Architect

Their drawings are always theirs and they deserve to be paid for their time. If you know what you want, then despite your frustration, they must be capable of drawing. You picked them and entered into a contract with them, if you change your mind, you will pay for that time. Nothing is free.

They will also know what the regulations and planning policies are that need to be adhered to, will understand the nuances of the local authority and they should also have a clear sense of aesthetic and the correct proportions for the house. If this is a genuine architect then they have spent 7 years training for that. Being told exactly what to do by someone, that probably hasn't, isn't going to be the most fun in the world.

Have you actually discussed why there are differences? I don't know what your experience is, but going through a self build, designing a house and knowing most of the regulations myself, most of us are going to have heavy restrictions on what we can have and where, still. The planners will make sure of it!

What do the terms and conditions say about cancellation?

It's your choice. Self build is a huge spend and £1,000 to walk away and get what you actually want with an architect who will genuinely design to something that you will be happy with and that complies with everything isn't a lot to spend. You can chalk it up to experience. We put way more than that in the effective bin before we broke ground. It's part of getting to an actual house, though. Most of it is a genuine cost of getting to this point that couldn't really have been avoided. It's an evolution.