Site study
What the plot allows: height limits, setbacks, site coverage, orientation. Delivered as a report with sketches. If you carry on with us, it is deducted from the next phase.
Fees
What a project costs, and why we cannot quote it over the phone
The design fee is a percentage of the estimated build cost — usually between 5% and 8%, depending on complexity. Below a certain build value the percentage stops making sense, so we use a minimum fee per phase.
The figures below are indicative and cover the ordinary cases. They are fixed after the first site visit, once we know the height limits, the state of any existing structure and which approvals are needed.
Minimum fees per phase
Starting figures, VAT excluded, for an ordinary single-family house
Concept and planning permission
Two or three layout options, one of them chosen, then the permit documentation and its way through the approvals. Authority fees are paid separately, directly by you.
Technical design
The details the build follows: architecture, structure, services, bill of quantities. The clearer they are, the less gets improvised on site and the more comparable the quotes from builders become.
Site supervision
Weekly visits and a written report after each. Contracted for the duration of the build. Not mandatory, but it is the only way the project gets built the way it was drawn.
How we get to a firm figure
Four steps, the first two free
1
The first conversation
You tell us what you have: a plot, an existing house, a space to fit out. Fifteen minutes on the phone is usually enough.
2
The site visit
We come and see for ourselves. No charge, no obligation.
3
The written quote
A fee per phase, what is included and what is not, deadlines. You get it within three working days.
4
The contract
Signed before the first sketch. Payment is per phase, on delivery of each.
Read on our blog
What drives the fee
The planning certificate: what it says and why it is read first
The document that states what may be built on the plot. Without it, any sketch is a guess.
Read more →
What building a house actually costs
The price per square metre you hear everywhere, and what it never includes.
Read more →
Seven mistakes when buying a plot
A few hours of checking before you sign can save you years of deadlock.
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Converting the loft of an old block: what is possible and what is not
The second most common project in Bucharest. And the most often refused, for reasons you can check upfront.
Read more →
Ask for an estimate
The fee is set after we see the plot and discuss the brief. The first estimate does not change without us telling you why.