Advice on choosing and appointing an architect

HanBan

Hello Everyone,
I have been a reader of the MSE Forums for years and have always been really impressed by the helpful people on here, so I thought I would post myself for the first time today as I need some advice!
My Partner and I recently bought our first property in an area completely new to us. The whole house needs remodelling/renovating and we would like to appoint an architect to help us with the design and planning process. Unfortunately we do not know anyone that can give us a personal recommendation for a local architect, so we are researching online instead.
So far we have done an online search for local architects and have also searched on the RIBA website. From this we have selected four that look like they would deal with a project of our size so it’s just a case of calling them up now to have an initial chat.
My questions to the Forum are:

• Would you consider using an architect that is not registered with RIBA? One of the local architects I found on Google is not registered.
  
• Are there other checks we should be doing before calling them? We have checked them all on Companies House and they are all registered which is a good start, I think!
  
• Are there any questions you would recommend asking on an initial call? So far we have:

• Do you do offer individual services – e.g. only design and planning? Or do you only take on projects where you manage the build?
• Do you have a minimum project size/cost you will work with?
• What are your fees?
• Do you have examples of properties you have worked with / got through planning in [local area]?
• If we decide to go ahead, what are the next steps?

Any advice short or long would be greatly appreciated. Or if you know of another thread where this is already covered please feel free to point me in the right direction!
Many thanks : )

Furts

You may be going about this in the wrong way. Before any Architect gets involved answer fundamental points...

What budget do you have?
What faults exist with the house?
How much value can you add - all streets have an upper value regardless of what is spent on them?
Do you have convenants?
Do you live in a Conservation Area?

Then sketch out what you would like to achieve - Architects are not mind readers.

Then get a rough idea what your work will cost.

Then consider a local technician/trainee/one man band type designer - this will come cheaper.

I have no issues with a Qualified Architect being appointed - but this could be expensive and it could be unwarranted. Here it depends on what you have purchased

HanBan

Hi Furts,


Many thanks for your helpful reply.


We have a really good idea of what we want done and have written it all down in a brief.


I think a lot of it just needs a builder/structural engineer to work with us (such as on removing a chimney stack/fireplace that runs through the middle of the property). But where we need some design help is with the whole downstairs, which we want completely changing around and possibly extending further if we can. We have some of the plans for other houses on our road that we like and we really need someone to help us with putting a realistic design together for our own home and getting it through the planning process.


So with that said, do we need an architect or just a really good building company?


To answer your questions:


Budget - Yes have a budget in mind, so part of this process is to fact-find what’s realistic for that budget.


Faults - We have lived in the house for a few months and there don’t appear to be any major issues. It’s a 1890s house - originally a two-up/two-down - with some extensions/modifications over the years. There are no leaks, no damp and no major structural problems that were flagged in our survey. We do need to upgrade the glazing, wiring and plumbing/heating (my partner is a heating engineer that part is not such a major cost for us).


Adding value – our purpose for the work is to make it a nice home for us to live in for many years to come, rather than to maximise value. Having said that, a lot of the houses on our street have been bought up by developers over the last two years, remodelled and sold on for a significantly lot more money than we paid so there’s quite a lot of scope for this.


Covenants – No.


Conservation Area – No.


Many thanks again.

HanBan

P.S. Apologies for the poor formatting - I am new to posting and haven't got the hang of it yet!

Furts

My suggestion is a lower cost designer/architectural technician/house designer/extension design type of person. Ask around, look in local freeby magazines for ads and so on to source one.

Whilst some builders will offer this as part of their package it is not a route I recommend. You need to get firm decisions before wasting a builders time!

You may need Planning and you will certainly need Building Regs plus the services of a structural engineer.

Sausage11

HanBan, where in the country are you? Someone may well be able to recommend a local firm.

We virtually rebuilt a semi-detached bungalow, taking it from 83 to 135 square metres. We worked on lots of potential extension ideas and couldn't decide. We invited a number of local architects to visit and then went with one. They gave us an external design that we really liked and we couldn't have come up with ourselves.

I was able to do the internal design but I wasn't confident enough to try to place the stairs to ensure that we had sufficient height etc. So the architect was really useful here as well.

However, we also took them on to take the project through planning and on that they were pretty hopeless. It got refused despite their advice and we had to fight for everything ourselves.

So I'd say an architect could be useful depending on what you're looking for and the size of the project.

