House Build - Architec Problems

[spithra0]

2 years ago we planned a granny annex build on our house. Builders wouldnt get involved in quoting at this stage because they needed structural plans. We were advised to get planning permission and employ architec who drew elaborate plans .I told him the budget is £100k, and agreed it was to our budget. We remortgaged with building society and was granted £100k which we now have in our account and paying back monthly.
We paid structural engineer, plus paid for party wall agreements and Thames water permission. Building control. We paid out £££thousands so far.
It wasnt until this stage that Building companies agreed to give quote, 6 companies have now said "no way that architec plan is to £100k budget". All builders said £160k. we cant afford to borrow another 60k over original budget.
so we are now left with a "white elephant".
We are paying for the 100k loan.. but cant start the project because its not enough money. We've asked builders to quote cash only builds to bring price down. Even then the bare costs are still 40k over budget of architec drawings.
Please can someone advise ? Thankyou

What does the architect say? Surely they modify their design to come in on budget? Is it single story?

Architect hasn't helped much here , should have told you to do design then drawings then quotes , rather than going to the bank and get involved in build over agreements. I would get rid of this architect either go direct to builders and see what can be done for 100k or try and find another architect.

You may have a claim against the architects professional negligence insurance for your losses. Proving this will be highly fact-specific to all the correspondence betweeen you both. However, going over budget by 60% is not professional. There have been recent cases to support that this is negligent.

Losses would be: cost of the architects fees and plans, warrants and costs of applications; costs of tendering wrong plans to builders; costs of the delay.

It seems you will need to instruct a new architect to adapt the current plans and cost engineer them, or go back to the drawing board (literally) and get new drawings/warrants.

What step do you want to take? (FGS do not start building these plans).

Its loft conversation with 2 storey at back lot of complex internal wall removal and rebuilds. Architect doesnt want to know as hes been paid £2k

Ok thank you for that info. Is there an ombusman or someone to speak to as regards negligence?

Try RIBA to start with , they may be able to help , assuming architect is registered with them.

Yes, it will depend on which bodies your architect is a member of. Have a look on his website. RIBA is quite expensive so I understand not all architects are regulated by them.

However, you should try to deal with the architect directly first. (In writing, not by phone, obviously). Write a brief letter setting out:

-the date of your first instruction to him and your budget, and refer to evidence of that

• any further occasions on which you discussed budget - again, noting dates of correspondence
• note that contractors are now quoting prices in excess of 60% over

Express your concern that these plans are not a reflection of the explicit instructions you gave. You look forward to hearing from the architect within 14 days with suggestions for resolution at his/her cost and confirmation that he/she has alerted their insurer to this issue.

He is legit and with RiBA. I have now written him an email ststing situation and asking him to respond.
Many Thanks for Instruction

Do you have in writing a really clear explanation of what the budget was for?

Architects often don't include VAT, client supply items or professional fees in the budget as standard, and of you added these in you could easily get from 100-160k.

Have a look at design architects - usually way cheaper than RIBA architects but sill qualified to do full designs and work with builders to draw up quotes. We had a great one - 3K all in including all drawings, meetings with builders, site visits during the build.

yes I do but the one budget he grew up is far less than reality

I am an architect (don’t work on these type of projects, but the principles are the same) all architects are registered with, and regulated by the ARB (Architects Registration Board) they will be your first point of call for a complaint, but they will want written evidence your architect has refused to help get things back to budget etc. I hope you can get it sorted out.

Its loft conversation with 2 storey at back lot of complex internal wall removal and rebuilds

Yikes sounds like someone somewhere along the line has been disingenuous with you. I think people on this forum could have told you that would be way more than £100k.

People in my area have had similar built for under £100k. Its not impossible.

If it's been two years since the architect plans, prices could well have increased. Due to planning permission difficulties it took us 3 years from planning to commencing works. From when we planned to getting firm quotes, prices almost doubled. This was in London. In that time there seems to be a dearth of contractors, brexit happened, stamp duty changes, higher demand for renovations rather than people moving - all contributed to price increases.

Have you tried negotiating with the builders - we got ours down from £140k to £92k (inc VAT). It did mean that we had to tweak some of the designs but they were able to advise on some of the things we could change to bring us in on budget. Our architect had 'quoted' £80k!!
We also had a preferential builder so we made it very clear to him that if he could manoeuvre on price that the job was his, we weren't asking the other builders who had quoted to re-quote.
And yes, in 3 years, things have definitely gone up - roughly 5-10% each year.

OP, how did you get on with the architect?

I think the best case scenario for you is that he offers to redesign and submit the plans to reflect your budget.

Do not build without accurate plans or you will have no come back - either on the architect or the builder.

I agree that this budget sounds low (£80k ex VAT to include all fees and fixtures and fittings) and you may want to rethink this anyway.

Why on earth did you take out a mortgage without a proper quote from the builder? The architect isn't building the extension the builder is, and the builder knows his costs.

Don’t beat yourself up OP. Plenty of houses get built for less than that but it is tight.

The point is that your architect should have levelled with you about costs - and was professionally bound to do so.

However, that’s not much help to you now. I would avoid being guided too much by the builder. Get the process started again. And go back to the bank and speak to them about mortgage charges when the money is still in the bank.