Finally, the one we chose was $28K including assistance with contractor bidding and selection, construction oversight and assuming 40 hours of design services (price goes up with more than 40 hrs). This also included the services of a professional cost estimator at 2 points during the design process. We chose this firm because I felt they we capable of the most cutting edge "Dwell-esque" design, plus had a working appreciation of the concepts of the book "A Pattern Language". Context: this is for a house projected to be 2500 sq ft and modestly budgeted at $400-450 k (inclusive of architect fees and swimming pool). We haven't actually signed the contract or started working with them yet.

Ours is a 3000 sq ft ranch with 2000 sq ft in the basement. Our architect did not do a percentage, but instead it depended on what you wanted help with. For us, he did all the drawings, construction drawings, helped with design of materials and some interior woodwork finishings. He charged us around $7500 and based it on the per hour charge. He has an assistant that did alot of the basic work and it was less of a per hour charge and the actual architect had more of a per hour charge. I thought it was very reasonable considering the amount of hours he put in.

Our guy is doing $1.80 per square foot "under roof"

We hired an architect after seeing & loving homes he had done and, because he said he would do everything, for $100K for a 5,000. It was $20 something per ft over that. We are in an expensive area in SoCal, but his costs were still high in comparison to lesser names. Unfortunately, he did not do everything, and with all the changes & site visits req'd & CAD's, copying, postage, delivery, etc., our costs ran over $150K. I honestly can't give you advice on how to do it better, but beware of the add-ons and I think it's well worth the $$ to have an experienced Interior Designer look over the plans before you even think about starting to build.

Wish I'd known I hated soffits before framing was finished!! Wish I'd known a lot of things... never again.

I am really surprised how many architects bill on a percentage of the build basis versus hourly; I thought it would be far more common to bill on an hourly basis.

We, too, used the services of a locally well known architectural technologist (we live in a small town). We took in sketches of what we wanted, and he turned those into a floor plan complete with structural engineer's stamp. His fee was $1 per square foot, and for our 2611 sq ft plan he charged us $2600.

What is an architectural technologist? Be sure you are comparing fees of designers with the same level of training, education, and expedrience.

Any person who uses the term "architectural" (or any term derived from the professional title "architect") to describe themselves, their services, or their company should be licensed to practice architecture in your state. Many states consider the unauthorized use of such terms to be consumer fraud.

Of course few communities require an architect to design a single family dwelling so the legal issue is irrelevant but you should be cautious about anyone who knowingly misrepresents their professional capacity.

I have always billed my fee by the hour because I cannot know how much time will be needed to design a custom home and a % of construction is a poor guide. I also provide a budget range to help everyone to know if the fee is getting out of hand. When it does the explanation is usually obvious and easily remedied (time to make up your mind).

Fees from sole practitioners are usually much less than those of architectural firms because of the difference in overhead.

"What is an architectural technologist?"

Google revealed this definition:

Here is a link that might be useful: Wikipedia

The Wikipedia definition shows "architectural technologist" to be a British/Canadian career and job description. Use of such a description in dealing with the public in the US would be improper or illegal unless the person was working for an architectural firm. Such professional practice laws are enforced differently in different states so it is not uncommon to see them misused.

Wow, it sounds like an architect can be VERY expensive. I was thinking somewhere around $40 - $50k for a $1MM dollar construction budget and was hoping to get help in interior finish selection in that price.

Am I dreaming? The architect is well known locally and maybe nationally.

I'm in Ontario and it's clear what an architectural technologist is, as use of the term is governed by a government mandated association.

In fact, as in any profession, their skills vary wildly. That's why I always have an independent structural engineer look and stamp all plans. I didn't bother at first, till luck alone prevented a collapse when we spotted that the technologist had designed--and the carpenters had framed and the city passed--half a second floor with one supporting post.

The variation in fees has a lot to do with the services provided and the time spent. The notion of spending $150,000 for the architect on a $1 million construction budget floors me!

Architect fee calculation is rarely as simple as they are presented here. Since no two projects are the same most architects have a more complicated process for setting the fee. Even when an architect uses a % of construction cost as the basis for calculating the fee, the % used should decrease as the cost of the project increases and also increase as the design complexity or special services increase. This is verified by the annual AIA architect fee surveys. Also, many architects use the % fee as a limit and bill by the hour up to it expecting not to reach it.

Fees from sole practitioners are sometimes half that of firms.