A while ago, I was approached by a developer from up-state New York to do some architectural renderings. I remember that our first phone conversation ended in a stalemate. He wanted too little, and I wanted too much (so he thought), so we hung up the phone, and we went our separate way.
The developer was gauging my fee on his budget, which is pretty standard for people to think makes sense (it doesn't). He was sending his work to China, paying pennies on the dollar, and getting low-quality renderings. Having said that, I really liked this home and the other ones he did, so I spend the evening praying, called him the next day, and we settled on a fee that worked for both of us. I ended up doing a dozen or so houses of this size and complexity with him; the house's crisis hit, and I haven't heard from him since.
I learned from this project that I can be flexible on my fee if I really want to do the project. Still to this day, I get compliments on these projects, and I also use them as an example that all projects are unique. I often get people wanting an average price on a single-family house. I tell them that I can't give arbitrary numbers; this 40 thousand square foot house is a single-family house, so what does a single-family mean to them?
If you have any questions, feel free to ask. If you want to see more of these mansions, you can see them on my website.
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