Architect budget unfeasible

[chillichoclove]

We met with an architect in October and walked round our house to discuss what we would like to do (remove conservatory at rear and reconfigure house to improve flow on ground floor, with renovation of both downstairs and upstairs ). They felt this was plausible with our budget.
They returned feasibility drawings just before Christmas (emailed through at midday, they were off from 1pm) The budget suggested is three times what we discussed.
Has anyone had this before? I thought that architects often didn't realise reality and builders quotes would be even more. We are gutted as it seems impossible

Unfortunately I think this is reality. . . They've given you a rough idea of what you wanted ... (And you're right, it will be significantly more no doubt). . Gutted for you that they can't do what you wanted for the budget, but it is what it is. Your'll need to really (really) revise what you want (ed). Or sell your soul to the devil ....

Urgh - sorry to all architects out there in advance - I’ve found that unless you’re building from scratch they’re useless - and yes, will listen to your budget, tell you it’s doable, create & charge you for the designs and then look shocked when the builders quotes roll in🙄. In the past 10 years I’ve moved on to using surveyors to draw up designs for planning etc and have also found they’re much more capable at cost estimates…

Yeah that’s architects. Speak to some builders?

@chillichoclove we had something similar but even more irritating in that our architect drew the plans, fantastic, we asked him for ball park build costs which he said £150k which was within our budget so all good. We went to tender .......cheapest £205k up to £300k. We went with mid priced builder but due to supply, costs and delays, we now at over £300k and still 3 months off finishing. Probably looking at £370k so we've had to remortgage when we initially hoping to do extension and pay a chunk off the mortgage!

Thanks all. They are quoting £670k. Which I feel like you could build a house from scratch from. This doesn't even include a loft or any additional building. 🥴
It mainly that they said it would be possible that's so irritating. 😣

@chillichoclove - what did you tell them your budget was? I'd be interested to know how far off they actually were?

In my experience architects have no idea how much things may cost and so never give you an idea anyway. Ours wouldn't commit to a figure even when asked straight out. Once the builders quotes came in they were all 'yes yes that's about right'. It was annoying. DH was surprised at the quotes but I had guessed them quite accurately.

Best way of working it out is finding the square metre coat for a full refurb as it is currently (was £2500 when we did it) and this gives you a rough price. Unfortunately prices have rocketed this last year. Builder friend of mine says all his quotes now say very clearly that material costs can change week to week.

That said your quote sounds bloody ridiculous!!

That sounds crazy…we are doing a full basement in SW London and renovating every room (2,300 sq ft) and have a quote of £800k all in plus VAT

Sorry - including VAT.

I would break this down into areas of the house and look at where the money is going. What is for the removal of the conservatory, reconfiguring the downstairs and what for the upstairs? Can you do ground floor and leave upstairs? How big is the conservatory? Are you not replacing it? For little building work, the amount is too much in my view. For an extension and complete remodel, it’s not negotiable!

We said £270k for first fix

There's new glass windows/door across the back where conservatory was. No supporting walls change. No foundations.
We've done two fairly hefty renovations in last 7 years so not completely naive.

I think we will try a builder but as in conservation zone and changing look of back of house advised we needed application /drawings. But have found a local architect technician who I think knows the lay of the land.

Do you want to lose the floor space where the conservatory was? We are in AONB and cannot do anything without planning but I wouldn’t lose floor sq metre size! Or volume. You might not get it back.

@chillichoclove that does seem a ridiculous amount! We've had 110 sq metres added to the house, a new detached garage, landscaping front and back, rewire, replumbed and high end finish in kitchen, 2 x bathrooms and utility. £370k 🤞🤞. We are in South Manchester/Cheshire so a pretty pricey area!

I don’t really understand how anybody is affording to do work on their houses with crazy quotes like these. Our initial architect guesstimates were similar ballpark, but really for what exactly? Literally 100k to redecorate our living room?!? Definitely places money could be saved haha.

How much are people charging by the hour for labour these days, even forgetting about materials??

Building costs are through the roof at the moment. The days of cheap labour are over and there are major supply issues.

1st world problems.

How in earth could they estimate £670k for what sounds like pretty basic work, it's madness!

*on earth

Could it be a typo? I know architects are notorious for underestimating the actual cost before it goes out to tender, but seems odd they've practically tripled your budget prior without mentioning beforehand

We are at about 200k for replace conservatory with big extension, lots of glass, new kitchen, new doors, 2 new bathrooms, outside work patio etc, drains, big steel, new downstairs loo, underfloor heating in extension….

We told our architect the budget we had and she assured us it was doable. 3 builders came in at approx £40k over. I realised throughout the build that she didn't care about the budget and it was more about her preference rather than cost.

@Justcannotbearsed
You simply could not get all that for £200k where I live. Unless kitchen was ultra cheap and bathrooms and you did a lot of the finishes yourself. We had extensive alterations 11 years ago and it was way more than that but I had quite an expensive kitchen and that would have eaten 1/5 of your budget alone!

@TizerorFizz agreed. A lot depends on location, value of property and how quickly you want/don't want to sell on. New kitchen could easily be 100k. Or 10k.

Omg this thread is extremely daunting.

Me and dp are looking to add a downstairs extension to the rear of the house, we haven't even got an architect involved yet or builders but I'm not hopeful after reading this thread that we'll ever be able to afford it.

It would probably be cheaper for me to train in a trade and do it myself 😂

I'd honestly just work directly with the builder. I can't imagine an architect adding anything of real value to a standard extension over & above what you can come up with yourself. You know the house best, what you like, and can easily find examples/illustrations online of what's possible