What the Architect’s Fee Includes: Singapore Landed Homes

What the architect’s fee includes depends on the agreed appointment: it may cover selected design tasks or a wider service through submissions, tender and construction administration. A description such as full service should be supported by a schedule of deliverables, responsibilities and exclusions. For a landed homeowner, the practical goal is to identify who will perform each required task. A missing service may create an additional appointment, while an unclear overlap can lead to duplicated effort and conflicting instructions.

Professional guidance starts with the scope of services

The Singapore Institute of Architects’ inception-course outline places the scope of services, architect and client responsibilities, and a thorough checklist at the start of practice. This reinforces a simple approach: define the work before judging the fee. The checklist below is a discussion framework, not a statement that every item is automatically included. For the commercial arrangement around it, read how architect fees are structured in Singapore.

What the architect’s fee includes during design

Ask whether the appointment includes briefing, site appraisal, concept options and development of the selected scheme. Confirm the expected drawings and presentation material, together with the review process for the household’s feedback. A useful design scope connects room planning with the building’s constraints. It should explain the extent of coordination with structure and services and identify information that other appointed professionals must supply. Do not assume every technical discipline sits inside the architect’s fee.

Clarify revisions and design development

Normal refinement of an agreed scheme differs from reopening the brief or commissioning a new option after approval. Ask how the proposal distinguishes these situations. Clear assumptions help you understand when a request may become an additional service. Also ask what budget review is included. An architect’s design-cost discussion and a quantity surveyor’s detailed cost-planning service are not interchangeable. Establish the required cost advice and who will provide it at each decision point.

Submissions and specialist coordination

Identify the architectural submissions covered by the appointment and who is responsible for other technical submissions. Ask whether the fee includes responses to authority comments within the agreed scope and how substantial redesign would be treated. Draw up a consultant schedule naming the discipline, appointment responsibility and payment route. Structural design, surveys, ground investigations and specialist advice may require separate appointments or charges. Their inclusion should be explicit rather than inferred from the architect’s coordinating role. Authority application charges are another budget line to clarify. Ask whether they are paid directly, reimbursed or included in a stated allowance. The person administering a payment is not necessarily the person absorbing its cost.

Tender documents and contractor selection

A tender scope may include drawings, specifications, schedules, answers to contractor questions and analysis of offers. Ask which of these are included and which depend on information from consultants or specialist suppliers. The value of tender support lies partly in exposing differences between offers. A comparison should identify exclusions, provisional sums and qualifications that affect the owner’s decision. Merely collecting prices is a narrower service than evaluating them. Confirm who incorporates agreed clarifications into the contract package. Otherwise, an item discussed during tender can remain absent from the documents used on site, creating uncertainty over both scope and price.

Construction administration and site reviews

Ask about site attendance, meeting records, contractor-submission reviews, design queries and the administration of changes. Confirm who acts as contract administrator, where applicable, and which payment or completion certification tasks belong to that appointment. Be precise about attendance. Periodic architectural site reviews are different from continuous supervision or the builder’s day-to-day management. The appointment should describe the service, while relevant statutory roles must be addressed separately by the project team. Request a reporting arrangement that shows what was reviewed, what requires action and who is responsible. A written record helps you understand the service without assuming that every visit certifies every concealed part of the works.

Interior work, handover and after-completion support

Clarify the boundary between architectural finishes and a detailed interior-design appointment. Joinery drawings, decorative lighting, loose furniture selection and purchasing can involve different levels of service. A coherent design still needs an explicit allocation of those tasks. For close-out, ask who compiles required records, reviews outstanding work and coordinates the agreed handover information. Confirm any role during the defects period and the treatment of later changes requested by the owner. Access to drawings and other deliverables should also be discussed, including the permitted use and formats provided. Agree these expectations in the appointment rather than assuming that every working file forms part of the handover package.

Build a responsibility checklist before signing

Use four entries for each task: included service, deliverable, responsible party and charge treatment. If an item is excluded, name the alternative provider or record that an appointment remains to be made. An exclusion is manageable when it is visible. Test the checklist against one ordinary event, such as a changed kitchen layout during construction. Who redraws it, coordinates services, obtains pricing and records the instruction? That exercise exposes gaps more effectively than asking whether everything is covered. Read the comparison of percentage, fixed and staged fees once the scope is clear. The calculation method should price the agreed responsibilities, while payment timing should reflect the chosen appointment. To establish the services needed for your home, review your brief with Joya. Bring existing information and any consultant proposals so that responsibilities can be discussed together before work begins.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does an architect’s fee automatically include structural engineering?

No. Structural engineering may be a separate appointment or an expressly included part of a wider package. Ask who appoints and pays the engineer and how coordination is handled. The architect coordinating structural information does not, by itself, establish that the engineering fee is included.

Are authority submission charges part of the professional fee?

That depends on the proposal. Authority charges may be paid directly, reimbursed or included in an allowance. Ask for their treatment to be stated separately from the professional work of preparing submissions. This keeps the total project budget clear and avoids confusing administration with payment responsibility.

Does full service include detailed interior design?

Not necessarily. Full service needs a defined scope, including any interior drawings, joinery details, lighting selection or furniture procurement. Ask which tasks are included and which require another appointment. The relationship between architecture and interiors does not make every interior service automatically part of the fee.

What should I check about construction-stage services?

Confirm site attendance, reporting, contractor-submission reviews, responses to queries and the agreed contract-administration role. Ask about payment certification, variations and close-out where applicable. Distinguish these services from the builder’s management and any required statutory supervision so each responsibility has an identified party.