What is a Hybrid Service Fee?

Old Alt New’s hybrid service fee combines the best parts of a single fixed-price fee and the flexibility of a “charge-by-the-hour” service fee. It gives owners a set price for the things within the architect’s control and gives pre-determined hourly rates for things that are beyond the architect’s control.

A hybrid service fee is NOT a fixed-price service fee.

Fixed-price fees are either: (1) set high enough that it can guarantee a profit no matter how long the project takes or what decisions are made along the way, resulting in an expensive and over-inflated fee - or - (2) they are set so low that the designer starts loosing money with each “unexpected” decision or realization ultimately resulting in poor service and a poor designer.

A hybrid service fee is NOT an hourly service contract.

Billing by the hour makes sense for small scopes of work, but for entire projects, billing by the hour creates a huge unknown for the owner at the start of a contract. Every project is unique Should slow designer service be rewarded with more hours billed?

Fixed Base Fee

Extra Hourly Services (Only as Required)

Hybrid Service Fee

All the architectural service necessities delivered at a fixed price.

Additional services, paid for by the hour, and only included as you see fit or if made necessary by unknown project variables.

A design service fee that delivers everything you need but also has the ability to grow and adapt to give you even more if you want or if the project demands.

What is included in the Fixed Base Fee?

The Fixed Base Fee is a set price for all the required services and deliverables provided by Old Alt New.

Design studies, material selections, zoning and regulatory drawings, construction details, renderings and visualizations, building code compliance…this is the architect’s domain and the part of the project that the architect can control. Old Alt New will establish a schedule and list of deliverables that provide the owner with the architectural documentation they need to complete their project.

The Fixed Base Fee is not based on the Owner’s construction budget or the square footage of the project - it is based on the time it will take the Architect to question, design, coordinate, and document the services promised. Old Alt New is not incentivized to inflate the cost or size of your project - instead, Old Alt New is incentivized to deliver a design that meets and exceeds your expectations on schedule.

Further details of what is provided can be found in each project’s Architectural Services Contract.

+

What items are considered Extra Hourly Services?

Every design project includes unknowns and variables, especially at the beginning. For the items beyond an architect’s control (owner’s decision making, changes to a project’s budget, unanticipated schedule changes, etc.), Old Alt New works on bill-by-the-hour basis. This incentivizes owners to make decisions once and in a timely manner, but it also gives owners the ability to explore, deliberate, and explore their options through an hourly fee agreement.

  • That’s OK, and it happens all the time - it just might cost Old Alt New a bit of unaccounted for time and money to revise the design to meet your new request.

  • Wonderful! Old Alt New loves exploring the directions you want to see. Additional studies and considerations can be conducted to your heart’s content and billed on an hourly basis.

  • Given today’s construction environment, Old Alt New does its best to temper financial expectations and provide realistic cost assessments throughout the project - but setting construction costs are beyond the architect’s control. Old Alt New will work with owners, on an hourly basis, to adjust the project’s design and/or re-design the project to meet a specified project construction budget.

=

Why something different?

After 10+ years of serving clients at other architecture offices, Stewart Gohringer has seen several different methods of establishing architectural service fees…and he has seen the hardships, frustrations, disappointed clients, and sub-standard service that can result from each method.

No method is perfect, but Old Alt New’s Hybrid Service Fee method is Stewart’s best attempt to date at something that makes sense and is fair for both owner and architect.