Charlotte Commercial Architecture & Engineering

Commercial architecture and engineering fees are usually a percentage of construction cost. Full architectural services typically run 6 to 12 percent, MEP 1.5 to 4 percent, and structural 1 to 3 percent. Feasibility and programming are often a fixed-fee study. Use the estimator above and the commercial architectural services cost guide.

Architecture, MEP engineering, and structural engineering, paired with construction, so design and build are one accountable team. We take projects from feasibility and programming through schematic design, design development, construction documents, permitting, and construction. See architectural design-build.

Design-build typically compresses a program 15 to 30 percent against design-bid-build and reduces change orders, because the people designing the building are accountable for building it. Budgeting and constructability happen during design, not after, so the drawings match the budget. See the case for design-build and what a design-build contractor does.

Yes. TCG is licensed in all 50 states, including North Carolina, and coordinates licensure and stamping through the North Carolina Board of Architecture, Engineering and Surveying and the North Carolina Board of Examiners for Engineers and Surveyors. Integrated delivery means one team is responsible for the design and the build.

Charlotte adopted the Unified Development Ordinance in 2023, so use, density, parking, height, and screening come from the UDO and the zoning district. Some projects require rezoning or administrative site plan approval. We confirm the UDO requirements for a site at the start of design so the program fits the entitlements.

Charlotte sits on Piedmont red clay, which is moderately expansive and variable across a site, so foundations are engineered from a geotechnical report rather than assumed. We design slabs and footings to the soils and coordinate the structural and architectural design together so the building performs over time.

Buildings follow the North Carolina State Building Code, based on the International Building Code, and the North Carolina Energy Conservation Code. In the humid subtropical Piedmont that means cooling-first mechanical systems, good glazing and shading, and envelopes tuned for heat and moisture rather than cold.

For healthcare projects, yes. North Carolina has a Certificate of Need program, so certain medical facilities and equipment require state approval before construction, and the design must track the approved scope. We coordinate design with the CON scope from the start. See the healthcare sector page.

Feasibility and programming, schematic design, design development, construction documents, and permitting support, with construction administration during the build. We run early budgeting and constructability reviews during design so cost and drawings stay aligned. See preconstruction services.

Schematic design through construction documents typically runs 3 to 7 months depending on size and complexity, followed by City of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County permitting. Feasibility and programming run a few weeks. Design-build overlaps later design with early construction activity to save time.

Charlotte and the metro including Concord, Huntersville, and Matthews, plus Raleigh, Charleston, and Columbia. TCG provides integrated architecture and engineering across all 50 states.