Architect fees

[monkeyblonde]

We really need to extend the downstairs of our house, however never having undertaken any building work before we have no idea on cost. Firstly, how much would an architect generally charge for plans?

We have a certain budget for the whole thing, not sure whether we have enough but maybe an architect may be able to suggest solutions close to our budget?

Also anyone with any experience of two stage builds? We also need more space upstairs but def not enough cash to do it all in one go.

Downstairs extension would be approx 11.5m X 3m. Any ideas on cost?

Ime, architects are not cheap but often come up with much better uses of space then you might have considered. In my neck of the woods (rather snooty area of SW London), you could easily pay £4k for designs and drawings that will get you through planning. I don't think they are renowned for coming up with designs to match small budgets...

Extensions are generally £1800-2000 per sq m as a very rough rule of thumb. Allow more for high spec finishes. Again, probably much less away from London.

I am an architect - fees are a tricky one to speculate on.
I charge £60ph but rarely charge an hourly rate, it's very project dependent and I'm more likely to agree to a percentage fee or fixed fee. It would depend how much work I have to do, I don't tend to do straight forward extensions though and tend to do more complicated stuff.
Your best bet would be to contact a few architects to see what they can do for you and what their fees would be. I always do my first conversation with a client for free, it's important not only in terms of cost but to make sure I can do what they want especially with houses which are rather personal .
If your project is really simple you may not need an architect a architectural technician might be able to do the job for you and will almost certainly be cheaper.
Whoever you use check their qualifications, registrations, experience and insurances. There are a lot of unqualified people with a cad package who will draw you plans but you really have no idea what you are getting with them.

We are in the West Midlands and have just submitted our architects drawings to the council. It's a single storey extension which is 4m x 8m we paid a local architect £750. He has great so far but we knew what we wanted in terms of design.

All in with council fees etc it's come to £1250, I suspect it varies greatly across the country.