Pre-architect?

[UpToonGirl]

Dh and I are thinking about extending our house, maybe changing layout and a loft extension. I'll be honest and say we have no vision! I'm quite happy to decorate/furnish rooms but when it comes to layout and structural decisions I'm a bit lost. Our house is detached but extension wouldn't be a typical back of property extension as the back garden isn't big enough, it would be to the side. We also need to relocate our utility and downstairs loo.

We had an architect over yesterday and whilst he was lovely and listened to us ramble I didn't feel like he offered any direction bar what we could and couldn't do. He's sent through the quote for two sets of drawings (we aren't sure whether a loft extension and single side extension or no loft and double storey side extension are best) and tbh I'm not inclined to pay £700 for a couple of drawings which I'm not sure if they'll be anything other than purely functional designs.
He didn't really give away what his thoughts were on how things would look - appreciate he needs to hold back a little so we purchase his drawings but I didn't really get any sense on what he was feeling. I feel like we need someone who can come in and tell us what would work best with our space - we're built into a slope and part of the reason for the side extension is to connect the house more with a raised, decent sized sun terrace which is to the side.

Anyway I was wondering if there is such a thing as a pre-architect - someone to come in and really look at the space and direct us in what would work best with the plot so when an architect comes in we can discuss with more direction what type of design we want them to produce. I'd happily pay for someone to come in for an hour or two - chat, do some rough drawings and ideas and then either get them to do a more in-depth design from that or get someone in to discuss but with more of an idea in mind first of what we want to do.

Or do I just need to get another architect in and hope they offer more of an idea of their solutions? TBH we're going to be waiting until 2021 to start work but we wanted to have a good idea what we'd be looking at and if we are changing the internal structure of the house I want to know as I might decorate a few rooms in the mean time but obviously don't want to do anything that may be un-done in a few years.

Get another architect. You have to go on your instinct - are they enthusiastic? Have you looked at a portfolio?
It’s not a big job so try and find one who works on smaller projects. but definitely look at the portfolio.

£700 sounds like the initial drawings for planning (the more detailed ones with structural beans and for building control. We paid just over £1000

Yes, I did look at his previous projects. All the right sort of scale but 'standard' projects. I think the issue is we want something a bit different to the norm but we need someone to tell us what that is!

I second that, you've not talked to a good architect. Try one or two more.

We were in a similar position, had some ideas but not great ones. What we did have was a good list of what we wanted to try and do. The second architect we spoke to clicked with us far more than the first and filled us with enough confidence to sign on the line.

That's not to say they immediately sketched out the scheme they would eventually go on to propose, but they listened well and had good ideas. Once they had produced a scheme design it was excellent. They'd done things we'd never had the vision to consider.

Get a really good builder and he will do the design as well

Worked so well for me

There is a middle ground- design architects who do the drawings and designs, propose builders etc. Much cheaper than an architect - all our designs for planning, building regs etc through to end of build was £3k instead of £11k architect was proposing.

Yes stucknoue that is just for the initial drawings, I just feel as he didn't talk through any of his ideas and I'm not sure he's going to come up with anything special (for want of a better word). I suppose I was hoping he would come in and offer a little more guidance - we were quite open and said we don't really have an idea of what we want but we want to have x, y and z and I don't feel confident he is going to do anything other than what we mentioned our ideas are rather than coming up with his own plans using his experience.

Maybe we just need to find someone we 'click' with. Just having not experienced a big project before we weren't sure how much direction an architect would need and were hoping he would be able to give us some direction based on his expertise.

oldwhyno that sounds more like what I was hoping for. I'll try a few more and hopefully find someone we have more confidence in!

maybe it doesn't have to be an architect? We used a concept planner who was highly recommended on Houzz. She came up with lots of ideas for our house reconfigure project. Her names Karen. (goes under the user name of oneplan on there.)

I've used two architects for two different projects now and neither were very good experiences, in different ways.
My regret was not interviewing more architects until I found the one that we clicked with - instead, we just went with the first one that came along and was recommended.

Ask some friends too? You may have some who would like to come up with ideas.

We got a builder in first and gave him a rough idea of our plan. He came up with a few suggestions and guestimate of prices. He then recommended an architect that he worked closely with. Architect came round and was very uninspiring but as a result of our chat with the builder and an idea of price we were able to tell him pretty much what we wanted.

@UpToonGirl

The point of the architect is to give you ideas and inspire you...not the other way around. We selected ours for his ideas and whilst the most expensive was (grudgingly) worth it