How do I choose an architect?

[AalyaSecura]

We've finally got enough money together to get an extension, and we want to get things started. We more or less know what we want layout-wise, but there are details that we want advice on - flat roof, skylight, materials etc. We've talked to a couple of architects, but finding it hard to work out if we want to use them - our criteria really is that they come up with good design ideas and create a design that fits with our budget - neither of which you can tell before you hire them. How does this normally work?

We found the architect for our previous house extension by word of mouth - recommendation of a friend, but did invite three round for an initial consultation. We went with the one who seemed to listen most to what we wanted and also made some excellent suggestions of his own.

We're now seven weeks into an extension to our current house and found our architect a couple of years ago through Shelter who were offering consultations with fully qualified architects in return for a donation to their charity. We just asked to be linked up with an architect in our local area and liked him immediately and knew we could work with him.

I got mine by recomendation from my boss. We just clicked, I hadn't with the three others I'd met before.

We chose ours with a mixture of recommendation, feeling comfortable and confident with him and going to look at another house he designed (which was lovely!) the other architects we met just weren't for us.

We also chose ours through personal recommendations. She has now designed extensions for 4 houses on our street

Word of mouth really is the best. Do you actually want to pay for an architect though - you would get a design and build contractor for a lot less.

Have you any neighbours with recent extensions you like the look of? I would always try personal recommendation. Or look at your local authority's weekly list of applications, some agents names will come up again and again.

Personally, I would go for an architectural technician rather than an architect. You will pay through the nose for a RIBA architect and it's not always justified.

Thanks all. Locally there's someone recommended but it's more because he has friends here rather than because they've used him for work; not many extensions been done, oddly! Local authority list is a great idea, I will start there. A technician may be enough - it's tricky to get the design right though; with the nature of the house, it'll be impossible for it to look like it was always there, so we probably have to go the other way and have the extension style as a contrast.

We used a check a professional, found local firm on there, did all the plans and planing application and building control, all sorted in a couple of months for just over £1000. As mentioned you could go design and build contractor, difficult to compare builder quotes though that way

Personal recommendation again here, but the over-riding factor was that he has children the same ages as mine. I felt like he knew where we were . Have been thrilled with the results.