In 2015, the National Development and Reform Commission issued a notice on further relaxing the prices of professional services for construction projects, abolishing the “Engineering Survey and Design Fee Standards” (2002 version) issued by the former National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Construction, and clearly proposing the comprehensive relaxation of engineering survey and design fees. Afterwards, the design fee will be determined by the market. However, due to audit reasons, the design fees for most state-owned investment construction projects continue to follow the 2002 standards, resulting in consistently low design fees for a long time. This has resulted in the salaries and benefits of architectural design talents falling behind other sectors of the industry, causing serious talent loss, and making it difficult for enterprises to invest more funds in research and development, severely compressing the space for improving design creativity and design quality. In recent years, in order to regulate market charging behavior, the China Survey and Design Association, as well as local survey and design associations in Guangxi, Guangdong, Gansu, Jilin, Heilongjiang, Hunan and other regions, have successively issued survey and design fee guidance standards or guidelines, actively guiding design fees to return to a reasonable level, but there are still problems such as insufficient effectiveness..
Since the release of the “Engineering Survey and Design Fee Standards” (2002 Edition) for more than 20 years, the construction industry has continued to develop, with new technologies and policies emerging in the field of architectural design. The addition of new content such as BIM, industrialization, sponge cities, and dual carbon green buildings, as well as various special design works such as earthquake resistance exceeding limits and fire protection, are constantly increasing, and the design content is becoming increasingly complex. But in the situation where the charging standards are unclear and most construction projects, especially state-owned investment projects, still follow the “Engineering Survey and Design Charging Standards” issued in 2002, these new design contents cannot find a charging basis and have become free designs. This not only causes a serious imbalance between design content and fees, but also greatly increases the workload of design practitioners, damages their enthusiasm, and to some extent hinders the development and progress of the industry..
A reasonable fee standard plays an important role in maintaining fairness in market competition and the rationality of service quality. For a long time, while the design fees still follow the 2002 Engineering Survey and Design Fee Standards, the design fees have remained unchanged for more than 20 years, even continuing to be discounted at the original standard price, resulting in relatively low industry revenue. Under the pressure of low market prices, architectural design companies can only achieve profits through quantity growth. Excessive design quantity and insufficient design time can easily lead to a decrease in design quality, even leaving safety hazards or causing major accidents. In order to seize limited projects, some companies are willing to bid at low prices, leading to intense competition in the industry and the phenomenon of “internal competition”..
One suggestion is to clarify the minimum price standard for design fees. Based on scientific market research and cost analysis, fully considering regional differences and industry characteristics, setting minimum design fee standards, effectively preventing the impact of low design fees on design quality, and using high-quality design to support high-quality economic and social development; Strengthen supervision and inspection, impose severe penalties on behaviors that violate the minimum price standards, effectively prevent vicious competition, ensure normal market order, and ensure the sustainable and healthy development of the design industry..
Secondly, it is recommended to clearly define price service symmetry and reflect high-quality and competitive pricing. Clarify the business classification and scope of architectural design services, further refine the design process and.