9 Hard Truths About Pricing Projects and RFPs
Most architects don't lose money on bad projects. They lose it on bad pricing.
Here are nine things I wish every firm owner knew before sending the next fee proposal.
1. If you're pricing by hours, you're pricing like a technician.
Clients aren't buying your time. They're buying a resolved building, a permit, a reduced risk. Price the outcome. Reverse-engineer the hours.
2. Qualify the RFP before you respond.
Not every RFP deserves a response. Red flags: no named decision-maker, unrealistic schedule, "we already have a vendor in mind," or a scope that screams committee. A bad RFP is a bad client in disguise.
3. Never give away design in the RFP.
If they want ideas, schemes, or renderings to "evaluate your approach," that's not a selection process. That's free consulting. Offer methodology, team, and relevant precedent. Keep the creative work behind a paid door.
4. Stop being the cheapest bid.
Low fee signals low confidence. It attracts the worst clients and starves the project of the time it actually needs. If you win on price alone, you'll lose on everything else.
5. Price the risk, not just the work.
A fast-track renovation with an absentee owner is not the same fee as a greenfield project with a sophisticated developer. Build a risk multiplier into your fee: schedule pressure, consultant coordination, approvals complexity, client decision-making maturity. Name it. Charge for it.
6. Unbundle your phases.
Lumping SD through CA into one number is how firms eat scope creep for breakfast. Break it out: feasibility, programming, SD, DD, CDs, bidding, CA. Each phase gets its own fee and its own exit ramp. Clients respect clarity. You get paid for changes.
7. Offer tiers, not one number.
Good / Better / Best. One fee invites negotiation on price. Three options invite a conversation about scope. Most clients pick the middle option. You anchor the high one on purpose.
8. Get paid to price complex jobs.
Adaptive reuse, historic, complicated sites? Charge for a paid feasibility or pre-design study before committing to a full-project fee. It protects your margin, flushes out the unserious, and makes you the incumbent by the time the real RFP lands.
9. Track estimated vs. actual on every project.
Most firms have no idea which project types they're bleeding on. Log hours by phase, by project type, by client profile. Six months of data will tell you exactly where your pricing is broken. Then fix it.
The bottom line
Pricing is not a spreadsheet exercise. It's a positioning decision. Every fee you send tells the market what kind of firm you are and what kind of client you deserve.
Send better signals. Win better work.