Last Updated on September 8, 2026
There has been no published UK architect fee scale for a generation. That is not a gap in this guide; it is the situation, and it is why the first phone call with a new client is so often awkward.
What RIBA publishes
Methods, not numbers. RIBA describes three ways of calculating a fee, percentage of construction cost, lump sum and time charge, and explicitly leaves the figures to negotiation. It mentions a variance of up to 10 per cent of the construction budget as a common agreement threshold and gives no fee percentages and no hourly rates.
Historic RIBA fee scales circulate on third-party sites. We did not open or rely on any of them, and neither should a client.
What the two main public guides publish, and how far apart they are
Architecture for London, last updated 7 January 2026:
| Project type | £100k budget | £200k | £500k | £1m |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New house, full service | 10.5% | 9.5% | 9% | 8.5% |
| Extensions, basements and loft conversions | 14% | 13% | 12% | 11.5% |
| Listed building work | 16% | 15% | 14% | 13% |
It states that residential architects typically charge between 11 and 14 per cent, that planning only is typically around 30 per cent of a full fee and plans only to Stage 4 around 70 per cent, and gives a worked example of a £500,000 residential project at 12 per cent producing planning fees in the region of £18,000 plus VAT.
The HomeOwners Alliance, last updated 23 January 2026:
| Item | Published figure |
|---|---|
| Percentage of construction cost | 3% to 15% |
| Hourly rate | £50 to £100 |
| Planning drawings, single storey extension | £1,000 to £2,500 |
| Planning drawings, two storey extension | £2,000 to £3,500 |
| Planning drawings, new build | £3,000 to £5,000 |
| Building regs and construction drawings, single storey | £3,000 to £5,000 |
| Building regs and construction drawings, double storey | £5,000 to £7,000 |
| Loft conversion, planning drawings only | £900 to £1,500 |
| Loft conversion, planning plus building regs | £1,400 to £2,000 |
| Fee staging | 35% to planning submission, 35% technical design and tender, 30% construction to handover |
So a client can read that residential architects charge 11 to 14 per cent, or that they charge 3 to 15 per cent. Both pages were live on 8 September 2026. The second range is wide enough to include almost any quote and to make almost any quote look questionable.
The stage split is the thing to publish
Most of the awkwardness in a first call is not about the percentage. It is that the client does not know what they are buying. They think they are buying drawings. You are selling a sequence.
Both public guides converge on the same structure even where they disagree on numbers, which is a strong hint about what clients find useful:
- Planning only, typically around 30 per cent of a full fee.
- Plans only to Stage 4, typically around 70 per cent.
- Full service to handover, 100 per cent, with the HomeOwners Alliance splitting it 35, 35 and 30 across the three phases.
Publishing your own version of that, with what each stage includes and excludes, answers most of the first call before it happens. It commits you to nothing because the percentage stays yours to negotiate.
What to publish, concretely
- Which fee method you use, and when you use each.
- Your stage split, with what each stage includes and where it ends.
- Two or three worked examples by project type, with the construction budget and the resulting fee, dated.
- What is excluded: planning application fees, structural engineer, party wall surveyor, building control, surveys.
- How you handle a project that stops at planning, which is the outcome clients quietly worry about most.
- A dated fees-reviewed line.
Item four is worth more than it looks. A client comparing your quote to a cheaper one is usually comparing a full service to a drawings-only service, and neither quote says so. Listing exclusions makes your quote legible.
The costs the client will meet anyway
Useful to publish because they change the arithmetic and clients rarely budget for them. From published UK guides read on 8 September 2026:
| Item | Published cost | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Structural engineer report | £500 to £1,500 | MyBuilder |
| Party wall award, one surveyor | Around £1,000 | Checkatrade and HomeOwners Alliance |
| Party wall, loft conversion | £900 to £1,200 | HomeOwners Alliance |
| Party wall, two surveyors | £1,800 to £5,400 | Both |
| RICS Level 3 building survey | £630 to £1,500 | HomeOwners Alliance |
A practice that sets those out at the start, rather than letting them arrive one at a time, is the practice the client trusts by week six.
Why publishing at all is the right call
Fewer than half of independent UK business websites publish any price, on Whito’s August 2026 study of 200 sites. The instinct is that fees are too variable to publish. That is true of the number and untrue of the structure, and the structure is what the client is confused about.
Structure before scale, which in this case is literal: publish how you charge before you worry about what you charge.
Common questions
What percentage do UK architects charge?
The two main public guides disagree. Architecture for London publishes 11 to 14 per cent for residential work, with a table running from 8.5 to 16 per cent by project type and budget. The HomeOwners Alliance publishes 3 to 15 per cent. RIBA publishes no percentages at all.
Does RIBA publish a fee scale?
No. RIBA describes three calculation methods, percentage of construction cost, lump sum and time charge, and leaves the figures to negotiation. Historic RIBA scales circulating on third-party sites are not current guidance.
How much is planning only?
Architecture for London publishes that planning only is typically around 30 per cent of a full architectural fee, and plans only to Stage 4 around 70 per cent. The HomeOwners Alliance publishes fixed ranges instead, from £900 to £1,500 for loft conversion planning drawings to £3,000 to £5,000 for a new build.
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