Has My Architect Ripped Us Off?

rosamundie

He was recommended by a local estate agent

teneighty

Excellent advice from r-sole, as you would expect.

Refurbishments, alterations and small extensions can be very time consuming for the architect in comparison with the total contract value so it is not all that unusual for the architect to work on a time charge/hourly rate basis.

However, if his fee creeps up over 15% - 20% of the contract sum then either something has gone wrong or it has been a very demanding client.

It will be difficult to raise a complaint if you do not have the relevant paperwork such as the architects terms of engagement but you could start with calculating his total fee against the building contract final cost. Also focus on specific elements that are easier to prove such as him charging to prepare furniture layout drawings if you did not instruct him to do them rather than more emotive issues such as the dishwasher and gardening quote that will be difficult to prove. Site meetings with the builder are perfectly normal if the architect has been employed to undertake contract administration duties so that is a non-starter.

rosamundie

I had no objection to him arranging site meetings at all if they were necessary, as some of them obviously were and I attended most of them (as I lived around the corner).

It was disconcerting to discover that he had organised a site meeting to discuss the type of beading to be used in the bathroom when I’d made it very clear that I was able to make decorative decisions myself. He hadn’t mentioned this and I only heard about it through the builder – the architect hadn’t suggested I come along which was odd – just one of many. I would never dream of paying a builder by the hour for a job, only for the completed work but I suppose you trust a chartered professional to be scrupulous. I’m not suggesting he did anything illegal but he certainly dragged things out, which in my mind is unethical.

Similarly, with the pre planning app in the country he had charged my elderly neighbour by the hour and her bill came to over 50k. But it was all a waste of time as no developers were interested in the site because of the planning restrictions. Then the next year he went back to her and suggested they try again for an extra house (and this time would charge a bargain 30k) and insisted he was sitting on a goal mine. But my neighbour was wise to him by then and said no.

I do have all the invoices as they were emailed to me so the next job is to add everything up and see what percentage of the job it was. I’m not going to make this my life’s work but was just interested in having this conundrum peer reviewed.

As I said, I’ve worked with other professionals in my life who have always been scrupulously clear about fees involved but this has obviously been a very different experience.