Architect issues - please advise

cpu

Not sure if this is the right board or not so apologies in advance if it's not but I thought the people who frequent this board might be able to help.

I want to make a couple of small alterations to my house, (move the boiler & back door) and I need to apply for a building warrant. I asked an architect to come and look at it all and to do whatever drawings I need for the building warrant. The work is fairly straightforward so I wouldn't have thought it would have taken too long but 2 weeks later and he has just told me they are nowhere near done 'although they have done 'some' work on it. He will try to get me something sent out next week for me to approve but it will be a while longer before the actual drawings wil be ready.

Is this kind of time line normal? I feel that because this is only a small job compared to other projects he is working on, that he is not spending much time on it. In the mean time, we are living in a sorry state because we can't start the work without building regs and it's a bit like a building site (only cleaner ).

I'm wondering whether to ask him to supply me with whatever he has done up till now and bill me accordingly then get someone else to look at it. Would that be just as long and I'm as well sticking with the first bloke?

Any advice please?

Ems*Honie

Is he 'designing' anything or just doing building reg drawings? Building reg drawings are quite cmplex (I'm half way through my first set, which is for two extensions) but some one used to the technicalities shouldn't have taken 'weeks' over them. Are you sure it's all straight forward as far as the work goes? I think I would ask to see what has been done so far

ETa I'm a CAd tech/engineer in construction, not an Architect so there may be differances in time, possibly, not sure why they would be though, I still have to have all the calcs and designs before I can draw them out and the two extensions I'm working on would take a week 'if' I were working on them full or even properly part time, instead of squishing it around house work and child care.

lynzpower

from reading this it reminds me of a fairly simple job my parents had someone into do, tile the utility room and part of the kitchen. It should relaly have taken 3 days absolute max, but ended up taking 3 weeks- why? Becuase the tiler had other more lucrative work to do and pushed my parents job to the bak burner. Since then my parents have always said when asking a tradesman to do work, to ask explicitly what other projects they are doing at the same time- and in light of this, when would completion of the work be projected?

I wonder whether this might be happening to you?

cpu

No Ems, no designing involved, just drawings suitable for moving back door up the wall a bit (turning existing window into a doorway instead and making old doorway a window). Moving boiler up the wall a bit (but still using old flue, just shortening the length of it. Also removing stud partition (non structural internal wall), approx 5' in length.

As lynpower says, I am wondering if it's pushed to the back burner because it's not lucrative enough.

Ems*Honie

I would definately get onto them and ask to see what he's done then, I would agree with Lynz, he's back burnered it because it's a 'quick' job, if that makes sense. As far as I can see (although I am mechanically trained so construction is recent for me. I'm not an expert) they would be fairly easy, quick drawings, not an afternoons work, but not weeks and weeks worth either. Call him,, I would

marybishop

But if he fits you in because you're a 'quick' job (depending on what you mean by quick) then he will have to push someone else to the back and so that person will then start jumping up and down and quite rightly so. If you squeezed in all the little jobs because they were 'quick' you'd never get any of the bigger jobs finished. Don't forget this is a very busy time of year for the building industry and I think you'll find everyone's busy - in fact if they're not perhaps you should be asking why!

Ems*Honie

Ummm, but surely if you take on a job you assess whether or not you have the time to get it done in a reasonable time, without backburnering it because it's smaller than other jobs you have, regardless of who or what industry you are in it's still customer services isn't it. When I get paid jobs come in they take importance over my own drawings and the housework, because someone is paying me for a service and I want to deliver that service and please the client. Essentially if he had too much on his books already to get this job done he should have informed the op of a possible delay or rec' an alternative company.

cpu

Ems*Honie wrote: »

Ummm, but surely if you take on a job you assess whether or not you have the time to get it done in a reasonable time, without backburnering it because it's smaller than other jobs you have, regardless of who or what industry you are in it's still customer services isn't it.

This is exactly my point. The architect obviously knows how tied we are and the way the house is, I knew he was busy when I called him but I made it clear we needed help as soon as and that's when he told us 2 weeks, which was acceptable to us and tied in well with other plans we had.

Now, 2 weeks later, it looks like he's done little or nothing of any use. He should not have accepted the work if he couldn't spend the time.

I couldn't contact him on Friday but I will get hold of him tomorrow and try to pin him down to see whether he will be able to do anything soon or not. I wouldn't expect his bill up to now to be too large since he's not spent much time on it, so it may be worth paying him and then going elsewhere if I can get someone else to do the drawings. He has already surveyed the place and taken all the measurements etc so I'm assuming I can just pass these on to a new person and get them to continue where he left off?