Architect fees

It depends what you need. I am doing everything through my contractor - she has her architect to do the drawings then uses all her own subcontractors. If you just require an architect for DOB plans that is fine, if you need more interior design stuff, you need an architect to do a lot more.

Yes, we will need one as we will be moving and opening walls as well as building closets.

on my medical office the architect quoted me around 7 dollars psf. I think I countered with 3 and we settled around 5. That's plenty!

That depends what you mean by "gut" renovation- will you need to move walls, etc or are you just getting new appliances, cabinets, etc in kitchen and bathroom.

Should be likely (depending on the size of the apt) about $5k-7k (drawings + filing fees) if its the latter and more likely more if its the former.

My cousin used an interior designer that also worked with an architect who approved and filed the drawings with the Dept of Buildings. www.francoistenenbaum.com

The designer took care of everything from soup to nuts including dealing with the architect, the drawings (both autocad and sketches), DOB filings, coop board approvals, picking finishes, fabrics and appliances, etc.

Fees are going to vary greatly depending upon the service you are seeking, scope of job, size of apartment, degree of interior design services you want beyond space planning and design, and to some extent the building itself and the rules of the building. I think for you to get more meaningful answers, you have to share the size of the apartment, type of building, general location (are we talking GV or Bayside), and what you expect from the architect. Do you just want drawings to get the contractor permits and passed the building's engineer? Or do you expect the architect to help select finishes and also oversee the construction acting as liaison between you and the contractor? Do you want the architect to help you bid the job out and to review and analyze the bid proposals with you? All of these things bear on the answer to your initial question.

Thanks for all of the responses. I believe our plans would qualify as a major, gut renovation. The building is a co op in Mid Town East and the apartment is 1800 sq ft with six rooms. Subject to Board approval, we would move a kitchen wall to enlarge it, install all new kitchen cabinets and appliances, expand a bath into a walk in closet, redo five existing closets (raise door heights and new doors and frames and building a new one,) floors refinished, new molding, and walls stripped and repainted/papered. All baths will be redone with new tile, showers/tubs, sinks and toilets. Hope this will help to get more info. Thanks

We are in the process of a similar reno on a 2ksq ft. apt in the village. The building is likely going to have to make you file with DOB. This is going to take extra time and $ but once you get the approval from them you should be able to perform whatever work you like. I think 5-7k is reasonable as mentioned above. But it depends on how many times city wants to meet with you, co-op requests changes, etc as they normally get hourly rates for such work. My architecht has been excellent, very fast with drawings, always picks up the phone, reasonable price. Dick Boschen 212-619-2440. I hope you have a nice place to rent in the meantime as it's going to take a while. Good luck.

You have clarified things a lot. Few points and views:
(1) Expansion of kitchen and bath: Are you sure this is allowed by the coop? Most coops in NYC will not permit the kitchen footprint or bathroom footprint to change. This is referred to commonly as the "no wet over dry" rule. The idea is that if your bathroom floods, it should leak into the bathroom beneath it--not someone else's bedroom or livingroom. Even including an existing closet outside your bathroom into the bathroom would be objectionable to many coops. Most building engineers which advise coops on proposed apt renovations advise against wet-over-dry proposals.

(2) It is indeed what most would call a gut reno. Many architects will want to charge a percentage of the total job cost. That percentage varies a lot. I encountered everything from 11-15%. Some architects will markup cost of certain things only to a point so that you don't pay more for a very rare marble than a more common marble bath tile. Others will simply do a flat markup and you will pay, for example, 15% of the cost of a maytag range or a Wolf range even though the installation issues may be exactly the same. Other architects will give you a flat fee. I preferred that because I was better able to control and know costs.

(3) Flat fees may be broken down into categories of services provided. A typical arrangement might be (a) design development, draft drawings, final drawings for building engineer approval and city filing, revisions based on building engineer/board feedback; (b) coordinating city filings and approvals and use of expeditor; (c) contractor bidding process and review; (d) construction oversight.

(4) For a job such as you discuss, very VERY ballpark figures exclusive of the architect being asked to select and specify materials and finishes may be: Design phase, drawings, board review $10,000; city filings and GC bidding and review $6,000 (not including approx. $5-6000 for expeditor); construction oversight $10-15,000 depending on number of site visits and degree of involvement you expect. If you want the architect to select and spec the tiles, fixtures, appliances, paint colors, etc then design services will be more.

In the end, the fixed fee arrangement may not cost less than the %-age method of charging, but the amount you'll pay is known up front. It's up to you how you are comfortable working. But if you have an idea of what the contractor cost will be, you can get ballpark architect fee by assuming about 12-15% of the overall job cost.

I was extremely happy with my architect and GC for a gut reno recently. Job came in within 3% of the estimate and essentially on time. Building was extremely pleased also as there were no problems with anyone working in the building. If you want a recommendation, I'd be happy to email you the contact info. (My reno was a gut GV 1000 sq/ft 1 bdrm with relatively high end finishes.)

kylewest - I don't know how to private message on here - but I am interested in the architect and contractor recommendation... can you pm it to me? thanks.

Sorry Augustus, there's no priv. message on here. You'd have to post an email address.

Hi, firstly I want to thank Kylewest for taking the time to write such an informed response. I have just finished an 8 month renovation and found the information to be well set out and accurate, I was going to give out very similar numbers.
I was also incredibly happy with my architect his expertise made the job enjoyable. I could not of imagined the job without him and would highly recommend him. His name is Tom Hut, he is a partner at Hut Sachi architecture ://www.hs2architecture.com/ and even thou he is a superstar architect (he was involved with the common areas of the Gramercy Park Hotel etc)he charges normal architect fees. He was a blessing and I would highly recommend to anyone about to embark on a renovation to set up a brief appointment to see for yourself.
The apartment that he helped me with is on Street easy at the moment under 23 West 73rd St Apt 1207. We will be posting new photos soon as these were interim ones while the job was being finished (the home stretch) however I still think they will give you a guide.Thanks

Thank you all. This is exactly the type of info we were looking for.

Here is a contractor we could recommend. They were great at covering all the nuances associated with our renovation – board approvals, filings for all permits including the drawings, the renovation went smooth. Can’t say anything but good things about them, we had 2,200sf gut on the Upper East Side
Manhattanrenovations.com

Thank you, GA 12

Thanks you Value shopper, but think we have finalized our selection.

kylewest, I have just bought a classic 7 in Park Slope. Would be interested in your GC contact details. my email address is brandtk@gmail.com.

thanks very much --

kylewest - what would you say the $/sf are now for a "fairly high end" renovation? May be doing that soon, but have been out of the market for quite a while.

murray888: this depends heavily upon type of building and location. I assume we are speaking about "gut" reno with baths and kitchen stripped to studs, rewiring to some degree, some plumbing work. Are you including plaster walls? All new flooring or just patching/refinishing?

In Manhattan, for an elevator coop, I'd estimate $200-$300. I'm not talking about a home with entry galleries of complex marble tile work that stretch for a football field here. I'm talking "normal" high end, inclusive of architect and filing fees.

Thanks, KW. Probably need additional electric power (additional panel)- new lighting throughout,so requires more re-wiring, but figure $300-$400/sf should do.

Moving some walls- doing some marble flooring, refinishing other existing flooring.