There are lots of things an architect can help you with. At studiohals, we find out what your needs are and cater our scope of services around your requirements. The more information you can provide us before we start working together, the more detailed and accurate our scope and fees will be. We strive to be transparent and upfront about our fees, and have therefore outlined a typical process and summarised how fees usually get charged.
The typical process a project goes through from start to finish can be divided in 4 major phases, with many subcategories. We identify the major phases to be:
​
1. Concept Design
​
At concept design, work closely with our client to bring a design together based on the requirements of the client. If not known, we can determine together what the end product is. This mostly involves spatial planning and possibly façade treatments including material selection. An idea of cost or budget requirements should also be known at this stage so that we can confidently move to the next stage.
2. Planning Permit
​
Once the design is approved by the client, we move into the planning permit stage where we collate all information required for a planning permit submission. Depending on the impact of the design to the community, a planning permit may not be required and this stage can potentially be skipped.
​
Considering the lengthy process of the planning permit decision by the authorities, it is prudent to be clear, concise and complete in the submitted planning permit application. It is therefore sometimes necessary to engage some consultants at this stage, to make sure the design is complete and all planning requirements have been addressed.
​
Depending on the complexity of the project, the following consultants may be required at this stage: Land Surveyor, Building Surveyor, Quantity Surveyor, Arborist, Structural Engineer, Planner,…
3. Building Permit
​
This is the phase where it gets interesting. By this phase the authorities should ideally have formed their response to the planning application. We move forward with compiling a detailed design package based on the planning drawings. The purpose for these drawings is to receive quotes from potential builders. Ideally these drawings are close to construction drawings so that the builder can more accurately estimate the building cost. These drawings will form part of the contract with the builder.
​
The final stage in this phase is to bring the detailed design package to a construction level. This package has all the details and responds to both planning requirements and industry regulations and will be submitted with the intent to obtain a Building Permit.
4. Construction
​
This phase starts when the building permit has been approved, and the builder can start work on site. In a traditional contract, the architect’s involvement at this stage is mostly responding to builder’s queries, attend site inspections, review and approve material orders, review and approve shop drawings and reviewing progress reports. However with the introduction of project managers, this phase is partly taken over by them, reducing the architect’s scope of work.
​
​
​
​
The above phases are not the traditional phases you may get from different offices. These traditional methods are outdated and not in line with current trends in the construction industry. At studiohals we keep up to date with the latest developments in the construction industry and have adapted anything we do to these latest developments.
Note that the description of each phase above is to be used as a guideline only as there are plenty sub-categories to each phase and the setup of each project will most likely be different.
​
If you require more information regarding the sub-categories of these 4 phases, please download our full list of services or get in touch with us.
​
​
