House builds and renovations vary dramatically and in a small amount of cases you won’t.  Many houses are built with the builders know how and are practical and/or budget driven but the results are often bland, uninspiring and definitely not reaching that home’s full potential.  Architects look at all aspects of a building, outside of the practicalities and the budget we also look at space, lifestyle, experience, detailing and aesthetics to name a few.  We tailor each design to each individual family's needs and may come up with one solution to unlock the whole design or many small ideas to add to the cohesive whole.

As each project is unique it is hard to pin down the time we actually need to be involved in a project and therefore our fee.  We undoubtedly add the most value at the very beginning of the project where all the ideas and sketch designs start, how much we are then needed is up to you.

There can be a lot of trial and error with detailed design later on in a project and a lot of background research, be that complying with building regulations or understanding which materials to specify and therefore many hours of ‘unseen’ work.  A competent builder would be able to take on this role to provide the correct construction detailing and complying with building regulations.  Architects are also, by default appointed as the contract administrator for the works on site and responsible for checking the builder’s work.  This is a personal decision if you would like an architect or someone else to carry out this role.  If we are carrying out this whole scope of works, there are many hours of work involved which can command a high fee.

Our aim is to let the client decide how much or how little they would like us to be involved and offer clear packages of work to create a more accessible ‘pay as you go’ system.

In most cases there will be a variety of solutions an architect could propose for any given project, so the design is not unique to the architect.  Part of our job is understanding the brief and the client’s wants and needs, so if we miss the mark first time we will amend or redesign to suit.  Because we carry out the design consultation in one day, we can discuss and adapt quickly to find the best solution.  If you go away and have a change of heart or further thoughts, we can issue one design change as part of the package.

This would be offered by most architects to help you decide who you’d like to work with. However most architects won’t produce any work or ideas prior to being appointed but can advise on generic points or site specific constraints.