Do I really need an architect?

Pammy

Hi,

I have just purchased a property which has a rather inferior extension covering the back of the house.

I want to get it up to scratch and increase the depth to 10 feet.

Do I really need an architect for this?

I have been quoted from £500 - £1000 for some plans which I feel are really straight forward.

We apparently don't need planning permission for this but obviously it needs to meet building regulations.

Do I have to get an architect or are there other solututions?

Thanks

wallbash

I have been involved with number of large extensions, never used an architect.But I have always known exactly what I wanted to achieve.

RX-78

I'm debating the same. Doing some research with building reg and internet;

1. If you are confident enough to do it with building notice, you dont need a drawn plan. Problem with this is your builder has no plan to work on, and building reg cannot tell you if what the builder is doing is non compliant until they come to the site. So you'll really need to kow your stuff and have a good builder. Also building notice is no cheaper then full building reg in our council. You also dot get completion certificate (you get completion letter).
2. You could get non architect to draw a plan - apparantly SOME structural surveyors can do it
3. You could go for all in one builder that will do it from drawing to building. Obviously they are usually more expensive.

From what I can gather the best thing is to go and speak with local building reg duty officer. Its a free service, and can advice you of the options.

Pammy

Thanks, thats really helpful.

I know exactly what I want to achieve, it seems pretty straight forward to me. I will will call the local building reg duty officer and see what they say.

RX-78

Good luck Pammy!

I've been told by the building reg officer (not my local council but went with a friend else where and I butted in for a quick question) its not so much what I want but more what meets building reg and ensuring builder is sticking to the plan - you'll have little come back if you have no drawing to begin with!

wallbash

I miss understood the OP . Plans are required to allow a builder to accurately quote for the job. But this still does not require a qualified
( expensive ) architect. I have used a friendly
surveyor.Who is more than qualified to help with some CAD .

dander

I agree it's worth having plans - much easier with quotes and getting what you want from the builder. However, you can draw your own and do the build on a building notice. This is what I did and it worked fine!

The only disadvantage is that you're more likely to have bits and bobs where the spec has to change as you go along to meet regs - a decent builder will be fully aware of what is needed to get approval, but he may turn up unexpected surprises when he digs foundations and there is a certain amount of subjective interpretation with the building regs inspectors which can be a bit unpredictable.

Pammy

Thanks Dander.

I guess one of my concerns is that all I need are simple plans that seem rather generic, couldnt these just be copied?

Some of these websites just ask for photos to make your plans. Sounds a bad idea to me but from the feedback its sufficed.

cyberbob

You have to rememer an Architect may come up with ideas of use of Space that you may not. Also they will be aware of the regs of what is allowable an practical. So it may end up being cheaper with an architect as they may forsee problems that someone with less experience may not when drawing up the plans.

Remember builders are that builders they will do what is requested within the regs even if design and space wise it doesn't work. I know of people who have built off very simple generic plans and it has ended up costing a lot more due to things that were not in the plans and the overall design was very poor.

BillScarab

When I had a garage built I used an Architectural draughtsman/technician to draw up the plans. They're usually cheaper than architects but still well trained and know what they're doing.

RX-78

We went to our local office to chat with building reg control officer this morning.

We clarified;
1. For full building reg application, properly drawn plans is needed. Not sure what constitutes properly but he said it needs drawings of the floor plans, sidefron/back elevation with dimentions and materials, thickness of walls etc.
2. It will take upto 5 weeks for the plans to be approved
3. If any problem with the plan, they will specify and allow the chance to rectify.
4. Once the build starts, we can take as long as we want to finish (because we weren't sure if we had enough to do all the works in one go), so its cheaper to put all the proposed changes which requires building reg approval on one application
5. Not all changes (e.g. building a stud wall for walk in wardrobe) needs building reg.
6. He also adviced on type of walls that can be used, fire exits, doors etc.

It was useful to confirm certain things, if not to ensure you dont get ripped off by a cowboy builder!