How much does an architect’s or designer’s work actually cost – and why?

Together with DEKO magazine and Trentini, architects and interior designers came together for an open round-table discussion on a subject that is still rarely addressed openly within the industry:

The price & Value of professional design work.

The conversation brought together Reinis Prēdelis, AROUND Architecture Studio, Agnese Rudzīte, Jeļena Ozoliņa-Jeļisejeva, KOPEN Bureau, Inese Jansone, Inese Jansone Design, and Aleksandra Štrama, Trentini. They discussed how design fees are formed, what lies behind a price per square metre, and why clients often do not see the full scope of work behind a completed project.

Reinis questioned the simplicity of quoting design purely as a price per square metre. At AROUND, the work is considered through the actual scope of the project, its phases, required working hours and the overall construction budget, with the square-metre figure becoming more of a reference than the basis of the fee itself. His broader point is that the profession would benefit from greater openness, both between colleagues and towards clients, about how fees are formed and what those fees actually include.

The discussion goes beyond pricing and focuses on a more fundamental question: what is the client actually paying for when commissioning an architect or designer? For Reinis, greater transparency around fees and process is essential for a better understanding of the true value of architectural work.

The full discussion was published in the August 2026 issue of DEKO and recorded by Arhitektūras Radio. Filmed in Trentini.