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Looking for some advice or experiences of employing an architect to help with an extension, and what sort of cost I should expect. Our house is a fairly average 1940's brick semi. The kitchen is small and stuck on the back of the house, so we're looking to knock that through into the living room, and build a small extension to 'fill in' beside the existing kitchen. The building line isn't going any further back, and it'll be ground floor only, so done under permitted development. I could probably do some drawings myself and employ a structural engineer and builder, but exepct the end result would not be very good, and probably miss a lot of opportunities to make it better. Not just asthetics, but overall design and use/interaction. I have guessed a figure of £20-25k for the building work - could be wildly out though I expect.
So, ball park figures for an architect to come up with a few options and then detail one of them?
Thanks!
We paid £585 for a single storey 4 x 4 extension, with bi-folds and sky light, steel to hold the house up and opened the lounge door up to a double pocket door.
In Essex
We paid just over 6k for a 45k build value
That's one stop shop for concept , structural and warrent application
Gave us a 7m*3 extension , walls removed steels in place and a few extra velux windows in the back of the house
Like you it was permitted development , like you I could have done some drawings and employed a structural engineer..... But for us it was 6k well spent as we actually built something different from what our initial ideas were and have massively benifitted from a small extra cost. ie architect pointed out than an extra 2m on the extension would cost comparitively buttons compared to the project (net cost an extra truss , a few blocks and some extra concrete/plasterboard/insulation ) but give us significantly more options down the road..... And you know what he was right. What was to be a space for a dining table is now the space we spend most of our time in family room.
I guess there are 2 routes here:
1. Is someone to provide design input - how best to make use of the available space? and
2. Drawings to satisfy building control and that the builder can use to quote.
For 2 you can use an architectural technician, for 1 it gets a bit more tricky.
Its usually a % is it not? As above several levels of support from an architect. basic drawings will get you planning but do you need all the details or do you trust your builder to get the details right? Detailed drawings take a lot more time than basic ones for planning thus cost more
Also do you know exactly what you want and how much do you know about building work?
Personally I have had really poor experiences with architects.
@trail_rat Who did you use. I'm Aberdeen and I'm looking to do the same so currently trying to find local recommendations. Cheers!
What part of the country are you in? There are plenty of architects on here (me included) so i'm sure someone will be local to you if you want them to give a fee proposal.
@grantyboy I used inspired design development in stonehaven
Was a really positive no hassle no chase experiance they did what they said they would when they said they would and perhaps I payed a bit over the odds but based on seeing others dealings with local architects i don't mind that for how easy and quick the whole process was. Some other local architects didn't even Bother to turn up
Let's see if this works..... We were only going to build to approx the small velux in the original roof . And not cross what was the bathroom window.
The small velux in the bathroom.roof is the window for bathroom now and the extension now comes right across to just shy of the downstairs bedroom window the sheds on the right are insulated and now form our utility room. Has actually added roughly 30sqm to the house which has means it's gone from feeling cramped to feeling comfortable . Had to move the boiler and all pipe work as well as they used to live in what would.be the middle of the dining room.
Was a few constraints and structural challenges based on existing extension on the party wall that we couldn't touch without going full blown planning
My quote for a 6 metre x 4 metre single storey was around £3,000 to cover drawings, building regs stuff and council fees. I already have planning permission.
I think having anybody that’s done a lot of similar work (whether architect or structural engineer) is key.
Our SE had some good ideas which came from the sheer number of 1930s terraced houses round here, and we couldn’t have been happier with the results.
He was probably the cost of an architect anyway though, but came recommended by the builders who had also been recommended to us.
Its usually a % is it not?
It used to be 7%, but I guess that couldn't last. I suspect there's more competition now and house designs are more of a commodity...
Somewhere between 11-14% of budget to get from concept through to Building Regs is what we were quoted across 4 different architects but that didn't include any structural design or QS input where needed.
Extortionate for a simple extension but probably VFM if you want to do something quite different or unusual, particularly with different construction techniques that require specific knowledge & detailing that isn't common place.
perhaps I payed a bit over the odds but based on seeing others dealings with local architects i don’t mind that for how easy and quick the whole process was
That every time.
Our architectural technician was great, sadly we didn't pay the extra for project management which in hindsight was a stressful mistake.
Some of you guys are paying A LOT for architects.
8m x 5m double storey extension with structural calcs and planning application cost us £3k a couple of years ago. Architect is based in Carnoustie.
Yes, big range of costs up there, and a lot more than I'd expected. Our extension will (probably) be just 2m x 3m, measuring externally. More of a walk-through conservatory really.
£1,400 here for a 9x6 single storey extension. That included various design concepts as we were creating a hmo so he spent quite a lot of time on it. West Midlands based.
2 x 3 extension I’d be looking to do the drawings myself or a college kid to do some for practice (and free!) and getting an interior designer type person to have a look round to give you an idea of what you could do with it when complete rather than spend on architect fees.
If it's a standard build then yes.
Although my extension looks like a simple tack on there are a few structural elements that had to be overcome with steels and other lintels/existing structure reinforcement -nothing too hard mainly span tables I'd have thought but there was a fair bit of reinforcing done before holes were knocked down to roof angle and original construction and the need to retain head height in the extension.
The architects fees were actually considerably less than 6k. The structural eng was a fair chunk.
