Posts: 34
Threads: 14
Joined: Dec 2007
Does anybody know how a draftsman might charge out his work.
My draftsman hit me with a bit of a larger price than I expected. He explained it away by saying he must have been drinking when he gave me that quote.
My home is a two story with a cupola on top with decks surrounding it. I thought he was only going to charge me for 1720 square feet @.75 cents a square foot, but he came up with these calculations:
Bottom floor including slab: 24 x 28 = 672
Main floor 40 x 43 = 1,720
Cupola 12 x 12 = 144
Total square footage 2,536
.75
$1,902
After thinking about it all night, I can see where he might want to charge his work this way, but I am miffed with his explination and lack of fordwardness.
Does anybody have any comments.
FNG
Posts: 4,533
Threads: 241
Joined: Jan 2006
When the draftspeople I use charge -
They base it on the total SF as listed on the prints that are submiited to the building dept - living space + accessory space (decks with roof, carports, garages) - basically anything that has a footing, wall & roof structure. Covered decks are pretty much the same as a room - you still have floor/wall (well structure to hold roof) and roof structure. You still have to have detail drawings and elevations.
Cant speak for the original explanation but 75 cents is about the best price there is right now. Custom homes seem to be $1.00 - $3.00 (kona side)/sf. And then of course everyone who says "oh but I have a kit house design with only a FEW changes"... changes the most amount of items.
A cupola has some real structure issues so that you don't end up with structural posts right in the middle of a living space. And you have a deck around it so is that cupola going to be more "loft-like" and usuable SF? You also need a stairway to it that again doesnt intersect the middle of usuable living space.
The better draftspeople have experience, and education usually that is a benefit. The HCC drafting mill kids dont always have that. So if you have a good older, experienced draftsperson, be glad it is 75 cents only.
Catherine Dumond
Blue Water Project Management
808 965-9261
"We help make building your dream home a reality"
Posts: 2,314
Threads: 59
Joined: Jun 2003
I was wondering how much the architects charge to stamp those plans?
Aloha,
John S. Rabi ABR,CM,CRB,FHS,PB,RB
808.989.1314
http://www.JohnRabi.com
Typically Tropical Properties
"The Next Level of Service!"
Posts: 1,727
Threads: 29
Joined: Feb 2006
The charges are different depending on the draftsperson and the architect/engineer and the job at hand. I generally charge a flat fee of $350 per page for drafting since it is a lot easier to count pages than square footage. A set of drawings for a house like being described would run three to five pages, most likely four. That is for a preliminary floor plan with an elevation or two so the homeowner can see the project. Then they can make all the changes they want to the preliminary. After that the changes will be charged out separately although so far I haven't had to do that real often. Then the final drawings are made and the homeowner or contractor gets three sets of blueprints to get stamped and taken to the Building Department. If the Building Department has comments, those get addressed as part of the $350 per page fee.
The homeowner gets to do the run around to the Building Department and the various engineers and things unless they want to pay more for that. Since we are so far out from town, I prefer not to run the paperwork unless the client is off island. When I used to have my drafting office downtown Honolulu, it wasn't a problem to run plans through the Building Department but now getting to town takes about an hour so I prefer not to do that anymore.
When I started in '81 my fees were $300 a page so I guess it has gone up a bit since then, but not by too much. It doesn't matter where the design process starts, either from vague hand waving while overlooking the project site "a picture window overlooking the horse pasture here and a stairway coming up on this side" sort of description to someone who has a pretty decisive idea of what they want, I'll draw it up. Mostly I make sure it meets code at an affordable price since generally most of my clients aren't overly wealthy. And it doesn't matter if it is commercial or residential it is all pretty much the same. With a per page rate, the commercial jobs take more pages so they automatically get charged more on a per square foot basis so it all works out.
For architect's stamps on a residential project, they generally run between $350 and $1,800 depending on the size of the job, who the draftsperson is and who the architect or engineer is.
"I like yard sales," he said. "All true survivalists like yard sales."
Kurt Wilson
Posts: 34
Threads: 14
Joined: Dec 2007
quote:
Originally posted by Kapohocat
When the draftspeople I use charge -
They base it on the total SF as listed on the prints that are submiited to the building dept - living space + accessory space (decks with roof, carports, garages) - basically anything that has a footing, wall & roof structure. Covered decks are pretty much the same as a room - you still have floor/wall (well structure to hold roof) and roof structure. You still have to have detail drawings and elevations.
Cant speak for the original explanation but 75 cents is about the best price there is right now. Custom homes seem to be $1.00 - $3.00 (kona side)/sf. And then of course everyone who says "oh but I have a kit house design with only a FEW changes"... changes the most amount of items.
A cupola has some real structure issues so that you don't end up with structural posts right in the middle of a living space. And you have a deck around it so is that cupola going to be more "loft-like" and usuable SF? You also need a stairway to it that again doesnt intersect the middle of usuable living space.
