How Much Does an Architect Cost for Planning Permission?

UK architects charge for planning permission work in three common ways. The first is a fixed fee covering survey, design development, drawing production, and submission. For a householder application, such as a single-storey rear extension or a loft conversion, a fixed fee typically runs from £2,500 to £6,500 depending on location, practice size, and scheme complexity. A householder project in central London sits at the higher end; a similar project in the North East or Midlands at the lower end.

The second model is a percentage of construction cost, used mainly for larger residential schemes, commercial developments, and new-build projects. Architects typically charge three to six percent of the agreed construction cost for work up to and including planning permission. On a £400,000 new-build house, that places planning-stage fees between £12,000 and £24,000. The percentage includes RIBA Stages 1 through 3: strategic definition, preparation and briefing, concept design, and developed design through to planning submission.

The third model is an hourly rate used for consultations, peer review, or discrete tasks. Rates in 2025 range from £65 to £150 per hour. Larger practices and chartered architects with specialist planning experience charge at the upper end. Hourly billing suits clients who only need input at a specific point in the process, for example checking that a scheme prepared by a technician meets current planning policies.

Fees rarely include structural engineering, planning consultant fees, ecological surveys, transport assessments, or the council application fee itself. The standard householder application fee in England is currently £258. A fee for larger developments is calculated as a multiple of that figure based on site area or floor area. CGI and verified views are also excluded from most architect quotations and are commissioned separately from a visualisation studio.

For planning-sensitive sites such as conservation areas, listed building settings, or National Landscapes, the total professional fees can exceed the headline architect quote by a considerable margin once heritage consultants, arborists, and verified view production are included. Commissioning a visualisation early in the design process can reduce overall cost by identifying design issues before drawings are finalised, avoiding late-stage amendments that increase architect fees.