Sep. 15--The Association of Siamese Architects (ASA) plans to propose a new fee of at least 3.5 percent of the value of government sector jobs to the Comptroller General's Department by the fourth quarter of the year, according to president Thaweejit Chandrasakha.

He said Thai architects currently earned less from government jobs than their peers in other countries, and also from private sector work.

The current fee is only 1.75 percent to 2 percent of project value for government jobs, compared with more than 5 percent for private-sector commissions.

"In other countries, fees from government sector jobs are higher than from the private sector as governments promote architecture of government buildings. Many beautiful architectural works overseas belong to the government sector," he said.

Currently, the association is revising a draft done by Chulalongkorn University that was commissioned to study a suitable fee rate. The third proposed a rate higher than 3.5 percent.

Mr Thaweejit said the government had used the rate of 1.75 percent to 2 percent for 20 years. Previously, it had been paying 3.5 percent. The government understood that architects had to inspect jobs so it allocated separate fees for inspections, which are actually different in nature and not architects' jobs.

Mr Thaweejit said architects' scope of work was designing and giving architectural advice.

Architects will visit a project site occasionally or when there is a meeting but inspectors have to be stationed permanently at the site.

Another area in which the ASA is trying to help Thai architects is to prepare for the opening of the market through liberalisation of global trade in services over the next two years.

The ASA president said the Council of Architects was drafting professional standards so Thai practitioners would be able to compete with foreign architects when full liberalisation arrives.

"At the Asean level, the free trade agreement [for architectural work] has already started. We need to set the standard or we might lose a chance as architects in some countries such as Singapore have an advantage over us in some issues such as the contract," he said.

Scheduled for announcement by the end of the year, the professional standard will cover code of conduct, fees, scope of work and practice, and quality of work, design, and contracts.

"It's like a standard for materials. It will set the 'must-have' minimum standard," said Mr Thaweejit.

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