Architects...is this excessive? Or just me [blush]

[Trebuchet]

Hoping to have a small 2 storey extension on our house. The builder says it's very strait forward and recommended an architect. I asked the architect for a quote, and it's come back as £1375 plus vat for drawings and sending it off for planning, and a further £1050 plus vat for technical drawings for building regs. This does not include postage printing or travel or local authority fees. Whatever they are...

I sort of thought £500 quid might cover it... Naive?....

Is this a normal sort of fee? Not had anything like this done before.

Thanks.

That's not unreasonable.

Ps we are not in London if that would make a difference.

Seems normal to me too.

Ok thanks

Yes, that's normal. It's expensive.

If you know exactly what you want, you could employ an architectural technician to draw up the plans for you at a lower cost.

Thanks for feedback. I thought I'd read in a homes mag that you can expect to pay £4-500 for plans... Must've misread.

Homes magazines price quotes are the equivalent of the Chicken that's feeds a family of eight for a week plus soup.

Fee sounds about right.

That's expensive, it was fine until I noticed they were charging another grand for the building regs. My hubby does this and I would say about £1200 + vat for both drawings plus you pay building reg/planning fees to council. Unless you are trying to do something with huge amounts of glass or very technical

Where are you anyway?

I paid about 1500 for plans for a two storey extension, and then paid the planning fees direct to the council. No other fees for technical drawings from what I remember. In London.

You could ask around a bit. If it is very straightforward, you might find someone cheaper. I don't remember the technical drawings being terribly complicated, just with positions of the steels and descriptions of the various insulation/windows/smoke alarms etc.

Thank you. We are in the midlands. Thanks for the advice

I would get some other quotes locally then, sorry we are down south so can't help you out.

I've just paid 550 for plans for a bigger two storey extension plans + building regs + planning fees (which are fixed by the council). It's pretty standard stuff though, and all he's done is draw up (hand drawn - he's old school!) my ideas.

I'd be asking round and getting some more quotes. Asked any local builders for recommendations?

I am paying similar but ours is quite complicated. If your is simple then just get a technician to do it. Half the cost.

I am paying £ 600 not including fees etc. but that is for taking down a wall and putting in a new staircase. Also it's my NDN and he is doing it at mates rates.

As above I'd be looking at an architectural technician to do the construction drawings if it's a simple job.
Your builder might know a local one.

Technicians often advertise in the local paper

If its pretty straightforward you don't need a fully qualified architect. Try an architectural technician or someone advertising architectural services. We are being charged around £1000 by one these for both sets of drawings, plus planning fee and building regs fees which are charged by the local authority.

Where about in The Midlands are you? Our architect works for a big firm in Birmingham but does work on the side. We paid £250 per set of drawings (buildings regs have just gone in) and he also put us in touch with a structural engineer who did all the calcs for the steels etc and he charged us £300.

Lady Kokomo owe are near Redditch I'd be grateful of any recommendation xx

Thanks for advice all