Melbourne BoSP Fee Talk recap

Kieran Benson ,

The final Melbourne Business of Small Practice (BoSP) forum event for the year was held at Brickworks in early November, drawing a strong crowd eager to hear the In Detail podcast team delve into the important topic of fees. Kieran Benson provides a recap.

Rounding out this year’s diverse and engaging run of Business of Small Practice (BoSP) forum events in Melbourne, the In Detail podcast team covered the topic of fees at our final session for the year in early November. The ACA event was generously catered and sponsored by Brickworks at their Melbourne Design Studio. ACA VIC/TAS Secretary Kirby Roper and Brickworks own Garry McCarthy provided welcoming remarks, before handing over to the In Detail podcast team consisting of:

• Kate Fitzgerald – Co-Founder of Fremantle-based practice Whispering Smith, Vice-President of ACA WA, co-founder of the Business of Small Practice forum.
• Mick Moloney – Co-Founder of Ballarat- and Melbourne-based practice Moloney Architects, and passionate advocate for small practice.
• Warwick Mihaly – Co-Founder of Melbourne-based practice Mihaly Slocombe, and writer of the popular Panfilo business blog for architects.

The speakers provided an insightful and entertaining discussion into the different methods of charging fees, knowing your value, client engagement levels, fee breakdowns, risk and cashflow. The talk ran as a sort of “live” version of the In Detail podcast, with Kate, Mick and Warwick fostering strong audience participation and engagement. Some key considerations from the discussion between the speakers and the audience include:

• If your current cashflow or fee structure is not sustainable for your practice, then change it! Be bold, test out the market, and value your practice and the work you do. See which method of charging fees suits your practice and your clients.
• Consider how your fees are broken down across project stages. If you have more client interaction over the design stages at the start of the project, could your fees reflect this engagement and be more front-end weighted?
• How are you explaining your value to your clients, and what do you do to ensure they understand what your role is and what to expect? It may be worth exploring a project initialisation fee or deposit as a way of measuring how committed they are to the project.
• The importance of clear and accessible communication, allowing clients to understand scope creep and to appreciate the value of secondary consultants, such as a quantity surveyor, in the design process.

To close the conversation, the speakers each shared a moment when things had not gone entirely to plan. These light-hearted cautionary tales offered plenty of humour and provided a fitting end to the session.

The VIC BoSP Committee is looking forward to another great year of BoSP events in 2026 – continuing to foster conversation, learning and community for small practices in Melbourne and beyond.