Architects design 200k over our budget

[roastednuts123]

Keen for some thoughts here please! If you buy a house which needs some renovating, you have a budget to do the work (which is decent, but not endless, essentially took extra mortgage to cover it) you select an architect to help create the design / layout and create plans.... would you expect the quotes from builders to come back at least reasonably within your budget area? Surely it's the architects job to create something to within your budget? Or is that wrong?
We've been through months of this now and scaled back once, we've now put the most recent plans out for quotes and we're still over 200k over our budget. We're paying out for planning approvals/architect fees / structural engineer costs, and then going back to the drawing board.
I know costs are high and continuing to rise, but surely architects work closely with builders and will help design something appropriate? For context this is a house that essentially could be redecorated and a wall knocked down and new kitchen and bathroom, so doesn't have to be rebuilt or anything like that. We're living in it currently so it's not inhabitable.

Thanks so much for the replies and apologies I'm not going to quote or answer each one as I'm using my mobile. For the pp just now (I think you're an architect?) that makes so much sense and when we had the meeting today I had already taken that view - we went in with the 'this is shit but there's no blame here' view. I do wish ours had been more financially clear during the process eg pointing out 'you could move that wall and it'll be another 60k' but we are where we are.

As a pp has experienced too, we're now going right back to absolute basics and on plan number 3. We've wasted months in this process but I hope we are there now. We've trimmed back everything we can and if this doesn't come in within budget then we really are screwed.

I've probably been misleading with my costs and 70sqm extension - the 450/500k quotes are for everything to be done so remodelling inside, new plumbing new electrics demolishing and raising and replacing a roof. It's not just an extension being built. That said, it still appears to be v expensive and as a pp has said we think some are chancing their arm or don't want the work.

We will now get the latest plans submitted, and then select a builder but break down each trade and commission them individually. DH is happy doing this and whilst it's much more hands on, we should get things done a bit cheaper.

Thanks again for the advice and shared experiences

This reminds me of ugly house to lovely house. That was the common theme each week. Architect designing some really innovative, clever and bold ideas, but pretty much blew the budget every time.

We are also Midlands based and are currently planning a 5 x 7.5 metre double storey side extension, with additional rejigging of walls on the first floor, and remodelling of most of the house.

Our architects also did drawings for plans over our budget, they sought 2 quotes from builders that confirmed this. On the original plan there was also a second single storey and loft conversion, was always going to be way over budget.

We found a builder who would do an accurate as possible quote on the architects first drawings, minus the loft. It was still too expensive, so we re-drew the plans ourselves just including the the double- storey side extension, and 1st floor wall changes to fit in an extra bedroom. Our builder quoted at £153k including VAT for our new drawings. That includes glazing, doors, plumbing/bathroom fitting, underfloor heating and walls finished to plaster. Does not include bathroom suites, kitchen or fitting, flooring, decorating etc.

We then sent our own re-drawn plans back to architect to get them to draw them properly, and have just submitted for planning permission. So has taken a fair bit of back and forth over several months to get there, but thankfully we've only had to pay the architect a relatively small amount to have the plans re-drawn once, along with one lot of surgery's and one lot of planning fees.

I'm not an architect, but do work in commercial construction - and in my experience, projects costed by a quantity surveyor even in the second half of last year are coming back from building contractors at double the anticipated price right now - costs have all went crazy and it's a bit unpredictable.

Architects can work to a brief, but with such wild price increases it's really difficult for anyone to cost accurately at the moment.

Hi OP just wondering how you got on with your build/quotes with self management? We are in exactly the same position as you were in Feb, even same figures. Trying to weigh up if there is any possibility of continuing with the current design.

If I was employing an architect, they'd get a specification from me in advance that included a budget as an absolute condition. And it would be clear in my spec that if the plan fell more than, say, 10% outside the budget (which I would allow for) they would be whistling for their money. If they didn't accept that brief, I'd look for another architect. Surely it's the job of any competent architect to know if what you're asking for is over budget to extent you have experienced (even before they start doing any sums) and tell you that you can't have what you want, and help you be realistic before any designs are done? I must say that on what I have read on Mumsnt about architects, unless I could get a good recommendation to a competent one, I'd be inclined to find a competent builder and a structural engineer and let them work things out between them. What on earth is the point of an architect doing a design that's 50% or more over budget? Some kind of vanity w*?

