Architect fee proposals with Claude: define the scope before pricing
Method and example: Architect fee proposals with Claude: define the scope before pricing. Sources, assumptions and checks before sharing.
By Educasium
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An architecture firm is drafting a fee proposal for the extension of a single-family house. The client, an individual, asks why the proposal mentions neither late-payment penalties nor a recovery-cost indemnity, when a quote they received from another supplier for their business included them. The architect also hesitates over what percentage to ask as a deposit: is there a reference tariff published by the Ordre des architectes, or does this choice rest entirely on negotiation with this specific client?
An architect's fee proposal describes a commission and its remuneration; it does not itself price the construction work, and it rests on no official fee scale. A proposal that lets a document template decide the percentage, the number or the applicable mentions in the architect's place risks no longer matching the commission actually negotiated.
This article details why architect fees follow no imposed tariff, the mentions that will appear on the eventual invoice and those that apply only between businesses, the method for separating base scope from options in the calculation, and the situations where a fee proposal is not enough.
Summary
- Freely negotiated fees, never an official fee scale
- Mentions to prepare already at proposal stage, for the invoice that follows
- Calculating the amount without errors: base scope and options
- Building the proposal step by step
- When an architect's fee proposal is not enough
- What we observe among independent architects
- Training to make fee proposals more reliable
- Frequently asked questions
Freely negotiated fees, never an official fee scale
An architect's fees, including the portion requested as a deposit, result from free negotiation between the architect and the client: no text or official schedule imposes a reference percentage or hourly rate, as the Ordre des architectes points out. A proposal template that suggests a default percentage offers a starting value to discuss, never a rate to copy as-is.
A fee proposal, not a construction quote
An architect's fee proposal covers their own commission — design, follow-up, coordination — and not the cost of the construction work itself, which is priced separately from a quantity takeoff. Presenting both amounts in a single document without clearly distinguishing them exposes the client to confusing what they pay the architect with what they will pay the contractors carrying out the work.
What an already-negotiated commission does, or does not, confirm
Before drafting the proposal, it is worth re-reading exchanges with the client to check three points: the chosen billing method — fixed fee, phase or time-based — the exact scope of included services, and exclusions already mentioned verbally. A proposal that reuses a generic template without re-checking these three points risks offering a different commission from the one actually discussed.
Mentions to prepare already at proposal stage, for the invoice that follows
A fee proposal is not yet an invoice, but it is worth anticipating at this stage the mentions that will appear on the later invoice, to avoid any inconsistency between the two documents.
What always applies, what depends on the client
| Mention | Does it always apply? | What to check | Legal basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full identity, date, description of the service | Yes, on any service invoice | Consistency with the identity stated on the proposal | Article L441-9 of the French Commercial Code |
| 20% VAT on the tax-excluded amount, or "TVA non applicable, article 293 B du CGI" | Yes, depending on the architect's regime | The architect's actual VAT regime, not a template default | Article 289 of the General Tax Code, Article 293 B of the same code |
| Late-payment penalty rate and the flat-rate €40 indemnity for recovery costs | Only if the client is a professional acting for their business | The client's status: an individual building their home, or a professional | Articles L441-9 and D441-5 of the French Commercial Code |
| Proposal number in a continuous sequence | Yes | Numbering drawn from the actual accounting record, never a template | Good management practice, with no text imposing a format |
Why business-only mentions do not concern every client
The late-payment penalty rate and the flat-rate €40 indemnity for recovery costs, set out by Article D441-5 of the French Commercial Code, apply only to business-to-business relationships: a proposal addressed to an individual building their own home does not need to mention them, while one addressed to a developer, a company or a co-ownership body acting for its own business must include them. Reusing these mentions by default, regardless of who the client is, applies a clause that does not concern them.
Calculating the amount without errors: base scope and options
Calculating a fee proposal must always distinguish the commission's base scope from optional services, so the client knows precisely what they are agreeing to when they sign.
A fictional example to visualize the separation
Fictional example: a preliminary study commission of 20 hours at €100 excluding tax per hour gives a €2,000 base excluding tax. A separate option of 5 hours at the same rate adds €500 excluding tax. The proposal must show both amounts separately and state whether the option is selected; a single total of €2,500 excluding tax describes the commission only if the client explicitly accepts both services.
VAT remains to be confirmed, never guessed
The applicable VAT rate depends on the architect's tax regime, whether liable for VAT or under the exemption scheme, information the proposal cannot deduce on its own. When that regime is not yet confirmed at drafting time, the proposal should stay expressed excluding tax with this point explicitly flagged, rather than showing a tax-inclusive amount calculated on a default rate.
Building the proposal step by step
Step 1: Fix the billing method before any other figure. Fixed fee, phases or time-based: this choice determines the entire structure of the table that follows, and must match what was discussed with the client.
Step 2: List included services, exclusions and options separately. An option not distinguished from the base scope almost always ends up being treated as included by the client, even when it never was.
