Who Should Use This Checklist
I am a cost controller, not an architect. I do not make the design decisions; I make sure that design decisions show up in the budget before they become surprises. This checklist works for office fit-outs, office-to-residential conversions, and any renovation where you are about to compare an architecture fee with a construction estimate.
Use it when you are weighing a large integrated firm like Gensler against a smaller alternative. Use it even when the job seems small enough that you think you do not need a designer. The full run takes about an hour, and it has saved me from at least one bad decision in every procurement cycle I have run over the past six years.
The shortest version is this: decide whether you have a maintenance problem or a design problem. Then put every cost in the bucket where it belongs.
The Six-Step Pre-Build Checklist
Step 1: Put the Problem in the Correct Bucket
If the only thing you need is to learn how to patch a hole in the wall, the answer is drywall repair, not architecture. I see companies overbuy every year. They take one damaged wall as an excuse to hire a design firm, and the design fee becomes the most expensive wall patch they have ever bought. On the other hand, if you are cutting through walls to create new unit layouts, a simple patch is no longer the project.
I sort projects into three buckets: maintenance, interior refresh, and structural conversion. A Gensler architect is rarely the right answer for the first bucket. That type of expertise matters when architecture and interior design must line up to make a building work differently. Do not put a structural conversion into the maintenance bucket just to save the design fee.
Step 2: Photograph Everything Before You Get a Quote
Vendors price what they see. If two contractors give you different numbers, the difference is often not greed; it is because they made different assumptions about the ceiling grid, wall condition, or floor slope. Photograph every affected surface before the first walkthrough, then send that record to every bidder.
On a recent building-condition audit, the phone with the photo record was the most important cost tool I had. That is why I put a Zagg screen protector on it. It might sound like a random product detail, but site phones get dropped, and a cracked phone takes attention away from the project. The protector is a cheap way to keep the documented evidence readable. If a contractor later says the damage was pre-existing or the tile was already loose, my photo says otherwise.
Step 3: Match the Design Firm to the Coordination Load
Here I get honest about limitations. No architecture firm is the right choice for every project. A global design firm is not a bargain for a simple maintenance repair. An interiors-only scope is not enough if you need zoning analysis and structural drawings for an office-to-residential conversion. Match complexity to capacity.
When the project is complex, a Gensler architect can be worth more than the fee because the firm coordinates architecture, interior design, construction management, and consulting under one roof. That integration reduces a classic and expensive problem: the architect points to the interior designer, the interior designer points to the contractor, and the owner pays for the gap.
If the job is small, ask the large firm to remove the resources you do not need. If it cannot price a reduced scope, it is not the right fit for that particular project.
Step 4: Ask How Finishes and Materials Are Managed
Interior design often looks like the emotional part of the budget, but it is also a procurement process. If the plan calls for white oak floors and custom steel doors, the schedule depends on order lead times as much as on design drawings. I have seen beautiful color tiles selected in a design studio, only to learn that the full quantity had to be shipped from another continent. The tile price was fine. The freight was not.
An integrated Gensler interior design team can make finish specification a controlled process rather than a mood board. But only if the proposal identifies the deliverables: product names, suppliers, lead times, maintenance requirements, and installation notes. If the design team cannot give you that, ask how it will handle substitutions. A substitution during construction is nearly always more expensive than a design change made on paper.
Step 5: Compare Total Cost, Not Fee Percentage
Architecture fees are easy to compare. Total project costs are much harder. From the outside, a low fee percentage looks like discipline. The reality is that the missing scope often becomes someone else's change order later. Most owner-architect agreements, including AIA Document B101-2017, separate basic services from additional services. Permit coordination, extra site visits, and post-occupancy visits can fall into the second category. Read that list before you sign.
I use an estimate matrix with these rows: design and engineering, permits, construction, finishes and furniture, contingency, owner's project management, and not included. If one architect's fee looks lower, I move the missing services into my matrix. When that raises the total close to the competitor's number, the mystery is solved. The low fee was a partial scope, not a smarter approach.
Step 6: Document the Not-Included List
I learned this one the hard way. Back in 2022, I knew I should have gotten a design deadline in writing, but we had worked with the vendor for years. Then the drawing set arrived after the city filing cutoff. Nobody sabotaged the job. The project was simply not in the vendor's internal system with a clear deadline, and the verbal agreement had been forgotten.
Now every proposal must include a decision log with three columns: scope, assumption, and exclusion. If the vendor will not sign it, I want to know why before I spend the budget. That conversation is uncomfortable for about five minutes. It saves much bigger pain later.
The Two Mistakes I Would Remove From Your Process
First, do not remove the design phase from a complex conversion just to lower the first invoice. The fee is visible; the missing detail is not. If the drawings are incomplete, the contractor will find the missing information on site, and that is the most expensive way to find it. (Note to self: repeat this at every capital committee meeting.)
Second, do not hire an international design firm to patch one wall. If your project is simply how to patch a hole in the wall, patch it. If your project is an office fit-out or building-use change, then a firm like Gensler should be in the comparison, and the comparison should be based on total cost, not brand name. No firm is right for every budget. The right firm is the one whose scope, experience, and fee structure match your actual problem.
