At JHAI we want you to know what you get in our fee structure. We customize each proposed fee to our client’s specific needs. More than anything else, we want to be fair and realistic meeting your goals in the least amount of time and at the lowest possible cost. Our continued long term client relationships, repeat work, and referrals all mean we plan out and maintain our service oriented practice. Next year will be 30 years in business with over 2000 projects under our belt.
Our top priority is to watch over your interests. To provide this level of service, we support fully qualified professional staff and design consultants. This supports our management, communication, design, and production systems with our efficiency and quality control. Our business model allows for the time it takes for dealing with government regulators, oversight and up to date client communications, and great design. This saves time and money during the construction process, ending up with well built, efficient and functional projects.
As an architect my primary roles is to assist our clients in their design and construction activities. We have advised our clients to what we see as the true picture of their projects. As the economy picks up we are getting a lot of people looking to build a new property or upgrade their exiting site with additions or modernization of their properties. We advise as to the development opportunities and the risks we see. If we do not believe the project is appropriate for our level of risk allowances we let our client know! We do not try to sell the project just to get the project on our books. We want to give the best we have to give. Being true to our beliefs is part of that. We sleep well because of this.
We can't follow our design process and all of our checks and balances if we lower our fees below our operational fee structure. This allows for some profit (allowing JHAI to stay in business), compensating our employees and consultants at the same fair level with good benefits. These employees are the ones working on your projects. If we lower our fees we would not be able to afford top-quality professional staff. Cutting corners inevitably creates problems in management, communication, follow through, construction, and close out of projects. You probably know the drill from past experience. Money saved on professional fees usually ends up costing dearly in design quality, project schedules and cost overruns. Excessive conflicts occur during construction; poor design and functionality; innumerable building operating and utility costs, and maintenance problems for years to come.
Who knows what and when the economy or a sector of it will be affected and which way it will go. Your costs include your utility bills, taxes, buying and selling costs, moving, and or temporary living costs. Construction and all design costs and government fees. These types of activities are very expensive. Keep this in mind when you are planning a project. What you spend or borrow comes out of your nest egg so use it wisely! Do not be fooled into low costs, reduced professional services, or misinformed advising just to get your business.
We are here to come up with a great design for your goals, solve problems before they come up at later stage of the development process, and make the design and construction documents work for you! That takes professional services charged at a reasonable professional rate. Our fees adjust to the level of services requested. The lower level services have higher limits of liability for that reason. Ideally, we seek long term relationships, with full professional services to provide our clients the best outcome for their project goals. Saving total dollars spent on an efficiently run management system will help keep your project on track. Cutting fees to the bare bone or even below our costs, as some A/E firms do, helps no one. It makes for bad relationships, non-efficient designs, and money losses for all involved.
At JHAI we will work with you to find the most appropriate range of services that your project requires. We are happy to compare our scope of services and fees to competing firms on a line item basis. We hope to hear from you on your next development project of any type or size.
