getting an architect - any advice?

[picklepud]

We're thinking of extending our house and it's not obvious how to do it, no scope for loft conversion and a couple of extensions already. So we think we need an architect and have had a friend's husband round. He's just starting a business and it's definitely not a mate's rates thing, so we will be looking at others and also architectural technicians. But really from the meeting we had it became clear that we have no idea how to approach this. Would love it if George Clarke from "The Home Show" bowled up and started spraying our house white, but as this seems unlikely, would love to know from anyone who's gone through this. At what point should they be giving a few ideas of what to do? Or do we need to sign up for their services first? Found it hard to get the measure of the friend's husband because most of his work has been commercial, but he said that he would need to do a survey first which would set us back at least £600. This could be usual practice, we just don't know. If anyone is prepared to talk costs that would be great too. Help!!

We've just been through getting plans done. The architect came round, discussed what we wanted from our extension, left with an essentials list and a dreams list, plus what we liked about our house, what we don't. She then came and did the survey. Then produced some plans, did 2 more meetings before we finally had exactly what we wanted. She submitted the plans to the planning office today when I had given her her cheque and the one for planning. It was £300 plus £150 for planning but we got mates rates as we're very very good friends with her and she's a bit slack at the moment. We're also taking her family out for a night meal next weekend, we'll be paying.

Oh my goodness! Our quote was £2600! But as you say mates rates! We're meeting with another architect Monday and a couple of architectural technicians so we'll see how it compares. I think his hourly rate was fair vergin on very reasonable and of course I have no idea how long this all takes , but he was estimating 65 hours work to get to planning application stage. Is this usual? Likely to add a bedroom, rejig and extend downstairs too.

We were in the same position (wanting to extend house but not sure exactly what we wanted), so I arranged for about 4-5 architects to come round to talk to us first. All of them quoted us fixed fees, and the guy we've gone with charged us £800 for site survey and drawing up of designs (with as many revisions as needed), £500 to draw up planning application and £500 for buildings drawings.
I wouldn't go for an hourly rate fee if you don't know what you want to do. We have taken about a year to decide on our plans, and our architect has come up with about 8 different options which we've finally whittled down, but perhaps you're better at making decisions than us!
I think it's important to go with someone you feel comfortable with, who you think can understand your objectives. Sometimes big, commercial firms just use same formulaic designs, whereas you probably want a more individualistic approach.
HTH

We paid an architect over £2k to do a design and the drawings for planning permission for us. During our initial meetings with 2 different architects, both were able to discuss a rough idea of what's possible at no cost. BUT, if our experience is anything to go by, be careful because our guy would tell us things that were possible but didn't give a clear indication of how expensive an option might be. Before you commit to using an architect, ask to see an actual property that he has worked on, one that is similar to yours and had a similar budget to yours spent on it. Our architect showed his last project which was beautiful but in hindsight it was obvious the owners spent a lot more on it that we intended spending. The design and spec that our architect came up with resulted in much high quotes from the builders than we were expecting and in hindsight, I'm really sorry we chose this guy and paid him so much money for a design we don't use.

We had a big refurb done and the architect we used was recommended by 3 other local mums. He only does total project management not just the design and drawings and charges 10% of total cost.

This is what we wanted anyway as it was a big job, and although DH and I are not thick, neither are we experts and were very glad to have him as builders can boggle you with the detail a bit and the architect can cut through all the crap. Having said that, we had great builders, but still there were some times it was very useful.

He wasn't keen to give any ideas until we'd signed up and paid an initial fee ( about £1000 from memory ) but IMO thats fair enough, you can't expect to get all the ideas free. We'd had 3 years to think about what could be done to the house, and he came up with so many brilliant ideas we never would have thought of ( eg moving stairs etc .

Ours was a once in a lifetime refurb on a much loved property that has been in my husband's family many years, that we intend to stay in for good, in our case the architect was money very well spent.

.........the other thing we did was underquote what our budget was to the architect right from the start. If you don't do this, you get amazing, fabulous, incredible ideas that you can't afford. They always seem to massively underestimate what things will cost.

I found the whole first year of planning and design a big exercise in expectation management. It was quite depressing having to rein myself in all the time. But very important unless you have a bottomless pit of cash. You can always splurge a bit, a bit later on if nothing hideous comes up.

Thanks for all the comments, really helpful. We have met with several people and think we'll go with the friend, not just on cost but because we think we'll get a great space. Architects are expensive, I've learnt that much, but compared to the build cost, a drop in the ocean and I'm pretty sure will be money well spent on a non standard project. Also expensive things can be good value - at least seven years training before you even start on experience.

Oh taffetacat, I so wish I'd read your point before we worked with our architect. It's such a good to underquote what your budget was. We told our architect our budget was 60k all in - meaning we wanted to build an extension, fit a new kitchen, flooring, doors etc for that amount. The design & spec he came up with resulted in quotes from the builders for £60k - and that was just for building the basic extension: it didn't include new kitchen, floor etc... We should have told him our budget was £25/30k.

smileymoo

As I'm sure you know, no matter how much you underquote they still come up with delicious tempters that aren't affordable, the bastards.