Writing / India
The Council of Architecture Scale of Charges, explained properly
Most Indian architects know the Scale of Charges exists. Rather fewer have read it, which is understandable, because the version circulating online is frequently garbled and the official one uses a notation that looks like a typing error.
27 August 2026 · 8 minute read
It is not advice, it is a regulation
The Scale of Charges sits under the Architects (Professional Conduct) Regulations 1989, made under section 45 of the Architects Act 1972. Regulation 2(1)(xii) requires every architect to observe the Council's conditions of engagement and scale of charges. Regulation 2(3) states that violating any provision of that sub-regulation constitutes professional misconduct.
So the scale is a floor with a disciplinary consequence attached, not a recommendation. Whether it is enforced in practice is a separate question, and one worth being honest about later in this piece.
The notation that confuses everybody
| As written | Actual value |
|---|---|
| Retainer floor, Rs. 20M | Rs 20,000 |
| Site visit, outstation, per day, Rs. 3M | Rs 3,000 |
| Local site visit, Rs. 1M | Rs 1,000 |
| Advisory consultancy, outstation, per day, Rs. 10M | Rs 10,000 |
| Urban design minimum fee, Rupees 240M | Rs 2,40,000 |
| Negotiable threshold, Rs. 1400 M | Rs 14,00,000 |
The minimum percentages
| Category | Minimum |
|---|---|
| Individual house | 7.5 |
| Single block housing, site up to 0.5 ha | 5.0 |
| Group housing, 0.5 to 2.5 ha | 3.5 |
| Group housing, 2.5 to 5 ha | 2.5 |
| Group housing, over 5 ha | 2.0 |
| All projects other than housing | 5.0 |
| Repetition of the same design, same campus | 2.5 |
| Repetition of the same design, different site | 3.5 |
| Site development | 2.5 |
| Conservation, retrofit, additions and alterations | 7.5 |
| Interior architecture, signage and graphics | 7.5 |
| Landscape architecture | 7.5 |
Notice that the scale falls as site area increases. That is the opposite of the American convention, where the percentage falls as construction cost increases. The two scales are indexed against different variables and are not comparable.
What sits on top
- Documentation and communication: an additional ten per cent of the professional fee, payable at all stages.
- Contractor bill verification and certification: an additional one per cent of the cost of works, where that service is included.
- GST at eighteen per cent on the fee, under the architectural services classification.
- Reimbursables for travel, boarding, lodging and site transport, plus models and presentation material prepared at the client's request.
How the money actually releases
The stage schedule is cumulative, and each payment is net of everything already paid. For comprehensive architectural services it runs as follows.
| Stage | Cumulative |
|---|---|
| Concept design and rough cost estimate | 10 per cent |
| Preliminary scheme and preliminary estimate | 20 per cent |
| Drawings for client and statutory approval | 30 per cent |
| On receipt of approval to commence | 35 per cent |
| Working drawings, specifications and tender documents | 45 per cent |
| Tender analysis and contractor appointed | 55 per cent |
| Working drawings issued for commencement on site | 65 per cent |
| 20 per cent of work complete | 70 per cent |
| 40 per cent complete | 75 per cent |
| 60 per cent complete | 80 per cent |
| 80 per cent complete | 85 per cent |
| Virtual completion | 90 per cent |
| Completion report and as-built drawings | 100 per cent |
The base moves under you
This is the part most fee agreements get wrong. The percentage is applied to a different cost base depending on the stage.
| Stage | Applied to |
|---|---|
| Retainer and stage one | Rough estimate of cost |
| Stages two to four | Preliminary estimate of cost |
| Stages five to six | Accepted tender cost |
| Stage seven | Actual total cost of works |
The cost of works excludes the price of the premises but includes equipment forming part of the works: transformers, generators, substations, lifts, air conditioning, pumps and treatment plants. No deduction is made from your fee for penalties, liquidated damages or sums withheld from contractors.
Two versions exist, and neither repeals the other
The 2002 Scale of Charges remains published as current. The Council also issued the Manual of Architectural Practice, Volume 4, in 2022, which describes itself as an updated version and replaces the flat percentages with a sliding scale across ten building categories and seven cost bands, split by simple and complex.
Volume 4 contains no repeal clause, and the 2002 schedule is still live on the Council's website. It also has no urban design table, so urban design remains governed by the older document. If you are writing a fee agreement, state explicitly which one you are working to.
Is the minimum actually enforced?
Honestly, the evidence says no. Published market rates for residential work commonly start at three to five per cent, well below the seven and a half per cent floor for a house, and the sources quoting them rarely acknowledge the conflict.
The prescribed scale has been rendered meaningless, undermined by the negotiability clause, while government agencies pay builders fifteen per cent and refuse architects five.
A summary of the position argued publicly by senior Indian practitioners
There is also a structural point that makes most comparisons meaningless anyway. A fee quoted at or near the minimum is usually design and approval drawings only. The minimum and full service are not the same product, so a studio quoting twelve per cent and one quoting four are frequently not competing for the same scope at all.
Which is the real argument for knowing the scale properly. Not so you can wave it at a client, but so you can say precisely what your fee includes and what the cheaper one does not.
Sources
- Council of Architecture, Conditions of Engagement and Scale of Charges
- Architects (Professional Conduct) Regulations, 1989
- Council of Architecture, Manual of Architectural Practice, Volume 4, 2022