Fees of an Architect?

sam1970

I am looking to build a double storey extension and a loft conversion and I have contacted a couple of architects to survey and quote me for drawing the plans and sorting out the needed planning permissions. What I would like to know is:

1- How much sould expect to pay for this service (Roughly). I am in the West Midlands.

2- I found some project management companies who say on their websites that they dont employ any qualified architects(legal disclaimer) but they are happy to do the work based on practical rather than academic experience...Are these safe to use?

arbrighton

The firm I employed charge per hour of time and how much that is depends on the person e.g. senior designer/ architect/ technician, plus mileage for visits etc. Then separate fee for submitting planning and building regs etc. Plus as it's a big project on a period property, we're having them managing it too.
But you should be thinking around 7-8% of total project cost

sam1970

thanks for the reply...8% sounds a bit excessive for what I was thinking...I was thinking more of 3-4% including pp fees

teneighty

For a simple two storey extension and loft conversion I would expect fee to be £1500 to £2000 for detailed drawings up to Planning and Building Regulations stage. I would ask for a fixed fee quote rather than an hourly rate.


I would look for a good local architectural designer rather than a full blown registered architect, just make sure that they are qualified in a similar professional field and carry professional indemnity insurance.


Seek personal recommendations or look on local Councils website Planning Applications to see which firms are submitting similar applications in your area and look at their work. Do not just search the internet based on who has got the fanciest website. I find the better the website the worse the service and higher the cost. Good designers do not need a fancy website as most of their work comes from word of mouth.

violettasomerset

We're undergoing a planning application at the moment, for two single storey extensions (one side, one back) and the three quotes we got all ranged between about £2-2.5k up to planning submission. You'll also need to allow for building regs drawings (ours are £1k) plus tender package so the builders know what to quote for (£500). Structural engineering fees will also be additional.

We didn't go for the cheapest, but the one who we felt had the most experience of similar properties (1960s semi!) - one was much more used to large houses out in the country, and the other was more used to inner-city period properties. We decided to use an architect rather than architectural technican as we thought he would have more creative ideas, plus might be better for the later stages of the project (including project management if we want it).

smifffy1989

We opted for an architectural designer (West Midlands) as ours was a relatively straightforward extension. I think we paid £350 for plans and building control drawings. PP was in addition to.

I would say that it may be worth speaking to the builders first, often they have their own preferred plans drafter who will probably be cheaper than paying for the drawings first.

sam1970

smifffy1989 wrote: »

We opted for an architectural designer (West Midlands) as ours was a relatively straightforward extension. I think we paid £350 for plans and building control drawings. PP was in addition to.

I would say that it may be worth speaking to the builders first, often they have their own preferred plans drafter who will probably be cheaper than paying for the drawings first.

Thank you for the advice. You said (architectural designer)..is that different from an architect? as I found some websites for designers who admitts that they are not qualified architects. I am worried if use one of them and he makes a mistake in his drawings, I will have no comebacks

arbrighton

That's the thing with architects, they are registered professionals so will be more expensive, and as someone else said, we've had the tender package (and negotiations with builders) too. However, this is an early Victorian property with lots of features that we wanted mirroring in the extension and there are several sections with different roofs that needed marrying up etc.
I did approach 4 architects prior to deciding who to use- one firm said (and rightly so) that our proposed budget was too small to achieve what we wanted, one didn't bother to reply for a few weeks and the other two came out to visit. One was a one man firm, and I didn't feel that he quite worked for us and our needs and the other firm we employed, as they've done similar work before, are close to us and understood what we wanted to do.

teneighty

sam1970 wrote: »

I am worried if use one of them and he makes a mistake in his drawings, I will have no comebacks

"I would look for a good local architectural designer rather than a full blown registered architect, just make sure that they are qualified in a similar professional field and carry professional indemnity insurance."

Try members of RICS, CIAT, CIOB etc. etc. They should have the relevant initials after their name and will be happy to confirm their insurance cover. You can also check their membership status with the institution concerned.


For most residential extension/alteration projects a registered architect is probably overkill and you would be spending thousands more than you really need to, just look at the examples above. By the same token, spend too little and you will probably get an unqualified uninsured monkey with a box of crayons.

smifffy1989

sam1970 wrote: »

Thank you for the advice. You said (architectural designer)..is that different from an architect? as I found some websites for designers who admitts that they are not qualified architects. I am worried if use one of them and he makes a mistake in his drawings, I will have no comebacks

They are normally building professionals, they are not qualified architects. Ours was in fact a project manager of buildings. He carried professional indemnity insurance- this is a must.

sam1970

Hi Guys...I had two quotes for our work (two storey extension to one side, one storey extension to the other side and loft conversion) from Architecteral technologists....one quoted £1200 and the other £2400 both up to pp and build. regs....huge variation