Exterior Design Time Billing Question

[Joe_Carrick]

I find that refining the exterior design sometimes takes a lot of time.  Alternatives to the roof, door and window casings, etc are not the quickest things to do.  In some cases I can spend a couple of days trying different things - particularly with what seem like small projects.

 

It's even more time consuming when I have to create special symbols to accomplish a particular design element.

 

How do you bill for this kind of thing?  Do your clients think you are over-charging or are just too slow?

 

Thanks

[Joe_Carrick]

FWIW, special design elements will inevitably require extra detailing for the ConDocs.  It's probably easier to add some hours there to make up for the initial design time.  OTOH, I spend more time on design than on detailing.

[DRAWZILLA]

I usually don't charge any more than my usual s.f. price for exterior embellishments, what I do charge more for is major changes, like "let's move the addition to the other side of the home". I tend not to look at how long it takes me to do as I have always charged by the s.f. with add-ons depending on different things, so everyone knows up front. Win some and lose some.

[Joe_Carrick]

1 hour ago, DRAWZILLA said:

I tend not to look at how long it takes me to do as I have always charged by the s.f. with add-ons depending on different things, so everyone knows up front. Win some and lose some.

Some of my clients want to be billed on a hourly basis.  That makes it more difficult. 

 

I would really prefer to bill on a flat fee + changes basis with each phase of the project being a fixed amount.  Unfortunately with hourly billing that's much more difficult.

[Renerabbitt]

39 minutes ago, Joe_Carrick said:

Some of my clients want to be billed on a hourly basis.  That makes it more difficult. 

 

I would really prefer to bill on a flat fee + changes basis with each phase of the project being a fixed amount.  Unfortunately with hourly billing that's much more difficult.

I would never bill hourly personally. I always quote a range of potential fees “Based on historically data for a project of similar scope.” 
An aside note, I’m hoping we get updates to the door style pallets to eliminate the need for such detailing. Also helpful to have several roof plane styles that can be copy pasted from a plan file to use the object painter from. 

[HumbleChief]

I also estimate jobs based on past experience and a 'feel' for the client and how much detail the project 'should' involve. I met with 2 younger clients today who wanted to leave the design almost completely up to me, which is red flag I won't fall for, but that let's me know they don't have too many absolute pictures in their heads and the proposal will reflect their attitude and the simple nature of the existing house.

 

Another older client had a thousand ideas and was trying to decide between a modern design or Spanish Revival (still hasn't decided) and it was easy to see the design nightmare coming. Actually a job I didn't want so I added some extra $$ to cover the effort I could clearly see coming

 

 So basically I don't worry about a single design that might need more detailing and how to bill for those details. I try and get a feel for those needed details in advance and sometimes I'll lose a couple hours for the effort but mostly don't, and try and look at the bigger business picture including the designs where I do very well that seem to balance out those that may be a little less profitable.