There is no standard rate. Australian residential builders charge anywhere from a few hundred dollars to fifteen thousand for preliminary work, and both ends can be correct.
What decides the number is not your revenue or your ego. It is what the homeowner walks away holding.
The observable range
Public and reported models in Australian residential construction cluster into three bands.
| Band | Typical range | What is included |
|---|---|---|
| Nominal filter | $500 to $2,500 | Detailed scope, multiple site visits, subcontractor pricing, value management. Often credited or wiped on proceeding. |
| Standard preliminary | $3,000 to $5,000 | Soil report, engineering recommendations, contour survey, planning drawings, fixed price quote. Credited against the build. |
| Full feasibility | $10,000 to $15,000+ | Everything above plus interior design and detailed engineering. Usually tied to a fixed price contract pathway. |
Renovation and extension specialists sit at the lower end because the scope work is genuinely smaller. New custom homes sit in the middle. High-end architectural work sits at the top.
Work backwards from deliverables, not forwards from your rate
The instinct is to price your hours. Twenty hours at $150 gives $3,000, so charge $3,000.
That produces a defensible number and a difficult conversation, because you have priced your time and the homeowner is being asked to buy your time. Nobody wants to buy your time.
Price the deliverables instead. List what they receive:
- Soil classification report
- Contour and feature survey
- Engineering recommendations
- Preliminary planning drawings
- Fixed price quotation, not an estimate
Now the number is attached to a stack of professional documents the homeowner keeps. Several of those have obvious market value. A soil test costs what a soil test costs whether you order it or they do.
This is why the fee that works is almost never a round guess. It is the sum of real third-party costs plus your co-ordination.
The credit structure matters more than the number
Across the models that hold up, the fee is credited against the build if the client proceeds.
That single mechanism does most of the work. It converts the question from "will I spend $3,000 on this builder" to "will I bring forward $3,000 of a build I am probably doing anyway". Those are not the same question and they do not get the same answer.
Say it early and say it plainly. If the homeowner has to ask whether it comes off the contract price, you have already lost the advantage.
Where builders set it wrong
Too low to filter. A $200 fee does not remove anyone. Someone happy to waste six weeks of your time is happy to spend $200 doing it. If the purpose is qualification, the number has to be large enough that an unserious person declines.
Too high for the stage. Fifteen thousand dollars is a reasonable feasibility fee and an unreasonable second conversation. The high-end models that charge it have usually run a smaller paid step first. Do not jump straight to the top band from a cold enquiry.
Round numbers with nothing attached. "$2,000 for a quote" invites negotiation because there is nothing to point at. "$2,450, which covers the soil test, the survey and the engineer's preliminary advice, all credited if we proceed" does not, because every part of it is a real cost.
A different number every time. If you charge what you think each client will bear, it is a negotiation, and you will lose it. Publish a structure internally and hold it.
A practical way to land on your number
- List every third-party cost you would incur doing the work properly. Soil, survey, engineer, any consultant.
- Add your co-ordination time at your real hourly value, not a discounted one.
- Round to something that reads as considered rather than arbitrary.
- Decide the credit: full credit against the build is the standard.
- Write down what the homeowner keeps if they do not proceed. If the answer is nothing, go back to step one, because that is why they will say no.
What it should do to your pipeline
If the fee is set correctly, expect fewer enquiries reaching quotation and a materially higher proportion of those converting.
That trade is the entire point, and it is worth being clear-eyed about it. You are choosing to have fewer, better conversations. If your problem is that you do not have enough enquiries at all, a preliminary fee will make that worse before it makes it better, and the volume problem is the one to fix first.
Common questions
Is there a standard preliminary agreement fee in Australia?
No. Reported models range from around $500 for a nominal filter to $15,000 for full feasibility including interior design and engineering. Most residential custom work sits between $1,000 and $5,000, scaling with what the homeowner receives.
Should the fee be credited against the build?
In almost every model that works, yes. Crediting it removes the objection without removing the filter, because an unserious enquirer still will not pay it up front.
What if a client asks me to reduce the fee?
Reducing it tells them the number was arbitrary, which invites the same negotiation on the contract price. If a client cannot proceed at your number, the more useful move is to reduce the scope of what is included and reprice honestly.
How do I set a fee if I have never charged before?
Start at the nominal end with a named package and full credit against the build. Prove the conversation works, then raise it as you add deliverables. Builders who jump straight to a high number with no track record tend to lose confidence at the first objection and abandon the whole idea.