Sergio is a specialist in generative AI and technology, and leads the Redraw development team.
How to quote an architecture project: the 5 ways to quote and when to use each
How to quote an architecture project: per square meter, by stage and hourly cost, % of the real construction value, render and 3D, or a flat package. When to use each and how Limify does the math.
4 min
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06.05.2026
Sergio is a specialist in generative AI and technology, and leads the Redraw development team.
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Quick question: how much do you charge for a 180 sqm residential project?
If your answer started with "it depends" and ended with a number that came from a gut feeling, you are quoting on guesswork. It is not a lack of technical skill. Nobody teaches pricing in architecture school, and most firms inherit a rate sheet from a former boss or copy the studio next door.
The problem is that a bad quote does not show up right away. It shows up three months later, when the project has eaten twice the hours, the client has asked for a fifth revision and the margin is gone. This guide covers the five ways to quote an architecture project, what each one actually calculates, when to use it, and how Limify turns each of them into a number you can defend.
Before choosing how to quote: find your hourly cost
Every pricing method depends on one number most architects do not know: what one hour of the firm actually costs.
The math is simple and uncomfortable. Add up your fixed monthly expenses (rent, software, staff, your own salary, taxes, travel). Divide by the hours that are genuinely productive in a month, which rarely go past 120 per person once you subtract meetings, emails and rework. That result is your hourly cost. Anything you charge below it is a loss with a project's name on it.
In Limify this is the first step, not the last. You enter the firm's expenses and the platform calculates the hourly cost automatically. You can also set a target hourly rate based on your income goal, or a custom value for one specific quote. Every pricing model starts from that base. If you want to run the numbers by hand first, the walkthrough is in how to calculate your billable hour rate.
With the hourly cost in hand, now it makes sense to choose how to quote.
The 5 ways to quote an architecture project
1. Pricing per square meter
This is the most common method and the easiest for a client to understand. You set a rate per square meter and multiply it by the project area.
The common mistake is using a single rate for everything. A kitchen takes more detailing hours than a laundry room; a facade follows a different logic than a bedroom. Firms that price well per square meter work with different rates per room and per finish level.
When to use it: projects with a defined area, a client who wants a clear number fast, a firm with a calibrated rate history.
When to avoid it: open scope, renovations with heavy demolition and surprises, projects with high technical complexity.
In Limify's per square meter pricing you pick the rooms (living room, kitchen, facade, garage, garden), enter the rate and area for each one, and the platform calculates the total, the average rate per square meter and the profit margin on the same screen. An interiors project with a 10 sqm living room at R$ 100, a 6 sqm laundry at R$ 150 and a 15 sqm kitchen at R$ 150 lands at R$ 4,150, with an average of R$ 133.87 per sqm. No spreadsheet.
2. Pricing by stage and hourly cost (complete project)
Here you break the project into the stages the standard organizes: schematic design, design development, permit drawings, construction documents, construction administration. Inside each stage you list the activities, estimate the hours for each, multiply by the hourly cost and apply your margin.
This is the most detailed method and the easiest to defend in a negotiation. When the client asks "why so expensive?", you show the 16 hours of site plan work at R$ 125 an hour, not a round number.
When to use it: a complete project with several stages, a client who wants to see the scope before approving, a firm that needs to control cost per stage and per activity.
When to avoid it: a client who just wants a quick number based on area, a one off service covering a single stage.
Limify's complete project is exactly that flow: you set the base hourly cost, add the stages (with suggested categories such as construction documents, construction administration and final review), add activities with time and complexity, and each stage shows total cost and total with margin. Changed the hourly cost? Every item using the default recalculates.
3. Percentage of the real construction value
This is the most widely used model worldwide and increasingly common in Brazil: the design fee is a percentage of what the build will actually cost.
The difference between doing this well or badly is how you arrive at the "real construction value". Guessing R$ 3,000 per sqm is guesswork dressed up as method. The right way is an official index: the CUB, published monthly by state and building standard, or SINAPI. Area times the index for that standard gives the construction value; your percentage on top gives the fee.
When to use it: a residential or commercial project with a defined build, a client who wants full transparency in the math, a firm that charges for the quality of the finished building.
When to avoid it: a very small build (the percentage becomes disproportionate), a renovation where the client supplies the materials, a project with no defined typology.
Limify's real construction value brings CUB and SINAPI updated by state and reference month. You choose the base, enter the area, set the build model (residential, commercial, special), the standard (low, medium, high) and the project standard, then apply your percentage. A medium standard PP-4 residential in Paraná, 123 sqm at R$ 3,136.04 per sqm, gives R$ 385,732.92 of construction. From there to the fee is a percentage, not a guess.
4. Render per image and 3D modeling per hour
Rendering and modeling go into almost every project and almost nobody knows how to charge for them. The mistake is treating both the same way.