Oh yes. We then took on an architectural technician to help with the design of the build. He was hopeless and told us it couldn't be done for less than 200K (build cost) without lots of pillars. I believed him. However, we then found an excellent local structural engineer and he project managed the build. We got a great deal and the build cost was 60K! Had we have listened to the idiot technician I've no idea what we'd have done.

People I know are in Bedfordshire / North Herts.

HanBan

Furts - many thanks for your advice. One of the people I found during my online search is a lower cost architectural technician / designer that deals with extensions etc. so I think I will definitely call him up and have a chat with him first.


Sausage11 - thanks for sharing your experience. Your starting point sounds quite similar to ours - in addition to help with the external design, we also want to know the best place to put the stairs so that we can make best use of the downstairs space which we completely want to change around.


That's interesting that everyone you worked with had such notable strengths and weaknesses throughout the process. I have heard the same from friends who have had work done in other parts of the country. One person told me that the architect was a complete waste of money throughout their kitchen extension, but the structural engineer was worth their weight in gold! ...It's hard to know which is the best way to go!


I live in Walton-on-Thames in Surrey so a bit far to use your people, I think!


A quick question - you said you were able to do your own internal design. Can I ask if that means you did your own drawings? The reason I ask is I was looking at other property plans from our road on our local planning portal and quite a lot of people have submitted their own drawings and I wondered if, with a bit of research and logic, we are able to do some of this ourselves?

Furts

It is very hit and miss with architectural types. Be aware if you are talking about moving stairs this is serious structural and Building Regulations matters. This might be beyond the capabilities of some junior types/people designing extensions.

In my experience Structural Engineers are sound folks with their heads screwed on. I have not met a bad one unlike many architectural types. However, I would be cautious about getting one to project mange a scheme - it could be beyond their comfort zone.

By all means copy what your neighbours have done but delete any architects names from any drawings. The work is copyright so be careful here.

HanBan

Thanks Furts. All great advice.

...I wasn't very clear about the stairs before - when I said 'best place' to put the stairs I meant which room to place access to the stairs from. I don't think we would move them.


At the moment we have four rooms downstairs in one long line - a front room (where the entrance to the house is), dining room, kitchen and bathroom - most of it's open plan and the stairs runs right through the middle as well as a fireplace and chimney stack
.
We want to have a closed off front room, cover up the stairs, move the entrance to the side of the house where the dining room is and make that area an entrance area with a toilet / cloak room. We also want to convert the kitchen and bathroom into a large kitchen diner - which means getting rid of the fireplace and chimney and converting the shower room we have upstairs into the main bathroom.


There's definitely some work here for a structural engineer, but are they generally able to help with the rest of the layout and finalising the plans?


I definitely won't copy anyone else's drawings! There are aspects of two different houses on the street that we like and ideally we want a hybrid of the two. We just need someone to help advise us on whether what we want is possible, put together some drawings and then support us with the planning process. After that, we can decide the best way to manage the build.

System

Being registered with riba isn't important but the arb is the important one if you are looking for an architect. Riba membership is an optional thing.
If you don't go with an architect then you have to be sure about the designer you choose speak to previous clients and visit jobs, you might want to check they have pi insurance too.
It does sound like you need a bit more than just someone to draw plans, you should speak to a few and see who you think best understands you and you feel comfortable with.
Most architects will offer a service split into sections, or do as much as you ask. Just have the discussion with them, they won't give you a fee quote over the phone without seeing the job first, what you want from the phone call is to get them out for a look and then the rest of your questions will be answered in person

Sausage11

Hello. My experience says that you can definitely do the internal plans yourself if you have an interest in it. Originally the architects we used did an external and an internal design. But their internal was very poor and created 2 long bedrooms upstairs that would have been somewhat corridor-like in feel. We took over the internal design ourselves and insisted that they tried to work the stairs into a different location. This allowed us to make much better use of the new first floor.

It is odd in terms of strengths and weaknesses. I would slate these architects for their internal design and planning management - very slapdash. But I would definitely consider going back to them for an external design.

For floor plans I've used Floorplanner - https://www.floorplanner.com/

You can create a free account for one project. You can save lots of different designs per floor so you probably wouldn't need to pay. I've now designed the internal layouts for 2 houses on this and both have worked out really well when built. There may be better room planners out there (its 3D is a bit rubbish and it has a few issues here and there) but it does the job. There are plenty of tutorial videos on Youtube to get you started.

One other point is that I've usually found that if you call the local council and ask to speak to the duty planning officer they're quite happy to give you an assessment of what is likely to be be acceptable for planning.