Would you use a very experienced architect who drew everything by hand?

[Pompompurin1]

Just that really… Would you use a very experience older architect who has done a lot of work locally (and seems like a lovely person to deal with) but does not use computers to draw digital plans… Does the full works by hand? Is this likely to put builders off?

plans are obviously passing building regs

Yes I would. I'm currently having joinery work done by a company that still do all their drawings by hand. All others had come back with fancy digital designs. I chose based on experience and reviews, how the designs were drawn was irrelevant to me.

Of course.

Absolutely yes I would use them.

I don't think it would put builders off but I'm not personal a builder, just my thoughts

Yes I knew a traditional Architect who did not use CAD Computer Aided Drawing and he was brilliant and in demand!

Yes. CAD is useful if there's lots of revisions to do but I imagine he's pretty good at editing and tracing by now. Builders wont care as long as the instructions are clear. Experience counts for a lot! I say this as someone who does a lot of CAD. I love hand drawing but CBA. A skilled draftsperson can communicate as well if not better by hand what we can do with the PC.

Yes, experience and (presumably) a good relationship with the Planning Dept are worth more.

My personal experience also is that because it is so easy to change CAD drawings, less care tends to be taken. If you are committing something to tracing or vellum, you want to get it right first time if possible, so more thought goes into it.

No, because I’d think that it would take him longer to produce amendments when they’re required. I’d also wonder how up to speed he was with the regs.

I work in construction and hand drawn plans and notes are virtually obsolete.

Yes he does seem to have a good relationship with planning dept

The map of the Crystal Maze was drawn by hand; and so presumably was Christopher Wren’s St Paul’s Cathedral.

So yes, I would.

When we moved house, we inherited some computer-drawn plans for an extension: and it was quite late in the process before I spotted that the location of a room marked was impossible (would have stuck out into the stairwell). Even the builder didn’t notice at first.

All plans were hand drawn until pretty recently, it's an incredible skill/art and will still have the same level of accuracy and detail than CAD.

Thank you everyone :-) And he is the NICEST MAN ever

What happens if he wants to mod the plans or someone else has to take over the project. If you decide you don't like his work you have nothing to show for it and it can't be handed off to anyone else. If he is incapacitated for any reason then the new person will have to start from scratch.

Presumably they will take longer to make, and therefore be more expensive.

Computer plans are clearer and less opportunity for ambiguities. You also get to reuse old drawings and features which means they are faster and therefore cheaper to do. People making recommendations/mods will find them easier to mark up and modify.