What an architect costs — and how fees work.

Professional fees are determined according to project scope, scale, location, complexity, deliverables and level of involvement. A project-specific fee proposal is issued following an initial discussion and review of the brief.

The figures below are general industry context from published 2026 guides (Council of Architecture Scale of Charges; ArchiEase architect-fees-in-India guide) — not this studio's pricing. They help you sanity-check any proposal.

• COA minimum for an individual house: 7.5% of the cost of works; most non-housing projects: 5%; interior architecture: 7.5% — all calculated on works cost excluding land.
• Worked example: a Rs. 50 lakh house implies a Rs. 3,75,000 COA-minimum fee; a Rs. 1 crore house implies Rs. 7.5 lakh.
• Surat studios typically quote 7.5–8%, i.e. the COA minimum is the local norm; established practices may charge more.
• Tier-2 construction bands in 2026 guides: roughly Rs. 1,800–2,200 per sq ft basic, Rs. 2,300–2,800 standard, Rs. 3,000–4,500+ premium.

Scope, scale, location, complexity, deliverables and level of involvement decide where in the range a project lands. Full architecture-plus-interiors bundles on a single commission almost always cost less in total than splitting design across firms — one coordinated team, one set of drawings, no rework at the interfaces.