Here's what I did and it worked very well for us. After the architect drew up our floorplan, I was not satisfied with the kitchen (it was tiny and closed off from living spaces). I communicated my thoughts to the architect and asked that he rework the laundry, dining, kitchen area of the plan for me. Still not satisfied with that area after three rounds of revisions, I took the entire floorplan to a kitchen designer. She drew up several ideas for the laundry, dining, kitchen space that were a bit more specific than a mere floorplan. I worked with the KD to come up with the perfect plan for us for that part of the space. Then, I took the KD's work back to the architect who incorporated this redesigned space into his drawings and finalized the plans for the builder to use. I am very pleased with how this space turned out. It's very different than the original plan that the architect drew up. The $500 I spent with the KD to do the redesign absolutely is the best $500 I spent in the entire build. Now, the KD I used is not one of those KDs that works for a specific cabinet line and is focused only on what cabinets you pick for a particular layout. This was a KD independent of any cabinet manufacturer and was very talented in making me think about how I wanted to use the space and then designing it for our use. I used an onsite custom cabinetmaker for all of our cabinets and our trim. None of our cabinetry or trim detail was ever reduced to CAD or other detailed drawings before he began building. That made me very nervous. I simply made him a book of pictures I had cut out of magazines (or printed off of this site) and he mimicked those pictures beautifully. Good luck in your design and in your build! It's a long process, but worth it in the end. Our build was fraught with drama, but I've forgotten most of the negative stuff by now, and I've only been in the house four months!

There were two separate contracts with the design build team. I only signed one for the design. I think I had them modify the design contract not to include final construction plans. We did not move forward to the construction plans as I opted not to go forward with them. All I got from them was a few 8x11 sheets of papers with sketches for the design plan, most of which were my idea as to changes I wanted to implement in the house. The quote for the build phase was very expensive. The architect has a design phase and a construction drawing phase. I am paying as we go along. I have changed course with the project from what I initially wanted to do with the design build team. I started off wanting to do a master bathroom remodel, but have decided to do a master bedroom/bathroom addition. The architect has produced large architectural drawings for every change in the design phase. We are now in the construction phase of the drawings. I took the design plans to a contractor who gave me a ball park estimate. Since it was in my budget (and I know the ctr. cannot give me a true estimate without seeing the final plans), I had the architect move forward with the contsruction plans. That is where the project is now. So far, I am much happier with the architect/ contractor route.

Virgil (and the people who liked his post) you misunderstood what I was saying. I never said anything about the contract between the OP and his architect. You are taking what I said to cmoncophd as a response to the OP. Which it was not. He gives an example of an architect (not necessarily the OP's architect) terminating a contract because the work was unreasonable (then assumes this is what the OP's architect has done). With this line of thinking, any purchaser of services (agreed upon with a fixed price contract) is free to literally run the the service provider ragged with revisions and changes until kingdom comes. This isn't logical, acceptable or practical in any way. At some point in time, any reasonable person will push away from the table and declare that enough is enough. This is my feeling of what your architect has done. My response was to him. I read this as him saying that regardless of the contract you can't expect a person to do an unreasonable amount of work. This is simply incorrect, the parties of a contract are obligated to foresee difficulties and plan for them, courts don't care about fairness. The courts have said that $1 is sufficient consideration to secure the transfer of any value. They have also said that a contract for $1 carries the same obligations as the same contract for $1,000,000 (a very few courts (Texas) say that consideration can't simply be token or nominal, but that doesn't apply here). I was commenting on the fact that no one, architect or other, can void a contract that they agreed to just because they didn't properly foresee the amount of work involved. It doesn't matter how ludicrously unfair it is. If you read my posts you will clearly see I was talking about fairness of a contract rather than the specifics of this contract. This had nothing to do with the OP's situation, only to cmoncophd's take on it. The architect in my post was the architect in his post that was fed up with the amount of work he agreed to.

None of us here were at the early meetings, or a party to any discussions or information exchanges, so we can only respond based on the normal and standard practices of the architectural profession and our experience therein. "... My in-laws made an assumption that that would be a few hundred dollars (yes, assumptions get you in trouble). Just seems shady not to mention exactly, or at least ballpark, how much the construction plans would cost..." I don't know why or how they could have made such an assumption, but given the amount of work actually required that sort of thinking is simply and completely unreasonable. Look at the itemized scope of services provided in your description above. How could that be provided for "a few hundred dollars"? That means someone at a $100/hr billing rate would spend up to three hours to complete your project! Does that sound reasonable? Or even remotely possible? So far as I can see from this thread, there was nothing shady, unethical or unusual about the contract arrangements or sums. There was an initial phase to create a design, "to the owner's satisfaction", for a modest sum of $3,000. As a retired architect, I would have never used the term "to the owner's satisfaction" (since I well know how often consumers can change their minds over the smallest, often inconsequential, issue), and I would not have used a fixed sum, but an hourly rate, so that the owners had a share in the responsibility for how long the design phase took. So in this phase, the owners really got a bargain, and to their advantage. The fact that your MIL is "hooked" on the design suggests your family got their money's worth and what they were hoping for. Having a separate, fixed fee for the necessary detailed construction drawings and specifications is a good (and normal) practice. The list of items covered in the description above is very thorough and complete; it's far more than many residential architects, designers and drafters ever provide! The fee for these services is reasonable and may actually be low, if separate engineering design, drawings and calculations, or other services, are required by the local jurisdiction. As proposed, your family will receive a much more thorough and complete set of documents for bidding and construction than is the norm. As a result, the quality of construction and lasting value should be significantly higher than normal. You are concerned about why the costs for services weren't itemized up front. It's a reasonable concern. As you describe, the architect said there would be an initial charge for the first phase (design) and a subsequent charge for services to complete the project. Until the schematic design of the house was complete and approved, the architect had no way of knowing the scope and extent of time and services required to prepare and complete the construction drawings and specifications. It would be like trying to determine if something was bigger than a bread basket and/or flatter than a pancake. How would anyone know the scope and complexity of the house (and the amount of time to prepare and complete the required construction drawing and specifications) until the owners had first approved a design? If you buy a ready-made plan from one of the Internet plan factories, you will thereafter have to spend money to have the plan adapted to your family's needs; you will have to have pay for a foundation design to fit your specific site; you will have to pay for the necessary engineering structural services; for the creation of systems plans--HVAC; electrical, lighting, signal and controls; plumbing, etc. Your local jurisdiction may have other special requirements to be addressed, i.e., seismic or hurricane forces, etc. All of these are included in the services the architect has proposed. I'm very sorry that this situation has occurred and that your family feels wronged or misled. But, as far as I can tell, the total costs are reasonable, and actually less than normal in many areas, for the extent of services provided. I know this is likely not what you want to hear at this point, but it is a fair and reasonable response to the situation which has been described. I sincerely wish you and your family good luck with your project.