The better draftspeople have experience, and education usually that is a benefit. The HCC drafting mill kids dont always have that. So if you have a good older, experienced draftsperson, be glad it is 75 cents only.
Catherine Dumond
Blue Water Project Management
808 965-9261
"We help make building your dream home a reality"
I woke up this morning with a different attitude about how my draftsperson arrived at his square footage. I feel he is probably right, but my distrust lay in his explination of the difference.
I will be finding out how much the architect's charges next week after I meet with my builder on Saturday to figure out where to put the water catchment and cess pit.
The D9 finished up this afternoon, and RT is going to level out the house pad using a laser level. I do not know what this entails, but I will find out tomorrow morning.
BTW, the cupola is a usable 144 square foot office/bedroom accessed using a spiral staircase. It is my room, all mine.
There will be posts in the dining room/living room but that's okay because I can hang my hat one them.
I have a jpeg of the floor plan, but I cannot figure out how to attach it to this email. If anybody can tell me, I'll do it.
FNG
Posts: 1,727
Threads: 29
Joined: Feb 2006
Yeah, cupolas can be interesting on a design standpoint. The last one I worked on was 16' x 22' and they didn't want posts below. There was a lot of forty five degree angle walls in that design so the corners of the cupola were sort of worked to where they would touch a wall below (with a lot of hidden structural support inside the wall) but then on either side of where the corner touched the wall below there would be a portion of skylight so the cupola sort of seemed to float up there. Fortunately perceptions are entirely separate from hidden structural supports. There is also a maximum square footage which can be accessed by a spiral stair, there are required exit windows and the homeowner also didn't want the cupola to visually stick out when viewed from the outside. Finally got it massaged enough that the homeowner liked it AND it was structurally correct AND met code.
"I like yard sales," he said. "All true survivalists like yard sales."
Kurt Wilson
Posts: 34
Threads: 14
Joined: Dec 2007
quote:
[i] I generally charge a flat fee of $350 per page for drafting since it is a lot easier to count pages than square footage. A set of drawings for a house like being described would run three to five pages, most likely four.
My plans are 7 pages.
FNG
Posts: 4,533
Threads: 241
Joined: Jan 2006
quote:
Originally posted by FNG
quote:
[i] I generally charge a flat fee of $350 per page for drafting since it is a lot easier to count pages than square footage. A set of drawings for a house like being described would run three to five pages, most likely four.
My plans are 7 pages.
FNG
Are you counting the "notes" page? If so - then 6 pages @ HC's $350 is $2100 so same ballpark.
Catherine Dumond
Blue Water Project Management
808 965-9261
"We help make building your dream home a reality"
Posts: 548
Threads: 114
Joined: Jun 2005
I must ask you, FNG...are using a guy with initials TM....if so, [xx(]
Posts: 1,727
Threads: 29
Joined: Feb 2006
Generally jobs of 7 pages are over 3,500 square feet or commercial jobs. Mostly when I'm charging per page I like to fill the pages up since otherwise folks would grumble they were getting charged extra. Or if there is just a portion of a page filled, then I won't charge the full per page amount for that page. If I'm charging per square foot for residential work it is in the .65 to .85 per square foot range.
Just went to a housewarming for a small 498 square foot house that was a two page set of blueprints and I was only charging $300 per page at the time. For $600 I spent half an afternoon out looking at the property assessing views, wind, sun, access, topography, etc. Then made various notes of the style of house wanted, how the daily life would go (don't want bedrooms of folks who want to sleep in on the East, after all), type of roof, ceiling, finish treatments, etc. Then did a rough floor plan with a couple elevations, looked up details on the various fixtures available, wood stove requirements and availability, same for doors and windows, so the proper sorts would be shown on the elevations. Redrew the final plans from the rough floor plans after a few revisions were made. Plot plan, floor plan, floor framing plan, roof framing plan, section A, section B, elevation A, elevation B, elevation C, elevation D, railing details, door schedule, window schedule, assorted notes, stair detail and a few other various details as required.
Ya know, AutoCad keeps track of the time spent on the drawings these days. I made $3.82 per hour to do that set of plans. It is probably kinda accurate, too, since I don't keep the computer on unless I'm using it since we are off power. Remind me to charge more! I think those hours are skewed towards the low side though since generally a larger job would take not a lot longer.
Hmm, There was a larger job of 3,168 square feet which was drawn on six pages for a total of $2,100 which is .66 cents per square foot or $7.98 per hour according to AutoCad's record keeping. But that's just the time spent drafting, not the time spent on other stuff so it would be less per hour if all the hours were factored in. I suppose it is a good thing I like drawing pictures of houses, I'm not gonna get rich doing it. Plus there's always the house warming parties which are a great thing too.
"I like yard sales," he said. "All true survivalists like yard sales."
Kurt Wilson
|
