Comparing what's actually being offered, and committing to a project.
By this point you will have two or three fee proposals in a folder and you will be doing what everyone does, which is looking at the bottom line of each and trying to make them comparable. They are not comparable. They are different scopes, priced differently, and the cheapest one is very often the cheapest because it left something out.
The number at the bottom is the only part of a fee proposal built to be compared, which is why it gets all the attention. The parts that decide how the next two years go sit further up the page — which stages are included, what is listed as excluded, and who in the office actually does the drawing. Two proposals $20,000 apart are usually two different jobs. It takes about twenty minutes with a highlighter to see which.
Then there is the part no proposal contains. You are choosing someone to talk to about your money, most weeks, for roughly two years. One question gets at that faster than any other. It is not about design, it costs nothing to ask, and almost nobody asks it.
Ring the last three clients. Almost nobody does, and it's the only reference that isn't curated.
The Institute recommends interviewing two to four practices — enough to see the range, not so many that a hard decision gets harder. The most revealing question is the least often asked: can I speak to someone you've finished a project for? Anyone worth hiring has a client happy to take the call.
Personal confidence in the architect is paramount — the Institute's own word. The scheme can be changed; the relationship can't, without starting again. People are choosing a companion for two years, and they know it even when they're pretending to compare line items.
Fee proposals with different scopes are compared as though they were the same thing, so the cheapest wins by omitting the most. Nobody calls a referee. The decision is made on a number that turns out not to have included the stage that mattered.
Before I say anything about design, I want you to show me the house through your eyes — what you use, what you avoid, what you apologise for at the front door. Within 48 hours you get an illustrated brief back: one page, hand-drawn, what I heard. The ten questions in this guide are worth asking anyone you are considering, me included. If an architect bristles at 'can I speak to someone you have finished a project for', you have learnt what you needed to.
Meet two to four of them — the Institute's own recommendation, and about right. Ask to see work similar in type and scale to yours rather than the prettiest thing in the portfolio. Then do the two things most people skip. Ask each practice for its scope of services with the inclusions marked, so you are comparing the same job. And contact referees. Ask past clients to assess the practice as well as the building — how they handled bad news, what happened when the builder's price came back high, whether they were still reachable in the last three months of the build.
The list matters less than what you do with the answers. Ask every practice the same set — registration number, who does the drawing, what each stage costs, what is excluded, what they think the build should cost, what happens if the builder's price comes back over budget, and how involved they stay during construction. Then compare the replies side by side rather than judging each meeting on its own. The useful signal is not who sounded most confident. It is who told you something you did not want to hear, and who offered a firm number where the honest answer was a range.
No. Nothing in Queensland law requires you to use an architect for a house. You need a Building Approval from a certifier, a licensed builder for most residential work, and drawings prepared by someone appropriately licensed for the job. What registration gives you is a specific accountability arrangement — compulsory professional indemnity insurance, continuing education, a code of conduct under the Architects Act 2002, and a complaints process at the Board of Architects Queensland if something goes wrong. Whether that is worth the difference in fee depends entirely on how much your particular project can go wrong.
The Board of Architects Queensland keeps a public register of registered architects, searchable free on its website by name or registration number, and it will tell you whether a person's registration is current. Do it for anyone using the title. It takes a minute and it is the one claim a competitor cannot answer. Mine is 4758. If you are also comparing a building designer, the equivalent check is the QBCC's online licence search, which shows the licence class and any conditions. Ask for the number rather than hunting for it — how someone responds to being asked is part of the information.
Line by line, not total against total. Put the two scopes side by side and mark which stages each one includes: measured drawings, the planning and overlay assessment, a Development Application if one is needed, construction documentation, tender, and involvement during construction. Then read the exclusions, which is usually where the difference actually lives. Most large gaps I have seen come down to documentation depth or site involvement, and both are paid for later — the first in the builder's risk margin, the second in variations. Ask each practice, in writing, what is not included in the fee.
If you would rather start small, the First Sketch Session is two hours at your place. You keep the sketches, and there is no obligation afterwards.