Anyone had architect design completely unrealistic?

[Beyondsnoop]

Paid over £5k to an architect for extension drawings according to our budget. Also noting that cost of materials going up so allowed extra for that but prepared for more. V specific that we were flexible on what we wanted but we only have so much money hence employing an architect as the expert.

Gone to get a builder and the v few that will quote, are giving base prices over double our budget. Literally an extra £150k. Architect is saying get more quotes they are too high and ‘price of materials’. But firstly, we can’t be getting quotes forever, and secondly would you trust a quote in budget when everyone else is saying it’s much more expensive in reality?

Also some have broke down the quotes for us (how embarrassing, all that work to tell them we can’t afford it) and the components look like reasonable figures you would expect to us. It’s the whole bloody plans that don’t add up.

Not sure how to move forward with this.

We paid our architect a stand-alone further fee for a budget as I wanted to know what we could afford to design.

It turns out that was money staffed off a wall. All the quotes we had were significantly in excess of the architect’s budget. The final cost is going to be nearly twice as high as budgeted.

But you are getting this work done when building materials have doubled in price. Builders cannot get trades people. They went back to the EU. I’m not sure why people on this thread don’t understand this. There are shortages all round and prices reflect this.

An Architect is not a QS. I’m not surprised they don’t get costs right. Their training is all about designing the space you have for your lifestyle. The more you want regarding complex layout and size, the more it will cost. Even a basic box will have more hidden costs than you have thought about.

@TizerorFizz , that’s an easy cop out, isn’t it? If the architect wasn’t able to give us a realistic budget, then why did he offer to produce one, for a substantial fee?

Prices have gone up, yes, but not by a 100% - inflation is 10% on last year. Yet quotes we received were easily 100% more than the architect had budgeted. This was based on his seemingly vast experience of similar project, right now, in our area, and we specifically asked him to take take rising costs into account.

if you went to another professional for advice, they would be duty bound to deliver services based on your means, and to decline instructions from clients who can’t afford their services. It is ridiculous that architects are so clueless at estimating the costs of building their designs. It brings the profession into disrepute because architects are perceived as incompetent at best, and deceitful at worst.

We had a similar situation. We were very clear about our budget - sought several quotes and they all came in double the budget.

We picked the builder who seemed the most sensible and sat down with him and the architect and revised the plans. He had lots of ideas and tons of common sense. I wish we’d found him first.

When it came to the actual building work we had our work cut out to keep it in the agreed range - every other day there was a new problem or suggestion. The words “how much extra will that cost then” were a mantra.

The architect had contracted covid and was in hospital for most of the build. Obviously we were more concerned for his health but at the end of the day he did precisely nothing to justify his fee.

speak to one of the builders who can give you an idea of what’s actually possible with your budget.

No - but surely if architects are selling a costing service they should know about materials inflation and factor than in?

we trust architects to have a better grip of things than we do - to be sign within our budget.

what is the point of telling an architect you only have £100k to spend and they design something that will cost £200k. If that is not achievable for the client then it is a huge waste of time.

you can’t expect them to be precise - but my goodness they work in the industry and advise clients. They should know what things cost!!!!

I don’t honk anyone on this thread is as stupid as you suggest! We do understand inflation and labour shortages. Apparently you don’t expect architects to?

@Yellownotblue the thing is some materials have gone up by 100% or even more over the last 18 months or so. And labour, if your builder can actually get any seem to be able to demand whatever they want! I wouldn't be surprised if some trades were asking for double what they were paid before covid, and getting it due to a Complete lack of skilled tradespeople
Depends when your costings were done by the architect tbh. If the costings were done 2 years ago then the architect couldn't have forseen the rises. If they priced it within the last 12 months then they should have been aware

@Yellownotblue

10%inflation is not applicable to construction. Shortage of matériels snd labour has pushed prices up by far more than the official government figure.

I would assume your architect had access to a QS regarding prices. We’ve never Ed had an Architect price anything. It’s fairly well known they design but don’t the price of anything. Generally people look at the standard price per m2 adjusted for area of the country, complexity and finishes specified.

Don’t pay the Architect unless there is a full explanation of the pricing that was given to you. @Alexalee is correct. Prices are high and the Architect might not have priced much in the pandemic. You will just have to work out the price per m2 you have been quoted and reduce the size of the extension to match your budget. Or borrow more. Your price was unrealistic though.

Part of the problem is that there is too much work and not enough builders, so they either don't want to quote at all or quote silly money on the basis that they don't really want the work but will do it for a large premium.

@Despinetta
That is definitely a problem. What builders quote can have huge variations. An architect cannot really know what workers a builder can get or even that they want your work. Plenty are booked up well ahead.