Do we need an Architect and how much should we expect that to cost?

[PermanentlyDizzy]

We have to decide, between now and the end of the next year, whether to move or stay where we are and somehow try to get a fourth bedroom into the house we’re in now.

To do this we need a professional opinion on the best way of getting that fourth bedroom, as well as moving the bathroom upstairs. Obvious options being a two storey extension and/or loft conversion. I’m guessing an Architect would be the best person to do that?

Backstory is, the house has been held in trust (from which we have been renting) for a number of years and we are due to inherit half of it at the end of next year. So, we have to decide whether to buy the other party out or sell up and move on.

We were planning to sell up and move on but, we have now been priced out of the area locally, as a result of needing that fourth bedroom. (Fourth bedroom is a deal breaker, as we have two teen ds with conflicting SN’s who are currently having to share.)

Also, dd has just started at the local secondary (extremely well respected school, within walking distance - people tend to move into the area just to get their dcs into that school). Transport links to and from the school are dire and we can’t commit to driving her there and back every day from now through 6th form. She’s very happy there, after a difficult few years being bullied at primary, so we have agreed we don’t want to move her to another school.

A loft conversion seems like the obvious option, but the house is quirky and no-one else in the row of 12 semi’s of this style have had one. Which makes me think it may not be doable. Lots of other people in the road in different style houses have had them done though, so I don’t think it’s due to planning restrictions.

The advantage of doing this place up and adding a bedroom, plus moving the bathroom upstairs, is that it will massively increase the value. It’s an excellent location with sought after schools and the house is currently, probably, the cheapest in the area, as it’s small for the area, needs work and is undesirable due to the downstairs bathroom. Aside from not being able to get dd to school, I would hate to move out of this area. I grew up here, moved away for years, then moved back to have my family. It’s semi-rural, right on the edge of beautiful countryside, low crime rate, leafy and somewhere other people aspire to move to locally, hence being priced out of the market. Location, location, location and all that...

Obviously, if we buy out the other party, that means we will still have 50% equity, so could do quite a bit and still retain a decent amount of equity in the final product, so-to-speak.

So, what is the best way to approach this? I was thinking we really need someone who can look at the house as a whole and suggest the best way to get what we need from it, be that extensions, moving walls, a loft conversion or a combination. I’m guessing that means we need an architect, but I have no clue how to find one or how much it will cost. Obviously we don’t want to sink too much money into an architect if the end result is us deciding it’s not doable within our budget and we have no choice but to move.

Any advice on how best to proceed would be appreciated.

I think you will need an architect, yes, however not all architects are created equal! Get recommendations, get at least 3 different ones to come and look and quote. A really good one will be worth every penny, and depending where you are I’d expect that to be in the region of £2,000 to £4,000. We had a very basic one storey rear extension which I drew up initial plans for then paid a structural engineer to do final plans (for planning permission) and calculate the steels - that cost £1250 for basic drawings so I’d expect and architect to be significantly more, particularly with a tricky layout.

Thanks for responding @BadgertheBodger.

Do you have any idea how I can get recommendations if I don’t know anyone who has had extensive building work done? Are there any genuine review sites? I tend not to trust online reviews these days.

In my experience everything around here is overpriced compared to surrounding areas. Not London prices, but definitely above the norm, so I assume we’d be near the top end of the price range you suggested.

It’s seems like a lot of money to pay out just to make the decision, but if we end up better off financially by staying and doing this house than we would over-stretching ourselves trying to afford another house locally, it will be worth it.

Realistically, we are going to have all three dcs at home for a number of years to come. The first one to go is likely to be dd going to uni in 6/7 years (even then we’ll need a room for her to come home to) and we need a home that can accommodate all five of us comfortably. Lockdown has been, er, interesting with us all squished into this house, with dh working from home - thank heavens for a large garden and being able to park the caravan on our drive! Not looking forward to winter lockdown, especially now the caravan has had to go back into storage! Complicating factor being we are both 50, so borrowing big is a bit scary at this stage of our lives and we want to be sure we are making the right decision.

