The fee, from proposal to payment.
A fee is agreed in an afternoon and earned over years. It is written by stage, at a level of service the client chose from two or three, and claimed a share at a time as each stage moves on. Somewhere along the way there is additional work, a stage that ran long, and the mileage to a site an hour away.
Kept in a spreadsheet, the proposal and the invoices drift apart. Nobody is quite sure how much of Stage 3 has been claimed, or whether the extra survey visits were ever billed.
A schedule the proposals start from
The practice keeps one fee schedule: its service levels (Basic, Standard, Enhanced, Premium, or whatever it calls them), the stages, which RIBA stages each covers, whether its fee is fixed, an estimate or hourly, and what it costs at each level. Under each stage sits its scope: meetings, lead consultant duties, design, technical work, CDM, contract administration, client actions, extras, and the notes and exclusions.
There is a sample schedule to start from, RIBA Stages 0 to 6 at four levels with the full scope of each, made to be cut down to your own. Templates keep the proposals you write most often, a rear extension at Enhanced, say, or planning only for one fee.
The proposal is the job’s own
Once started, a proposal belongs to its job, so changing the schedule later never touches it. Offer one level, or several side by side for the client to choose between, each stage’s fee shown with the totals and, given the floor area and build cost, as a percentage of the construction value. Or quote one fee for the whole commission and spread it over the stages in proportion, so it can still be invoiced as the work goes.
It prints on the practice’s letterhead. When the client accepts, the fee’s lines are fixed, and they are what every invoice claims against. Extra work is another proposal, for additional services, and it counts towards the agreed fee too.
Invoiced by how far the work has got
An invoice says, stage by stage, how far through the work is: 60% of Stage 3, less what has been claimed already. Hourly work comes from the timesheets, at the rates in force on the day it was worked. Recharged expenses come with their mark-up. Invoice numbers are given only when an invoice is issued, so drafts leave no gaps, and an issued invoice is never edited: it is paid, part paid, or voided with its reason.
The overview shows what the practice is owed and how much is overdue, what has come in this financial year, the aged debt, and on each job what is ready to bill: the fee not yet claimed, and the time and expenses not yet billed.
In the small print
- Several service levels offered side by side, the client’s choice recorded on acceptance
- Fees shown as a percentage of construction value from floor area and build cost
- A schedule of expenses (mileage at 45p a mile, A1 colour prints) that fills in the rate
- Expenses paid personally, marked when paid back
- Invoices claimed as a percentage of each stage, with the description written for you
- Win rate across the proposals sent, won and lost
- CSV export of every invoice for your accountant
Questions practices ask
- Can a proposal offer the client more than one level of service?
Yes. Offer several levels side by side, each with its fee stage by stage and its total. When the client accepts, you record which level they took, and that level’s fee becomes the agreed fee.
- How are invoices worked out against the fee?
For each stage of the agreed fee you say how far through the work is. The invoice claims that share of the stage’s fee, less what has been invoiced already. Time and recharged expenses can go on the same invoice.
- What happens if the schedule changes after a proposal is sent?
Nothing happens to the proposal. A proposal is the job’s own from the moment it is started. Templates can be refreshed from the schedule when you want them to catch up.