Step 3: Calculate every amount from verified data, never a default rate. The hourly rate or fixed fee used must come from the actual negotiation with this client, not a value suggested by a generic template.
Step 4: Assign a proposal number drawn from the actual accounting record. A number invented for the occasion creates an inconsistency as soon as this proposal needs to be reconciled with a later invoice carrying its reference.
Step 5: Review the arithmetic, exclusions and validity period before sending. A proposal correctly formatted in Word establishes no contractual compliance if its terms do not exactly match the commission on offer.
When an architect's fee proposal is not enough
A properly built proposal does not cover every situation encountered when negotiating a commission.
A commission involving several clients — a co-ownership body, a self-build collective — often implies splitting fees between several parties, best clarified before the proposal is issued rather than after acceptance. If the client disputes an amount after receiving the proposal, the appropriate response is a new, documented negotiation, not a silent edit to the same document already sent. Finally, once the proposal is accepted, it generally grounds the project-management contract or engagement letter that formalizes both parties' commitment: that contractual step, whose content goes beyond what a proposal alone can cover, is best reviewed by a legal professional for any commission departing from a standard case.
What we observe among independent architects
In our exchanges with independent architects about their fee proposals, the sticking point is almost never the principle of negotiation itself: an architect knows no official fee scale sets their fees. What costs time is reformatting the document for every new commission — adapting a template built for a global fixed fee to a commission billed by phase, checking that the proposal number really follows the previous one, or cleanly separating an option from the base scope in a readable table. That is repetitive, low-value work, not a lack of skill — and it is exactly the kind of task a well-built document template removes, without ever deciding the amount to request on the architect's behalf.
Training to make fee proposals more reliable
Setting up a proposal template once and for all is not enough: it also needs adapting to every negotiation without losing time or applying a mention that does not concern the client. For an architect practising as a self-employed professional (NAF code 7111Z in France), the FIFPL fund covers part of the cost of Qualiopi-certified training under 2026 criteria set at €300 per day and €900 per year, with e-learning capped at 50% of the daily rate. This funding must be arranged before training starts, not after.
Frequently asked questions
Is there an official fee scale for architects?
No: an architect's fees, whatever billing method is chosen, result from free negotiation with the client, as the Ordre des architectes points out. No text sets a reference percentage or hourly rate, and a proposal template that suggests one only offers a starting value to adjust. This absence of a scale applies equally to the hourly rate and to the percentage requested as a deposit, two points that must therefore be negotiated directly with each client rather than copied from a supposed industry norm.
Must a proposal addressed to an individual mention late-payment penalties?
No: the late-payment penalty rate and the flat-rate €40 indemnity for recovery costs, set out by Article D441-5 of the French Commercial Code, apply only to business-to-business relationships. A proposal addressed to an individual building their home should not reuse them from a template built for a relationship between businesses. The client's actual status — an individual or a professional acting for their business — should therefore be checked before including these mentions, rather than applying them by default to every proposal the firm issues.
Does the proposal bind the architect the same way a signed contract does?
The proposal formalizes an offer; its acceptance by the client generally grounds the project-management contract or engagement letter that then binds both parties more fully. That contractual step, whose content goes beyond what a proposal alone can cover, must be reviewed separately before signature. A proposal accepted verbally or through a simple agreement in principle therefore does not remove the need to draft that contract afterward, since it covers points a proposal usually does not, such as each party's responsibilities or termination terms.
Can a proposal be changed after the client accepts it?
Changing an already-accepted proposal without the explicit agreement of both parties creates uncertainty over the terms actually applicable to the commission. Any change in scope or amount after acceptance should be formalized in a written amendment, distinct from the original proposal, rather than a silent rewrite of the same document. Keeping the original proposal alongside that amendment makes it possible to reconstruct, in the event of a later disagreement, what was initially agreed and what was added afterward.
Should the proposal already show a tax-inclusive amount?
Only if the architect's VAT regime is confirmed at drafting time. When that point remains uncertain, the proposal should stay expressed excluding tax, with an explicit mention of the rate to confirm, rather than showing a tax-inclusive amount calculated on a default rate that might not match the architect's actual regime. Once the regime is confirmed, the tax-inclusive amount can be added to the document, but that update should stay traceable rather than silently replacing the excluding-tax version originally sent.
A reliable fee proposal rests on three elements that do not change from one commission to the next: an amount negotiated with this specific client, never copied from a nonexistent fee scale or a default template, a clear distinction between mentions that always apply and those reserved for business clients, and a clean separation between base scope and options. Once that foundation is in place, it is exactly what the fee-proposal generator applies automatically, while leaving the architect the decision on the amount and terms to offer.
For the cost of the works themselves, our estimate-from-quantities method details the separate pricing of construction costs, and our construction takeoff guide revisits the quantities that ground that estimate.
Training 100% fundable via OPCO/FIFPL. Qualiopi-certified programme. To structure your proposals and invoicing with AI as part of our AI for architectural management training, contact Educasium and specify your status (employee, self-employed, business owner) and your goal.