I went to architects offices and asked to see work they had done. If you like work that has been done to other houses - leave a note asking for the name of the architect they used.
The most important advice I would give is to make sure sure it is an architect you use.

Have a look on lline for architects in your area and have a look at their websites. Most will have images of their work.

Choose a few and see if they will come and have a look at the property. Lots will do this for free and talk through some ideas with you. They'll then give you breakdown of what their fees would be. If you don't like them or don't feel they understand what you want to achieve, don't hide them.

Yeah you should be able to get the gist of what they’re thinking before you shell our for the full drawings. Some of them might do preliminary drawings for an initial consultation fee. In terms of recommendations, are there any houses local to you that you think look fab which have been extended? Go and knock on! Stick a note through. I bet people will tell you who they used. Have you got any ideas yourselves?

OP if you go on your local authority's planning website, you can search applications in your road and roads nearby. You can usually view the drawings submitted for the planning applications, and in the bottom right hand corner, it will have the name of the company who has prepared the drawings, usually the architect. That should give you names of people who have worked locally, who possibly know the style of your house and what's been achieved / allowed recently.

Thank you @nomdeguerrrr. Just had a quick google. There a couple very local to us, two of which are a definite no just from perusing their websites and seeing the type of work they do. One of the others looks promising and not sure about the last one, as they didn’t have much of. portfolio online.

@BadgertheBodger I have actually been using Google Earth to scan the local area for projects similar to the one we think we need. Haven’t found any yet, but will keep looking. I have some idea of what we want, but haven’t a clue whether it’s possible either structurally or within our budget. To be honest, most of the recent house renovations around here aren’t really to our taste. They tend to be massive and very modern, whereas our house is 1930s and cottage-style.

@AbbieLexie sorry, missed your post somehow. The local architect offices don’t seem to be the type you can just walk into. I think I will have to ring around a few and ask if I can see their portfolio.

@Africa2go that’s really helpful. Thank you. Unfortunately the 12 houses in our row are the only ones of this type. In fact despite searching extensively, I have never been able to find any the same (late 20’s/early 30’s garden village, cottage-style, ex Local Authority). There are some similar ones down south, but not exactly the same design and nothing even vaguely similar locally. No-one else in our row has done anything thing other than a single storey extension to the kitchen or two-storey extension with some very odd internal layouts. The two that have done that were done by the owners, who were both builders. Neither are a good use of space and I doubt an architect was involved. I have used Google Earth to see what sort of loft conversions people have got locally though, lots of mansards and dormers, so that’s promising if ours is able to be converted. It’s helpful to know I can look the ones I’ve found up on the LA’s site.

If thats the case, I would ask a neighbour (the ones further up the street who have had loft conversions) which companies they used and get them round to check whether you have sufficient head height first. That is usually free of charge.

We did something similar - single story extension with bedroom + ensuite + utility. We used a small firm consisting of a planning consultant and architectural technician. They were able to let us know what was possible and what would work well with our existing space. We also spoke to some architects, and found that they wanted to do more 'architect-y' things than we needed - all we wanted was a simple extension. We paid £1100 total, including the measurement survey, drawings, and submission of the planning application. This was in London.

You don't need an architect if you have a good idea of what you want to achieve. Draughting companies are another option but in both cases you'll be involving a structural engineer. You'll have planning submission fees, drawings, structural eng fees, BR fees plus anything the council decide as a condition of work (which might be nothing)...
Sketch out rough plans and post them here, I'm sure some idea will come up

Africa2go Most of the houses with loft conversions and extensions have changed hands in the last few years, so I doubt many of them will know who did the work. There’s been a massive turnover of property in this area over the time we have lived here, as people are always wanting to cash in on others trying to move into the area for schools.