Our builder told us £250 but wouldn't give a fixed quote. Was nearly £500 by the time we were done. So in our case builder came back in architects ball park but was still massively over.

Sorry didn't realise there had been more posts! Well things are continuing on the last set of plans which were approved and we're doing it all as a self build. Issue now is finding a builder who wants to do 'shell only' for the extension as some have said it's not commercially viable.
Good luck to those in same boat. I wonder if costs will ever calm down?!

Good to hear the update. Shame about where it has put you.

Your architect should bear some responsibility for this as they appear totally detached from reality. Part of the process we went through when we build a similar size (60 m2 ) was what did we want to get out of it, what our ideas were and also crucially budget and wiggle room. We did a build which sounds similar to yours and involved extremely tricky structural work, kitchen and utility for circa 80k and had luxuries like UFH. This was very much at the top end of the range and was 2018

I'm staggered at the increases now. My neighbours who want similar to our design are getting quotes for £300k but they are at least consistent with what the architects are saying. The interesting aspect is that the house valuation increases non where near to what is spent. Doesn't matter to us as we laid far less and are not moving but it is really affecting whether it is realistic to spend that amount and get a small % back

Have you considered holding off? We have rentals and do refurb ours and the building market is cooling dramatically. Some of these absurd quotes will soon just not stand and builders won't have work

I work in construction on the professional consulting side. Not on small domestic but the challenges you are experiencing are the same for all clients at the moment. Architects are usually working off “rule of thumb” pricing guides, which they then apply industry indexation eg BCiS to get “current price”. Unfortunately labour shortages and rising material and energy costs mean you don’t know how much it will cost until you get quotes from the builders.

The best way to get a better idea of cost early on is to bring the builder in as early as possible, even getting them to design with the architect under a design and build contract. They often can trim out costly things the architect and engineers design and propose alternative products/specifications that still meet your desired requirements. If you get a professional team to design every last detail light switch and door handle then ask them to price that is what they will do.

Given you are where you are I would suggest

1. getting at least 2 more quotes
2. going back to each builder and ask for their opinion as to where any potential efficiencies or savings might be found, for you to review with the architect

Sometimes it can be surprising what comes up in the latter. Delaying the project to a quieter time of year, resequencing the work to use less scaffold for shorter period, alternative suppliers for basic items, alternative construction options for over engineered designs.

We bought a house after consulting and architect who did all the drawings and gave us a quote for all the works. He said he was quite up to date with quotes so it wouldn't be far off.
So after buying the house, moving in, we find out his quote was about X5 less than the actual cost.

We are now trapped in this house which is a bit small for us when we could've bought something significantly bigger had we not fallen for his nonsense.

IME architects (well our one) tend to have their own ideas. So when the brief is only 1 en suite (no room for more) they design one in EVERY bedroom giving small bedrooms no room for storage which is much needed. Likewise 'don't move any of the downstairs walls as we don't want to move the utilities' and we find rooms changed about so there's a downstairs loo by the front door (miles from the soil pipe), and a door out to under the car port (which you couldn't open as invariably a vehicle there). Complete waste of £5k doing plans (3 attempts, still did not listen).

We worked with an architectural technician in the end. All of the benefits of using an architect but she didn't keep telling us to knock down our house and build a glass cube at 5x our available budget.

Honestly, it did feel quite ridiculous, including when an architect friend of a friend took massive offence at not being appointed, although his ideas were not even close to what we had described and would never have been manageable for us. For one thing, he wanted us to move out of the house with three under three, while a sizeable proportion of it was demolished.

We wanted an extension.

You’d think the architect would design something that fits within your budget, right? My cousin went through something similar—ended up having to scale back multiple times. They almost gave up until they found a different architect who was more realistic about costs. It might be worth checking out victoriaribeiro.com.br; they were recommended to us during a rough patch with our own renovation, and things went much smoother after. Sometimes, a fresh perspective can really make a difference.

We experienced similar and my learning was don’t use anyone you are friends or acquaintances with. She came up with some really weird ideas whereas others either stuck to the brief or gave the brief with options. The options made a boring extension fantastic.

My husband is an architect and would be appalled at being that far over budget.

Just seen some new replies even though I started this post in Feb 2023! Nice to read back and remember what I was going through then. It's been an interesting 18 months or so but we have nearly finished the house now doing a few things ourselves. Very tough going and I still the architect was pretty rubbish!