Architect's fees garage conversion

[mrscardigan]

Hi,

Can anyone give me an idea if these architect's fees are reasonable for a single garage conversion into a granny flat.

Quote is for £550 plus VAT for measured survey, initial design, cost analysis. Then £990 plus VAT for detailed drawings for planning authority and building control, final design development. Architects fees alone come to £1,600 plus VAT.

Then they suggest a building surveyor is needed at £500, and a structural engineer for around the same cost I imagine. Obviously there will be planning fees for me to pay too.

Do I need all this? I am not extending the garage. It will need another window and the roller shutter doors removed and that wall bricked up. It already has plumbing and electricity. Just seems a bit on the steep side. I have a good builder on board whom I have used before so confident he can project manage it.

Has anyone got any thoughts?

The costs quoted to you are an absolute rip off, i have been doing plans and building work for over 25 years, firstly you don't need plans at all for this simple job, if the builder knows what he is doing he can submit a building notice to the council for about £250, thus saving you lots of money, please tell this to the architect who is trying to rip you off, if you still insist on having plans done it would take him about 4 hours at the most and the quote should be no more than £200