The fees to the council was eyewatering for all they do/don't do because of covid. We never actually saw anyone till it was too late.
but give us significantly more options down the road…..
....best you dont mention that magic door
🤫
£800 for a technician's plans, building regs and then a further £400 for structural surveyor's calcs for RSJ / Bi-folds.
8m x 4m SS with Velux cost about £30k. Small enough that PP not required, but the technicians arranged a Lawful Development Certificate to prove all OK, which was nice!
Good builder mind. And not in Scotland.
But £6k!
But £6k!
All balances out.
Our total expenditure to build was 36k Inc kitchen which wasn't in the original budgetary plans.(the 46 k was the architects budget for the floorplan) oh and my drawings .
Our neighbours are building the same size but they don't have existing sheds so are building 3*7 out the way from the house.
Their best quote from builder against their drawings is at 55k and with no kitchen.
So all in I'm ok with the cost.
Fwiw . Architect engaged in march warrent was issued in may and building work was planned to start ...then a baby arrived. Then covid.......then we got a window -did the build in 5 week build-started 28th July and I asked for the completion cert Second week in sept
Compared to a mate who the same builder built for who had an Angus based technician do his drawings.....where his wall built to the drawing was over his boundary. Was expensive for my mate
….best you dont mention that magic doo
Architect knew....that was part of my issues .
where's the OP live?
Am in Sheffield, if anyone has a particular recommendation.
Cheers,
Can recommend Kimberly @ Urban Road Architects.
studio@urbanroadarchitects.co.uk
0161 962 3635
worked with her in the past, before she set up her own practice.
For me one of the key things is how good the architect is. Get recommendations or ask about previous projects and try to speak to the customers. Trail rats experience shows how a good architect can make a difference. Mine shows that poor architects can ruin your project ( lights inaccessible except with a scaffolding tower for my folks and I built to the architects spec and it turned out he did not give me the right spec - no vapour barrier and took 4 sets of drawings until he put things where I wanted.)
If its a very simple project and you have good experience of building works a tech just to do drawings can be enough
We are in Stockport and the South Downs. I don't think I can advertise on here directly so I will PM you if interested.
We got an architect on ours. Single story and knock out to open plan. Waste of money TBH.
Lots of fancy 3d visuals and a builders pack to send out for pricing. We are in Bristol, all the builders are flat out, none of them had the time to spend going through the spec to price it up. There were elements that would have made the architects plan unaffordable within the budget, that the architect knew about. In the end we told the builder to ignore most of the spec from the architect, changed the scheme to make it affordable and got what we could afford and what we wanted.
If you have a 1940 semi it is unlikely that an acchitect is going to bring much in design that you , Pinterest, a good technician with a good builder can't. Also builders like to use their own people so I would suggest getting a few builders in and having a good chat with them. They will likely have a trusted person for the calcs and drawings and when you are doing this type of work on your home anything you can do to reduce the stress is a good thing.
I’d be looking to do the drawings myself or a college kid to do some for practice (and free!) and getting an interior designer type person to have a look round to give you an idea of what you could do with it when complete rather than spend on architect fees.
One of the hidden benefits is the professional indemnity insurance cover you have if you use a 'proper' architect and it all goes pear-shaped. You'd have neither if you did them yourself or got a college kid to do it for you.
There were elements that would have made the architects plan unaffordable within the budget, that the architect knew about.
Did you not discuss these at the design review after the concepts were produced.
Our first one had concepts for rediculous things like a cantilevered roof open bifold door corner ....looked ace. Was going to cost as much as the rest of the build.
Thanks for the input all. I'm a mechanical engineer, so producing the drawings should be easy enough for me to do in theory. I'd want a structural engineer to design the steelwork primarily for their PI. Also I have no idea how buildings are actually put together, in terms of membranes, structural connections, materials etc, so it might be better getting the detailing done by others in any case.
The main input I'd be looking for from an architect would be layout and making sure the end result doesn't look too cobbled together. As an engineer, a lot of the various DIY jobs I've done so far on the house are functional, strong, cost effective, and fairly ugly. I'd like to address the last one there!
Please do familiarise yourself with how buildings are constructed, means you can check the architect / architectural technicians work. Checking their work for errors, inconsistencies etc is something you definitely want to do.
Following thread as we are trying to decide whether an architect is the route to go - removal of internal walls, extend/replace garage and conservatory at the back.
rough costs also useful as have to work out how much to remortgage for to cover...
@Trailrat, yes it was a two way process and he was making changes/amendments as we asked but he was WAY off on what costs should have been to meet our budget. It wasn't a big problem but what we ended up with was something that a far cheaper combination of people could have come up with. Don't get me wrong his design would have been nice but it would have cost iro £30k more and taken many weeks more to build. But finding a builder to do it would have been a major hurdle. Most didn't even look at the pack, they just said we will get our QA to price it up (you pay for the cost of that BTW) and go from there or failed to respond at all. After we had spoken to a few about why they were not quoting it became clear that they all had enough work and that the hassle of working with or from the plans/spec supplied by the architect, wasn't worth their while. Easier to crack on with other builds. I suppose a large part of our issue was that the builders could pick and choose what work they did. If that is the case where you are then go to the builders first not the architect.
yep can see that being a pain in the arse.
I had a tame builder go over the plans before i made my revisions.
If you dont have the option i can see how i would all go a bit grand designs - and indeed why grand designs always end up being over budget 😀