Short answer: on a typical commercial building, roughly 8 to 12% goes to design and professional fees, a small single-digit fraction to permits, and the rest splits across site development, the structural frame, MEPFS systems, general construction, and fit-out — with 5 to 10% held back as contingency. The exact split moves with building type: a bare warehouse shell puts almost everything into structure and site work, while a restaurant or clinic fit-out shifts a large share into MEPFS and finishes.
Most owners think about their budget as one number — "I have ₱15 million, what can I build." The more useful question is where that ₱15 million actually goes once design starts making decisions, because the categories below compete with each other for the same peso.
Enter your total project budget and building type to see an illustrative split across the eight categories below. These are planning bands from AEDO's own project experience and the professional fee guidelines cited in the sources section — not a fixed formula, and every real project varies from it.
| Category | Typical share | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Design & professional fees | 8–12% | Architectural, structural, electrical, sanitary — sourced from the professional fee guidelines below |
| Permits & regulatory fees | <1–2% | Building permit (PD 1096), fire safety, electrical/sanitary permits, equipment fees (transformer/generator) |
| Site development | 5–15% | Clearing, grading, drainage, access roads, utility connections — varies hugely with site condition |
| Structural work | 20–30% | Foundations, framing, floor slabs — the load-bearing skeleton |
| MEPFS systems | 15–25% | HVAC, electrical, plumbing/sanitary, fire protection — rises sharply for clinics, F&B, and data-heavy occupancies |
| General construction | 25–35% | Envelope, roofing, walls, doors/windows, structural finishing labor and materials |
| Fit-out & finishes | 5–25% | Flooring, ceilings, fixtures, branding — the category that swings most by occupancy type |
| Contingency | 5–10% | Unforeseen site conditions, price escalation, design development changes |
Using the office/mixed-commercial illustrative split above:
| Category | ₱5,000,000 project | ₱15,000,000 project | ₱50,000,000 project |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design & professional fees (10%) | ₱500,000 | ₱1,500,000 | ₱5,000,000 |
| Permits & regulatory (1.5%) | ₱75,000 | ₱225,000 | ₱750,000 |
| Site development (8%) | ₱400,000 | ₱1,200,000 | ₱4,000,000 |
| Structural (25%) | ₱1,250,000 | ₱3,750,000 | ₱12,500,000 |
| MEPFS (18%) | ₱900,000 | ₱2,700,000 | ₱9,000,000 |
| General construction (23%) | ₱1,150,000 | ₱3,450,000 | ₱11,500,000 |
| Fit-out (7%) | ₱350,000 | ₱1,050,000 | ₱3,500,000 |
| Contingency (7.5%) | ₱375,000 | ₱1,125,000 | ₱3,750,000 |
| Total (100%) | ₱5,000,000 | ₱15,000,000 | ₱50,000,000 |
The categories don't move independently — spend less on design coordination up front and site development or contingency tends to absorb the mistakes later, at a worse exchange rate than if the money had gone to design in the first place.
Of every category on this list, design and professional fees are the only one with a published guideline behind it — the architects' Standards of Professional Practice and the PICE Schedule of Minimum Basic Fee. Everything else on the list is scope- and site-dependent enough that no association publishes a fixed percentage for it. See our structural engineer fee guide for how the PICE schedule works, including the arithmetic error in the version that circulates online.
AEDO's role outside Negros Oriental. Nationwide, AEDO prepares the complete design package that this budget is built around — architectural, structural, electrical, sanitary — and provides remote cost tracking and oversight of a contractor the client hires locally. In Negros Oriental, AEDO designs and builds the project directly, managing this same budget in-house.
What percentage of a commercial construction budget goes to design fees?
A complete permit-ready design package — architectural, structural, electrical and sanitary — typically runs 8 to 12 percent of construction cost, based on the professional guidelines architects and engineers use to quote in the Philippines. This is a market band from professional association guidelines, not a government-set rate, and it is negotiable.
How much contingency should a commercial construction budget include?
A commonly recommended range is 5 to 10 percent of the total construction budget, higher for renovation or unfamiliar-site projects where hidden conditions are more likely. This is general industry practice, not a legal requirement — the right number depends on how well-defined the design is and how much site uncertainty remains.
Are permit fees a large share of a commercial construction budget?
No. Building permit fees under the IRR of PD 1096 are calculated per square meter by occupancy group and are typically a small fraction of total project cost compared to design, structural and MEPFS work — though ancillary permits (electrical, mechanical, fire safety, and equipment like transformers or generators) add their own smaller fee lines on top of the base building permit.
Does AEDO build commercial projects outside Negros Oriental?
AEDO designs and builds commercial projects directly in Negros Oriental. Outside that province, AEDO provides the complete design package plus remote construction oversight of a contractor the client hires locally, and does not claim to physically construct buildings nationwide.
Statutes, codes and guidelines referred to in this article, linked to their source.
Site development, structural, MEPFS, general construction, fit-out and contingency percentage bands are AEDO's own illustrative planning ranges based on project experience, not figures from an official schedule — stated explicitly as such rather than implied to be regulated numbers.
Not an illustrative band — a line-item budget built from your actual site, program and target finish level.
