Extension, did you use an architect? Pros and cons

[TrumpInflatableChased]

Looking to spend about £70k on extension. Haven’t moved in yet and there’s a few ways it could work...

Did you use an architect?

We used a v good architectural technician to do loft extension previously ....

How can you not use an architect? Unless you have technical drawings you can't get planning and the builder can't quote or build?

We had our plans drawn up by a Chartered Surveyor

I should have been clearer. Did you use an architect or other professional to draw up plans. If you used an architect did it add to the finished product in terms of style, ides, ease of use...?

Did you just use them for the plans or for the whole project?

Yes we did but had a previous set of plans drawn up by a surveyor which we didn’t end up using. This was nothing to do with the plans, just that we changed our minds about which way to extend.

There wasn’t much between the two really. The ones the architect did were just drawing up what I designed. The structural engineer he recommended screwed up so that wasn’t great but not his fault.

Our extension is a fairly basic fill in box so not a lot of scope for creativity so a Chartered Building Surveyor was all we needed.
An architect might add value in terms of better use of space and aesthetics.

Depends on how complicated your design is or how adventurous you want to be. If you know what you want & it is pretty straight forward any suveyor or technician could do the drawings for planning approval. My architect drawings in terms of dimensions weren't 100% in places thankfully my builder is experienced. You will still need structural engineer to do the serious calculations. So if there is a price difference go with the best quote.q

A structural engineer did ours. Our builder actually added ideas as it was built. In hindsight, I'd have posted my plans (as that was what drawings were based on) on here to be challenged.

We used an architect to do all the drawings etc and also project manage the exstention.
It was well worth the money. He came.on site every few weeks and checked through progress and was able to help challenge the builders etc. Well worth taking the hassle of all that away

We used an architect because we saw too many extension when we were viewing houses that were just a box on the back or side and didn't really seem to fit in either internally or externally.
We explained what we wanted and then they came back with something which seemed bizarre and hardly any extra square metres for the 80k+budget, once we got over the initial shock and trusted them it turned out the final project is way better than what we expected.
The way i see it a technician or surveyor is someone who does whatever you ask, and an architect is someone to trust to provide what you actually need.
And a builder will do whatever is cheapest/easiest to build.
A gross generalisation but that's a helpful way to look at it. Also there are bad and good of each, we interviewed about 5 architects before we decided.

Yes we did. Cons - expensive. Pros - we got a great, imaginative design, a very detailed spec to send out to tender, help finding reputable builders, details about what materials to use (she'd even specified what plug sockets to use). This made life immeasurably easier for us in our build and we've ended up with fabulous extension. But, our house was quirky and there wasn't an obvious way to extend. We really needed someone with vision to help us out. If we were just doing a standard box on the back of our house, maybe we wouldn't have needed an architect.

Good point about bad extensions. Saw some appallingly messed about houses when looking. Either lovely houses ruined by random ugly additions or nice extensions but no link to the original space....

@johnd2 can I ask what sort of overall budget your build was ?

I would use an surveyor, architectural technician or any of the other professionals capable of drawing up plans, simply to save money as I know what type of extension I would do to most houses.

If you cannot see what would suit your house then use an architect. As you probably need more input than just drawings.

Also builders can quote even on drawings that you have done yourself, there are lots of programs out there. You can even produce drawings for building regs yourself but it does depend on size and scope of the build.

If a builder could not quote on drawings not from an architect then I would not use them, as that shows a lack of imagination and problem solving.

We used one - explained very well why most back extensions look similar as others either aren't permitted or cost an extra 100k. He also then said "but what I'd really like to do is to do this..."and rearranged other rooms so the whole house worked better. Used builders he recommended,went pretty smoothly.

We used one and like PP have said, she came up with a design I had never envisaged but which solved all my 'problems', she recommended a very good builder I would never have heard of otherwise, produced a detailed statement of works and spec which has taken away many headaches. She has been worth every penny.

We used one for our extension and he designed it for himself. I asked him what the wall of shallow cupboards was for and he said our (nonexistent) DVD collect! He didn’t have kids so I had to point out what we really needed was proper deep storage for all the toys and games. He also recommended these glass supports for the roof which sounded great but... his ‘estimate’ for the build was half what it cost us. But it got us through planning.
Another time we added a floor to a building and used one but again he didn’t listen and I redesigned his floor plan myself and he just translated it for planning. I’d use a surveyor next time because I generally know what I want.

I designed our extension myself. My builder does design and build, so a technical drawer came round (works with the builder regularly) measured up and drew the plans according to what we wanted. I had drawn a basic plan so he could see what we were after. He also applied for the pp and did the building regs. The total cost for his services/drawing/building regs, etc was around 3k.

We used an architect all the way through including project management. He was invaluable in dealing with the planning dept as we were in a conservation area. Even better though he made the builders redo a couple of things that he thought were sloppy. We hadn't spotted them.
It was definitely worth his fee & we'll do the same with this house.

@TrumpInflatableChased overall budget was about 90k to a plasterboard finish, included 6k for architect ie 2k overall design, 2k getting to the start of the build ie building regs, Thames water, quotes, dealing with SE, contracts and vetting builders, and then 2k for the build stage including inspections etc.
Overall was about 10k of non construction costs.
We did the plumbing and electrics ourselves and all the fitted furniture and internal finishes.