Rendering is quoted per image: how many images the space needs, production time and complexity, with the cost per image coming out of your hourly cost. 3D modeling is quoted per hour: how long it takes to model each space, with area and complexity. They are different logics that can go in the same proposal or be split.
One detail for 2026: if the render itself is produced with AI, as in Redraw, the production cost drops a lot but the value delivered to the client does not. That is margin, and it only shows up if the quote separates cost from price.
When to use it: an archviz studio, an architect offering rendering as part of the project, modeling charged separately.
When to avoid it: long animations, immersive VR/AR, a client who wants a flat package with no breakdown.
In Limify's render and 3D modeling, a facade with 5 images at R$ 46 per image lands at R$ 231 of rendering; modeling that same facade, 12 hours and 12 sqm, at R$ 277. You set the profit afterwards, looking at the real cost base.
5. Flat package (the firm's own rate sheet)
This is a single price per project type: "residential up to 200 sqm, R$ X". It works when the firm has enough history to know how much each project type consumes on average.
The risk is the obvious one: the average hides the project that blew up. Without tracking hours and comparing them against what was quoted, the rate sheet becomes fiction within a year.
When to use it: a firm with many similar projects and real hour data.
When to avoid it: a new firm, heterogeneous projects, a client who negotiates scope.
The rate sheet is not a Limify model, but it grows out of one: after a few projects quoted per square meter, by stage or by construction value, the quote history and the financial dashboard show what each project type actually cost. That history is what a flat package stands on.
Comparison: which pricing method to use
What no quote can be missing
Whatever the method, an architecture quote that protects your margin has six things in writing:
- Scope per stage. What is included and, above all, what is not.
- Deadline per stage. Schematic design in 15 days, design development in 20, and so on.
- Number of revisions. Two rounds included; the third is a change order.
- Payment tied to deliverables. A percentage on signing, the rest per stage delivered.
- Validity. Cost indexes change every month. A quote from February does not hold in August.
- What happens if the scope changes. A formal change order, with price and deadline.
Limify already structures this when you build the quote by stage: each stage carries scope, cost, deadline and payment percentage, and a scope change becomes a change order instead of free work.
From quote to proposal: presenting is half the sale
A technically perfect quote delivered as a three page PDF loses to a decent quote presented the right way. The client is not buying a spreadsheet; they are buying confidence in the firm.
That is why Limify's quote presentation is not a PDF. It is a link that shows, in this order: your firm, the projects you have delivered, the team that will do the work, and only then the quote, with deliverables, payment schedule and investment. It works like a dedicated site for each proposal, opens on mobile, and you can track its status. No Canva, no PowerPoint, no attachment lost in a chat thread.
And when the question is "how much should I charge for an 80 sqm renovation?", LimIA, Limify's artificial intelligence, answers based on your costs and your region, builds the quote in the right model, then reads your dashboard and your finances to show where the firm makes money and where it loses.
How Limify brings the 5 methods together
To sum up what you have seen:
- Firm hourly cost calculated from expenses, the base of every model.
- Per square meter pricing with rooms, rate per room, average price and margin.
- Complete project by stage and activity, with cost and profit per stage.
- Real construction value with CUB and SINAPI updated by state.
- Render and 3D modeling per image and per hour.
- Presentation as a link instead of a PDF, and LimIA analyzing the quote and the finances.
Limify was built by architects for the problem this article describes: quote with method, present with professionalism, and know at the end of the month whether the firm made a profit. You can start with the first month at R$ 19.90, with a 7 day guarantee.
Frequently asked questions about quoting an architecture project
What is the best way to quote an architecture project?
There is no single one. Per square meter is the fastest and the easiest for clients to accept; by stage and hourly cost is the most precise and the most defensible; a percentage of the real construction value is the most transparent when the build is defined. What does not change is the base: you need to know the firm's hourly cost before choosing.
How much should I charge per square meter in 2026?
It depends on the region, the project standard and your hourly cost. The mistake is copying a market number without checking whether it covers your costs. Calculate the hourly cost, estimate the hours per square meter for your project type, and only then compare it with your local market.
What percentage should I charge on the construction value?
The market usually works in ranges by complexity and scope. What matters is calculating the construction value with an official index rather than an estimate, because a percentage applied to a wrong value produces a wrong fee.
How do I quote rendering and 3D modeling?
Separately. Rendering per image, with the cost per image derived from your hourly cost and the complexity; 3D modeling per hour, per space. Mixing the two hides where the cost is and where the profit is.
What do I do when the client asks for a discount?
Cut scope, not price. With a quote broken down by stage that is easy: remove a stage or a revision round and the price drops in a way you can justify. A discount without cutting scope is margin walking out the door.
Quoting well is the difference between a firm that grows and one that works hard and keeps little. Start with the hourly cost, pick the right method for each project, and present like someone who charges what they are worth. Limify does all three in one place.
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