Planning a commercial project in Sydney; a new office fitout, an industrial facility, a community building, a retail development, puts you in a position most people only find themselves in once or twice in a career. You need to choose an architect, and the stakes are real: the wrong choice costs time, budget, and in some cases, the project itself. This guide covers what to actually look for, without the usual vague advice about “finding someone who understands your vision.”
Assess Their Commercial Track Record Specifically
General architectural experience does not automatically translate to commercial competence. A firm with a strong residential portfolio may not have navigated a commercial DA, prepared a construction certificate application, or coordinated a project through a building certifier on a commercial classification.
Ask specifically about commercial projects that are similar to yours. A fitout for a professional services firm is a different brief to a new industrial warehouse, which is a different brief again to a staged refurbishment of a licensed premises. Look for a portfolio that demonstrates they have worked through the specific planning, compliance, and construction challenges your project type involves.
Questions worth asking:
- What commercial projects have you completed in the past five years?
- Can you show me one that went through a contested or complex DA?
- Have you worked with a commercial builder on a contract administration basis?
Understand What Their DA Track Record Actually Looks Like
Development Application approval in NSW is not a paperwork exercise. Council assessment involves heritage overlaps, floor space ratio calculations, traffic and parking contributions, acoustic and shadow diagrams, BASIX requirements, and increasingly, referrals to external bodies. The median DA processing time across NSW councils varies significantly; some LGAs are running months beyond statutory timeframes.
An experienced commercial architect knows which councils require what, engages planners before lodgement to flag issues early, and prepares documentation complete enough to avoid requests for additional information that reset the clock.
Ask any firm you are considering: how many DAs have you lodged in the past two years, what was the typical timeline, and were there any that required an extended assessment or went to the Land and Environment Court? The answers tell you a great deal about both their process and their honesty.
Evaluate Their Project Management Capacity
Architecture is not just drawings. From briefing to construction, a commercial project runs through concept design, development approval, construction documentation, tender, and contract administration. Each phase requires coordination: with certifiers, councils, engineers, hydraulic consultants, builders, and your own operations team.
Before engaging a firm, find out who will actually manage your project. Is it a director or a senior architect, or will it be handed to a graduate once the engagement is signed? On commercial projects, a single point of contact at a senior level is not a luxury; it is what keeps the programme and the budget under control.
Understand How Fees Are Structured
Architectural fees on commercial projects are typically structured as a percentage of the construction cost, a fixed lump sum, or an hourly rate for smaller engagements. There is no universal standard, but you should understand exactly what each phase covers before signing anything.
Common areas where commercial clients are caught out:
- Town planning fees, consultant fees (structural, civil, hydraulic, acoustic), and council lodgement charges are almost always separate from the architect’s fee.
- Construction documentation is frequently underscoped in early fee proposals; confirm explicitly that the documentation fee includes enough detail for competitive tendering.
- Contract administration during construction may be offered as an optional service; for any project above fitout scale, declining it is a false economy.
Ask for a fee proposal that breaks down each stage, lists what is and is not included, and identifies where consultant fees will sit.
Ask About Their Communication Process
Commercial projects involve multiple stakeholders: operations teams, boards, landlords, financiers, and sometimes regulatory bodies. How an architect communicates through a project, and how quickly they respond when something needs a decision, is at least as important as how well they design.
Ask for references from previous commercial clients and ask those clients specifically about responsiveness and how well the firm managed communication during the construction phase.
For more on how Quattro Architecture approaches commercial projects, visit our commercial architecture page. To learn more about our practice and the team, visit about us. Ready to talk through your project? Contact us here.
