In Switzerland, a simple rule has long prevailed in terms of calculating planning services fees: the work costs were used to calculate a percentage on which remuneration was based. It does not matter that these costs are linked to the quality of the design, to the materials used or to the vagaries of the market. This model, easy to apply and widespread, proved to be deeply problematic, since the fees thus determined reflected not the effective investment required to design the project, but only the price of the final product. Also, the work of planners was only measured in the light of this one indicator, which only took into account the level of complexity or the quality of the proposal.
An approach to review
The beginnings of the regulations relating to fees in Switzerland date back. From the 19the A century, professional regulations supervise the remuneration of architects – generally based on rates derived from work costs. In 1933, the SIA in turn proposed a first full regulation, entitled “fees for architecture works”, also based on the costs of work. However, this frozen model has proven to be more and more unsuitable, according to societal changes and the diversification of projects.
Indeed, if in the past planners conceived works from floor to ceiling on virgin terrains, these missions have become very minority. Today, the culture of the building can no longer be reduced at a price per cubic meter. A construction constitutes the culmination of a complex interdisciplinary approach, in encrypting the quality is therefore not easy. The future of the design will be hybrid, digital, integrated and circular. The remuneration of projects cannot therefore be indexed to the only cost of contracting, but must reflect the quality of the service and the responsibility that the planners are. Bind fees to the only false work costs not only the individual incentives of the agents, but also creates informational asymmetries. From an economic perspective, this leads to an ineffective allocation of resources, the intangible factor in the quality of design work being systematically undervalued.
At the latest with the intervention of the Competition Commission (COMCO), it appeared that this model, in addition to being exceeded, was not fully in line with the law. Consequently, the SIA has withdrawn all the calculation models based on the work costs of its regulations in 2020. Since then, the regulations concerning services and fees (RPH) are based on three approaches: according to the effective, flat and global employed time. Unfortunately, what had been envisaged as the opportunity of greater autonomy has, in fact, disoriented many actors. Since then, offices – first of all the youngest – have faced the challenge of justifying their fees without resorting to the cost argument.
Create a common base
A new path is opening up. The ETH Zurich and the SIA have developed the “Value App”, a digital tool that makes it possible to calculate the time required as close as possible to the realities on the ground. After an intensive test phase, it will be the first tool made available on the platform for calculating services by the end of August 2025. Planners can provide stable project indicators, such as the type of planned use, the gross ground surface, the degree of complexity or the project organization mode.
The working time can thus be determined in a differentiated way, and not on the basis of the surface alone. The platform will also be used for other models, these can be based for example on different key figures or parameters specific to the disciplines.
Taking into account surfaces, degree of complexity and other relevant factors promotes transparency from the first project sentences, allowing both to reduce transaction costs and increase the reliability of investments – which contributes in fine to the economic resilience of the sector.
Without delivering ready -made answers, the platform will offer a solidly supported starting point that can feed reflection around remuneration methodologies. An instrument validated by professionals, the “Value App” will integrate into this spirit, and is called to be supplemented by other tools and calculation methods. It is part of the wake of the revision of RPH and is aligned with new methods of determining the fees thus implemented.
Essential point: whatever they are, these calculation tools and methods will be based on statistical bases. And it is precisely the solidity of these data which will punctuate the evolution of the platform, ditto for the “value app” which will be gradually perfected between the go-live and the publication of revised RPHs. In the end, the objective is to establish a robust database that allows you to create a common comprehension base as well as a comparison repository.
Recognize planning at its fair value
Beyond its practical dimension, the platform for calculating services is also a medium through which the cultural, functional and strategic nature of planning services asserts-which cannot be reduced to a single economic dimension. Especially since in the current context, marked by the climate crisis, the scarcity of resources and the densification of regulations, the constraints that arise for planners are growing. These increasing requirements, fees must reflect them.
The president of SIA Susanne Zenker sums up: “We are approaching a decisive turning point. More than a practical tool, this new platform for calculating services is the mark of a societal change. Through her logic, she invites masters of the book, administrations and planners to join a conviction: the services must be honored accordingly – with confidence and transparency. ” This invitation offers the opportunity to put the fees at the heart of an awareness: a culture of quality buildings involves just remuneration.