Calgary Architectural Drafting And Design Pricing

• Our Calgary Architectural design pricing can be based on a number of factors.  We can either quote you a fixed architectural design price after completing our complementary “Preliminary-design” planning process, which we offer to our clients that are within our contracting and working area vicinity in and around Calgary (see list of areas in our working vicinity), or we can work on an hourly rate as set out below, or work with a general idea of square foot design rates as also set out below:

• Our preliminary planning process is completely complementary to clients that fit within our working area in and around Calgary (we generally do architectural design and contracting within a 50 Kilometer radius of Calgary) and if you plan to build within our “working area” you would receive from us our complementary consulting service at no charge, which would include a basic to scale floor plan design along with very basic elevations of your proposed project (note this design work is very basic but does give you a very good full color 3-D idea of overall but rough design concept).  This first stage preliminary design  work is based on our first consultation visit with you and your completed “wish list” form.  If after this preliminary plan presentation you feel comfortable with Landen’s design process we can then move on to a formalized contractual design working relationship.  At this point we fully outline all of our design cost based on the preliminary planning done up to that stage.  If however you do not wish to move forward after the preliminary stage you can walk away and owe us nothing!  We do however retain ownership to the preliminary design work done to that stage (see also ownership of plans).

• After the initial no charge consultation, we can mutually agree on and set-up a fixed overall architectural design quoted price, or we can “pre-set” the home design cost based on Sq. Ft. Pricing of your planned target home size (see below), or we can base things on an Hourly Design Rate, each of which can have their advantages or disadvantages that we fully layout in our initial design consultation (see also our XL format home-design calculator).

• Our Fixed Price Architectural Design Rate is based on a number of factors, that we can only determine after our first complementary design process as each and every client has different ideas and design needs, however most plans tend to be done within a budget range of between $5,000 to $8,000, however, if working on a fixed design price structure we do this design work with the understanding, that we include three major revisions, and any revisions after that are then done on an hourly rate.

• Our Hourly Architectural Design Rate is $65 per hour, all hourly work is tracked by our CAD system’s internal clock and is tracked based on “actual design time” meaning that the only time billed is if our designer is actually working on your plans with all design working time “clocked” in five minute intervals, meaning if your designer takes a coffee break then you’re not paying for that time. We provide you with a fully printed very detailed time report for all by-the hour design time.

• Our Standard Square Foot Architectural Design Rate is similar to our fixed quoted rate and can only be fully nailed down after the initial complementary design consultation with our client.  After this first no charge phase, we can then determine the complexity of the proposed design. However, most of our custom home designs tend to range between $1.70 – $3.00 per sq. ft. for the main level of a custom home design.  Basement development areas generally work out to about $0.60 – $0.75 per sq. ft.  The Garage area for an attached standard 2-car garage is included in our base main floor sq. ft. rate, however if building a home with more than a 2-car garage requirement, we then base a rate for the “extra garage area” at $0.25 a sq. ft. for the “area difference”.  This is also the same sq. ft. rate used for out-buildings such as shops or detected garages.  For developed space over detached buildings such as a “bunk-house” nanny suite or guest-house, we generally  invoice that out at our normal house design rate of $1.70 – $3.00 per sq. ft., depending on the complexity of the structure. (See also our standard Architectural Design Agreement and  types of building contracts, “fixed price”, “cost-plus” or “fixed price project management” also available as a PDF download.)

Refund / Credit of Design fees

• • At Landen we also offer a full design credit for clients that end-up building with us, meaning that any of our “design clients’ that decide to work with us in either a “project management” formula with a “fix management fee” or wish to work with us under a “fix contract price formula” – we then credit back our full Architectural design fees back to our client.
• • If for any reason you are not happy with our Calgary architectural design process up until we have completed the “preliminary plans” (this does not include full structural plans) we will give you a full refund of any preliminary planning fees, however you should note that the preliminary plans to this point are the property of Landen Design and cannot be used by another designer to finish them off.