@sarahb083 Unfortunately, I don’t think what we need is going to be simple at all. The house is very quirky, roofline is complicated and the positioning of the stairs and supporting walls makes it difficult to see how it could all work. So I do think we need something more ‘architect-y’, as working within basic/normal limits of just, for example, a simple rear extension , I don’t think we could make it work.

@Loofah01. I could have a go at sketching rough plans and posting them for the house itself, but the loft-conversion would be more difficult to explain, as the roofline is complicated. Dh thinks we have the height and worst case scenario, we have high ceilings, so could potentially lower bedroom ceilings (we are planning to move out and rent when the work is done if we go ahead). I’ll have a play with some sketches today and post them later if I get chance.

Excellent, maybe some exterior pics of the roofline too? It's actually very simple to lower the ceilings and might be the best route in any event

Even if people have moved on since extending their properties, you should be able to find some of the architect drawings on your council planning portal. Then you may see the name of the architect on the plans or the person/company who submitted them.

That or ask on your local Facebook group for personal recommendations perhaps, via school parents you know?

I looked at bark.com

Really good

Houzz is a very good source for both inspiration and finding builders, products and professionals.

What you could do is to get a couple of builders (find some that do loft conversions as well) round to give you an idea of what you could do and if you like what they say - ask who normally does the plans on the jobs they do.

Hi,
I work for an architectural practice and firstly you don't need an architect. Architectural designers and technologist's provide the same service as an architect, however you will find they are a lot cheaper. An architect focuses more on the design stage, where designers and technologists will provide services for design, Planning and Building Regulations. I work for www.drawmyextension.co.uk if you send them an email they will provide free initial advice and a no obligation quote. Then we arrange a free telephone consultation call direct with the designer so you can discuss the fee proposal in more detail. Hope this information helps.

@Loofah01 I am going to try and add some photos and mocked up floorplans of what we are working with. Hoping this works.

The two photos in the previous post are of the front where the roof slopes down right over the front door, above the stairs.

The wall on the right of the stairs is supporting. The black rectangles to the right of the bedrooms are fireplaces, they run from the living room, up into the boys’ room and into dd’s room via the kitchen fireplace. Most people had their kitchen fireplaces removed when the LA renovated the majority of these houses into 2 beds with a bathroom upstairs.

The photo attached to this post is the only one I have of the rear of the house and I had to crop it to avoid including identifying features from next door’s garden. It shows our house on the left vs next door, where the previous owners extended out the rear and raised the rear roof height, but no loft extension.

I would like to add, the roof has been fixed and the exterior decorated since those photos were taken!

So out the front you have a dormer that looks like it already goes into the loft area. There a vertical vent which is into the loft area; if you go into the loft can you walk upright all the way to that vent? It looks like if converted you wouldn't have too much room to play with but can't be sure without dimensions. You really need a height of 1.8m for comfort but obviously that will slope down toward the walls and ultimately create storage space toward the eaves.
Think you'll definitely need to lower ceilings of rooms below to maximise space. You may also need to reinforce or replace rafter of roof to comply with BR but a surveyor or structural engineer will confirm.
I think it will be doable but perhaps will not be the biggest conversion.

The vent is in the loft space above the boys’ room, yes. I thought we needed 2.2m clearance?

I assume we can only convert over the rear rooms, employing mansard/dormer. I’m concerned there’s not going to be a workable solution, because we’ll lose a bedroom on the first floor to the stairs and moving the bathroom upstairs, so would definitely need two single rooms in the loft, and I’m not sure where the stairs can go to make that possible.

We do have high ceilings - still have all the original picture rails - so lowering the ceilings is an option, but there would be no point if we can’t get enough living space from doing the conversion anyway.

The ideal would be to extend out at the rear like next door have and then convert the loft as well, but I suspect that’s going to be impossible cost-wise. Whatever we do, it’s always going to be a small house.

Sorry, the 1.8m was finished room and walking about height. It'll feel tiny if anything less. I'm beginning to share your concerns on available space!