Like many professionals, architects charge hourly for the services they provide. I bill this way also. It is a fair way of billing since people pay for the time spend working for them and don’t pay for a guess I made on how long I thought it might take before I even started the project... even though I’ve become a pretty good guesser from doing this so long.
There is no loser… both parties win since they both get exactly what needed to be done.
This makes some people uncomfortable sometimes because they assume it means they are giving the professional an open checkbook, and they assume the professional will be dishonest and bill for too many hours. In reality, this is not possible since I give my clients an estimate of what I expect something to take. I also give them a commentary on each step of the work as the project moves along, so they are apprised of the work I am about to do before I do it. I am also so busy that I don’t have time to do unnecessary work on any projects and over-bill them. I work for about 100 clients a year, and for the 15 years I’ve been in business, I can only think of about 4 or 5 people that have ever been unhappy with my billing. In those situations, it was apparent that I was working with dishonest, unethical clients since I use the same process and protocols with every client. These people were of poor character to put it politely.
All that said, the hourly billing protects both the client and the professional. In bidding situations, the bidder will obviously over-estimate to protect themselves, and this means the client will inevitably be the loser. I do not think this is fair.
Most days, I work from 6am to 6pm and also many nights and weekends although I only bill about 2 to 4 hours per day. I wish my clients could see how much work I put into their projects that they end up not paying for. Why do I do it, and what am I actually doing the rest of the time? My wife has asked me, “what are you doing all day if you only bill for a couple hours?”… and here’s what I have said:
“Well, she told us to put the project on hold because she lost her job, but builders are still calling me with questions to provide their bids… so I want to keep the project moving for her to get it ready for when she is employed and ready again.”
“The building department is being so unreasonable and acting out of line, and I feel bad charging someone for the extra time I’m spending to deal with the stupidity of these $#@%ing bureaucrats.”
“This builder $#&@ed up and ordered the wrong material, so I am trying to figure out a way to make the wrong material still work, so my client can still get what they want, so it doesn’t mess up the schedule, and so the builder won’t have to buy new materials. I’m trying to make it a win-win-win for everyone.”
“My client told me they don’t want this, but I know they actually do want this… so I just need to do it and show them why it’s the best solution because it’s the right thing to do, and they don’t know better, yet. But they will.”
“The building department changed the code, so I’m reading it to see if it impacts any of my projects.”
“The building department is supposed to call later about a particular issue, so I’m reading the code to memorize the parts they will likely discuss to be ready to rebuke everything they say. I already know the stuff, but I want to spit it out verbatim better than they can.”
These are things that I guess he could bill for, but in some instances it is work that will not directly be used for a specific project. In all instances, it just makes him a better architect. I’ve seen clients argue over an hour of work he billed here and there, and I wish they could see the dozens or even hundreds of hours he spent that they didn’t pay for.
If you’d like to learn more about our design process, visit www.josharch.com/process, and if you’d like to get us started on your project with a feasibility report, please visit www.josharch.com/help