A selection process for appointing an engineering office or architect on a Saudi project, from defining the scope to signing an appointment you can enforce.
The design team decides most of your cost and all of your compliance, so it is the appointment worth the most care and usually given the least. Selecting well is not about finding the most attractive portfolio: it is about matching capability to your building type, confirming who will actually do the work, and writing a scope that names deliverables rather than intentions. This is the sequence.
Before stage one
Before approaching anyone, you need the plot, the planning envelope and a development brief with a cost ceiling. Without those, every proposal you receive will price a different project and none of them will be comparable. You also need to decide what you want the design team to do beyond the permit, because supervision, tender support and construction-stage services are separate scopes that are easy to omit and expensive to add later.
- A development brief with the commercial objective and the cost ceiling stated.
- The planning envelope for the plot, so the scheme size is known.
- A decision on the procurement route, since design and build changes what you need from a designer.
- A list of the services you want: concept, permit, tender documents, supervision.
- A named decision maker on your side and a response time you can honestly meet.
Stage 1: Write the scope before the shortlist
Set out what you want produced, stage by stage, in deliverables: concept options, a developed design with areas and a specification, a permit submission, a tender-ready set, and whatever construction-stage involvement you require. Proposals can then be compared, because they are pricing the same list rather than their own interpretation of your project.
- Deliverable: A scope document listing deliverables by stage, issued identically to every candidate.
- Owner: The owner with the development manager.
- Approval gate: Two people reading the scope would produce the same list of drawings.
Stage 2: Build a shortlist on relevance, not size
Look for offices that have delivered your building type, in your city, recently, and that are licensed to practise in the Kingdom. A large office with no experience of your product is not safer than a mid-sized one that has built five of them. Verify licensing and professional standing through the relevant authority rather than from a company presentation.
- Deliverable: A shortlist of three to five offices with the reason each is relevant recorded.
- Owner: The development manager.
- Approval gate: Every candidate has delivered a comparable building type in the Kingdom.
Stage 3: Interrogate the project examples
Ask, for each example shown, what the construction cost per square metre turned out to be, whether the permit was obtained first time, what changed during construction and who the client was. Renderings show intent; these four answers show delivery. Ask to speak to a previous client, and actually make the call.
- Deliverable: Notes on three comparable projects per candidate, including at least one client reference.
- Owner: The owner, or the development manager with the owner present.
- Approval gate: You have spoken to a previous client of at least two candidates.
Stage 4: Meet the people who will do the work
Find out who will lead the project day to day, who will draw it, and how much of their time you are buying. Selection meetings are frequently attended by principals who will not appear again. Ask for named individuals with their role and their commitment, written into the proposal.
- Deliverable: A named project team with roles, seniority and time commitment stated.
- Owner: The candidate office, confirmed in writing.
- Approval gate: The person who will run your project has been in the room.
Stage 5: Compare fees on a like for like basis
Normalise the proposals: same deliverables, same number of design iterations, same site visits, same assumptions about reimbursables and specialist sub-consultants. Differences in fee are usually differences in scope. A proposal that is cheaper because it excludes the tender-ready set is not cheaper.
- Deliverable: A comparison table of fee against identical scope, with exclusions listed for each proposal.
- Owner: The development manager.
- Approval gate: Every exclusion has been priced so that totals are genuinely comparable.
Stage 6: Test how they will work with you at a distance
You are abroad, so the working method matters as much as the design ability. Ask what you will receive each month, how decisions will be put to you, in what format drawings will be issued for approval, and who translates between your questions and the site. Agree a reporting rhythm before appointment, not after.
- Deliverable: An agreed communication and reporting protocol attached to the appointment.
- Owner: The owner with the candidate office.
- Approval gate: You know exactly what will arrive in your inbox, and when.
Stage 7: Sign an appointment with teeth
The appointment should name the deliverables, tie payments to them, state who owns the drawings and the right to use them, set out professional indemnity cover, define what a revision is and what a change is, and say what happens if the design cannot be permitted or exceeds the cost ceiling. Have a licensed adviser review it, because this document governs a two year relationship.
- Deliverable: A signed appointment with deliverables, payment stages, liability and ownership of design defined.
- Owner: The owner and the licensed adviser.
- Approval gate: Payment for each stage depends on receiving the deliverable for that stage.
Handovers between stages
The handover that matters most is from selection into the first design stage. The scope document, the brief with its cost ceiling, the envelope study and the site information all have to reach the project team, not just the principal who won the work. Ask for a written confirmation from the appointed office that it has received and read each of those documents, and hold a kick-off meeting where the cost ceiling is stated aloud rather than assumed.
How you know it is finished
The selection is complete when you have one office appointed, a named team, a deliverables schedule with payments attached, a reporting protocol and a legal review of the appointment. If any of those is missing you have chosen a designer but not yet appointed one, and the gap will show up as an argument about scope at the least convenient moment.
Domira designs, builds and manages projects across Saudi Arabia for owners who are based abroad: land appraisal, feasibility, design, construction, handover and asset management under one accountable contract. Send us the plot or the brief and Domira will put the numbers in front of you before you commit.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I choose an architect or engineering office in Saudi Arabia?
Write the scope first, shortlist offices that have delivered your building type in your city and are licensed to practise in the Kingdom, then interrogate their examples on outturn cost, permit history and what changed during construction. Meet the people who will actually run the job, normalise fees against identical deliverables, and have the appointment reviewed by a licensed adviser.
What should a design appointment include?
Deliverables by stage, payment tied to those deliverables, the named project team, professional indemnity cover, ownership of and licence to use the drawings, the number of design iterations included, the definition of a revision against a change, and what happens if the design cannot be permitted or breaches the cost ceiling. Anything absent becomes negotiable later.
Should I appoint the design office with the lowest fee?
Rarely, and usually because it is not comparable. Design fees are a small fraction of project cost but they determine most of it, and the commonest saving is a scope exclusion such as the tender-ready set or construction-stage support. Compare like for like, then choose on relevant experience and the quality of the team you will actually get.
Can one office handle design, permit and site supervision?
Frequently yes, and it simplifies accountability for an owner who is abroad. The trade-off is that the party checking the work on site is the party that designed it, so consider an independent cost function or periodic third-party review. Whatever you choose, make each service a separate priced item so you know what you have bought.
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