When do I pay the architect’s fees?
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Our fees are generally invoiced monthly in proportion to the amount of progress made. Work is staged and you are only responsible for paying for work completed on the relevant stages at that time. A ten percent deposit is required for lump sum commissions .
What building contracts do you use?
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We use a range of contracts jointly approved by both the Master Builders Association and the Royal Australian Institute of Architects.
Further information is available by clicking on the links below:
Royal Australian Institute of Architects
Can you help us find an engineer and any other consultants we might need?
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Yes, we can recommend engineers and other consultants. We have received excellent service from several firms for many years and can recommend them to you.
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Further information is available by clicking on the links below:
Northrop Engineers
Lovegrove Oxley Surveyors
What are your terms and conditions?
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Our standard terms are generally those of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects. A full description is included with our quotation.
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Further information is available by clicking on the links below:
Royal Australian Institute of Architects
How does the process work?
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Most building works require approval from your local council. Some council’s (such as Randwick) have fast track approval processes that cover many types of alterations.
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The first step is your project is for us to prepare a written description of what we understand you want to build. We will in most cases provide a lump sum quotation for our services covering all of the stages through to completion.
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We will then review the regulations to determine what can be built and prepare preliminary sketches to describe to you what might build.
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When you are satisfied that the sketches show what you want to build we will prepare and lodge with council all of the drawings and other documents needed to obtain development approval
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Once development approval is given by council we will obtain a quotation from an engineer, arrange for you to hire them and co-ordinate their work. The engineer’s documents and more detailed documents prepared by us will then be submitted to council to obtain building approval. This approval is known as a Construction Certificate.
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Once we obtain this approval we will prepare the final and more detailed drawings and documents needed to allow a builder to prepare an accurate tender (building quotation).
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We will then send the drawings and other documents to a number of selected builders, analyse their tenders and recommend the appointment of the preferred builder. We then prepare a building contract and arrange for both parties to sign it.
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During construction we answer any questions the builder may have, analyse the builder’s invoices and prepare written statements of how much you should pay to the builder in response to each invoice. We recommend that a proportion of the payment be withheld by you as security to assist in ensuring that the building is properly constructed and that any defects are fixed. On completion of the building work we arrange for the final approval from council to occupy the building.
Useful links:
