How much does an architect cost in Singapore? The honest number.

By Felicia Toh, Registered Architect and Founding Partner, Quarters Architects

For a full-scope landed residential engagement in Singapore — design through authority submissions, tender and contract administration — published figures from local practices cluster between 5% and 12% of construction cost, with most full-scope appointments sitting around 8-10%.

Based off these estimates, fees are often quoted as a lump sum or a hybrid of lump sum and percentage fee instead. There is no prescribed fee scale in force in Singapore; fees are set by the market and by scope. Which means the useful question is not "what is the percentage" but "what exactly does the percentage buy".

Why do the quoted ranges differ so much?

Because scope differs. LAA publishes 5–10% of construction cost for landed work; Studio Simplify cites 6–10% for new-built landed houses; other practices publish 8–12% for full-scope engagements. None of these is wrong. A fee at the bottom of the range often covers design and submissions only, with site involvement thinned out or excluded. Some architects, like Quarters, include interior design consultancy services, while others do not.

A fee at the top usually includes full contract administration — the architect valuing progress claims, assessing variations and certifying the works through to completion. Comparing percentages without comparing scope is how owners end up buying less than they think.

What the fee buys, stage by stage

A full-scope architectural appointment on a landed project typically covers:

Stage	What actually happens	What it protects you from
Feasibility	Classification (A&A / Reconstruction / New Erection), planning parameters, buildable envelope, budget framework	Designing to rules that don't apply to your plot
Concept & schematic design	The design resolved in plan, section and massing; early cost alignment	Falling in love with a scheme you cannot afford or approve
Design development	Materials, construction detail, coordination with structural and M&E engineers	Gaps that surface later as variation orders
Authority submissions	Your architect acts as Qualified Person for URA and BCA submissions and coordinates technical agency clearances	Non-compliance, resubmission cycles, stop-work risk
Tender documentation	Drawings and specifications complete enough for contractors to price accurately	Contractors pricing uncertainty into the bid, or pricing low and claiming later
Contract administration	Site inspections, valuing progress payments, assessing variations, certifying completion	Paying for work not done; unjustified variation claims

The Qualified Person role matters more than most owners realise. In Singapore, planning and building submissions for these works must be made by a registered architect (or a Professional Engineer for engineering plans). A recurring theme on owner forums is blunt about it: make sure the QP is engaged by you, answerable to you — not supplied by the contractor whose work the QP is meant to check.

Who else will you pay?

The architect's fee is one line of the professional fee stack. Published local figures put mechanical & electrical engineer (M&E) and civil & structural engineer (C&S) fees at roughly 3–5% of construction cost, independent quantity surveyor fees at 1–3%, and authority submission fees in the low thousands to low tens of thousands of dollars depending on scope. Resident Technical Officers (RTOs) are third-party professionals mandated by BCA to ensure standing supervision of structural works on site, and cost ranges from $6,000 to $25,000 depending on the structural scope.

Surveys are also essential pre-requisites before any design work begins.

• A soil investigation, essential for foundation design on a rebuild, is a five-figure item.

• A topography survey, to accurately map out the boundaries of your land against your neighbours and government reserves (road, drainage etc.)

• Asbestos survey, required for houses built before 1991, to ascertain if the plot contains any of the carcinogenic building material that needs to be safely removed, costs around $1500-2000 for the initial survey, and a few thousand more for asbestos removal if it is found.

• Measured building survey, required if you are conducting an A&A or Reconstruction – where the existing building structures are retained, and there are no accurate existing plans and section to enable careful design planning and building around these structures.

None of these are optional extras; they are the cost of certainty, paid early, instead of the cost of surprises, paid late. We typically provide clients with detailed guidance on consultancy, survey and authority fees during initial discussions, before engagement, so you have the full picture up front.

Quarters Fee Structure

Our fee position hovers within the market range of 7% to 12% depending on the following factors:

• Scope and complexity of the project: size of the house, number of stories, project complexity such as requirements for basements, earth-retaining structures, site conditions

• Expected duration of the project

• Expected manpower required to service the project well, including mutually agreed supervisory extent and regularity

• Services provided: whether the scope includes feasibility studies, type of submission, interior design, interior styling, management of other consultants

  
  

Percentage, lump sum, or hybrid?

Percentage of construction cost scales with project size and keeps the fee proportionate when scope grows, but owners sometimes worry it rewards a bigger build. This is typically the payment form if the initial brief is unclear, complex, or multiple options are being considered and the construction cost is volatile.

Lump sum gives certainty for well-defined projects, but a fixed fee against an undefined scope protects no one — it just moves the argument to later.

Hybrid structures (lump sum for defined stages, percentage or time-based for construction administration) are common and sensible. Whichever structure you choose, the SIA's standard Conditions of Appointment provide a recognised framework for scope and stage definitions, and the SIA Building Contract 2016 (Lump Sum) — the most common form on private landed work — assumes an architect administering it. A fee that excludes contract administration leaves that contract without its referee.

The variation order trap

The cheapest fee frequently produces the most expensive building. Thin drawings tender badly: contractors either price the ambiguity as risk or price low and recover through variation orders once you are committed. Industry guidance consistently recommends holding a contingency of around 10–15% of construction cost, and the projects that consume all of it are usually the ones that went to tender under-documented. Fees spent settling scope before tender are recovered, often several times over, in variations that never happen.

FAQ

Is there an official architect fee scale in Singapore?

No. There is no prescribed scale in force; fees are negotiated between architect and client based on scope, complexity and service level.

Can I engage an architect for design only and manage construction myself?

No, appointed architects (QPs) are required by the Planning Act to supervise the development works to ensure that they are carried out in accordance with planning requirements, and the plans as approved by URA. At the completion of the development works, the QP has to declare to the authorities (URA, BCA etc) that the works have been carried out in accordance with planning requirements, before Temporary Occupation Permits are released by the authorities. Contracts where project management scope is unclear, builders offer to supervise projects without QPs involvement, or architects disappear during the construction process leaves progress claims and variations to be argued between you and the contractor directly and run the risk of costly rectification of non-compliant works.

Do architect fees include structural and M&E engineering?

Usually not. Engineers are separate appointments (sometimes coordinated through the architect). Confirm in writing what each fee proposal includes before comparing them.

When in the project do I pay?

Progressively, by stage. A typical structure weights fees across design, submission, tender and construction stages, so payment tracks delivered work.

Is a more expensive architect worth it?

The fee difference between practices is small against construction cost. The performance difference — in approvals held, tenders that price cleanly, and variations avoided — is not. Judge the scope and the track record, not the percentage alone.

Sources: SIA Conditions of Appointment and SIA Lump Sum Contract (scope framework); industry contingency guidance. Figures are market-reported ranges, not a quotation.