Profession, Services & Fees
The architect's role, the Council of Architecture, and the scale of charges.
To practise architecture is to take on a professional ROLE — agent of the client, coordinator of consultants, certifier of the contractor's work, and an officer bound by a code of conduct. This unit covers that role; the Council of Architecture (COA) that registers architects and enforces the code; the running of an office and elementary accountancy; the conditions of engagement and the four classes of service; and the scale of fees that turns service into a livelihood.
Learning objectives
By the end of this unit, you will be able to — mapped to the course outcomes for Professional Practice:
Explain the architect's role and relationship with the client and contractor.
Describe the Council of Architecture and the architect's code of professional conduct.
Distinguish normal, additional, special and partial services and the conditions of engagement.
Compute an architect's fee and stage-wise claims from the scale of charges.
The profession
The architect is designer, the client's agent, coordinator AND impartial certifier; the COA registers and disciplines, and the code of conduct is the licence to practise.[1, 3, 4]
Designer, agent, certifier
An architect is at once the DESIGNER, the client's professional AGENT (acting in the client's interest within the law), the COORDINATOR of structural, services and other consultants, and the impartial CERTIFIER of the contractor's work and bills during construction. The last role is a quasi-judicial one — the architect must certify fairly between client and contractor, not simply favour the paymaster. This dual duty — loyalty to the client AND fairness to the contractor — defines the profession's ethics.[3, 4]
Services and fees
The conditions of engagement set the terms; services are normal, additional, special or partial; and the scale of charges — a percentage of project cost — is claimed stage by stage.[5]
The terms of appointment
The CONDITIONS OF ENGAGEMENT (COA model) are the agreed terms between architect and client: the scope of services, the architect's authority and obligations, the client's obligations (brief, site information, decisions, payments), the fee and its stages, ownership of drawings (copyright stays with the architect), and termination. A clear engagement — ideally a signed agreement — prevents most disputes.[5]
Compute the fee
Set a project cost and fee percentage, and see the architect's total fee and its stage-wise claim schedule.
Scale of fees · move the sliders
Total professional fee (5% of ₹2,00,00,000)
₹10,00,000
Stage-wise claim (representative COA split)
Indicative — the COA Conditions of Engagement & Scale of Charges (and state scales) govern; fee % varies by building class.
At a glance
| Aspect | One | The other |
|---|---|---|
| COA vs IIA | COA: statutory regulator, registers | IIA: professional association, promotes |
| Architect's certifying role | Myth: favour the client who pays | Reality: certify fairly between both |
| Service class | Normal: the full standard service | Partial/special/additional: charged extra |
| Fee basis | A percentage of project cost | Varies by building complexity/class |
| Fee timing | Myth: one payment at the end | Reality: claimed stage by stage |
Key terms
The statutory body (Architects Act 1972) that registers architects and enforces the code of conduct.
Indian Institute of Architects — the professional association (not a statutory regulator).
The COA's Professional Conduct Regulations — integrity, no fee-cutting, no commissions, no improper advertising.
The agreed terms between architect and client — scope, fee, obligations, copyright, termination.
The full architectural service from concept to completion — the basis of the scale of fees.
Appointment for only part of the work (e.g. concept only) — charged pro rata.
The architect's professional fee, conventionally a percentage of project cost by building class.
Claiming the fee in instalments tied to delivered stages of service.
Studio task
For a ₹2 crore residential project, use the calculator to work out the architect's fee at a 5% scale and its stage-wise claims. Then write a short list of what the conditions of engagement should cover, and one example each of a normal, additional, special and partial service for the same project.
Self-assessment
1. When certifying the contractor's bills, the architect must act —
2. The statutory body that registers architects and may use the title in India is the —
3. Under the conventional scale of charges, an architect's fee is usually expressed as —
Recap
References & further reading
- [1]The Architects Act, 1972 and the Architects (Professional Conduct) Regulations of the Council of Architecture.
- [3]Namavati, Roshan — Professional Practice (Lakhani Book Depot, Mumbai, 2016).
- [4]Deobhakta, Madhav — Architectural Practice in India (Council of Architecture, 2007).
- [5]Council of Architecture — Conditions of Engagement and Scale of Charges; Apte, V.S. — Architectural Practice and Procedure (2008).
Further reading
- Roshan Namavati — Professional Practice (2016).
- V.S. Apte — Architectural Practice and Procedure (2008).
- Madhav Deobhakta — Architectural Practice in India (COA, 2007).
Sources gathered and fact-checked June 2026. Published values vary by source, sample and method — treat as indicative and confirm against the cited standard before structural use.