Do these architects fees sound reasonable?
matthewreavey
6 years ago
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Architect wants more money after we have paid him
Comments (10)Sounds like he is trying (in my opinion quite rightly) to reopen conversations about fees. It sounds like you had an agreement about providing plans and he provided them and you settled his bill. You have gone back and asked for additional services and it sounds like he may have initially made a goodwill gesture and offered some advice for free but you expect him to prepare for this meeting and attend the meeting thereby offering his professional expertise and local insight. With travel time and time spent in discussion with yourselves there is likely several hours work. If he is unable to charge you for this he would be much better allocating his time to other fee paying clients. I say start a dialogue, make sure you have contracted him for what you immediately need him to do and open discussions about where else he might envisage his expertise may be useful to you- it may be that his contacts, or his project management experience or his influence to expedite matters might save you money long term....See MoreDo I need an architect?
Comments (12)There seems to be a gulf of misunderstanding between the architectural profession and clients. It is clear to (good) architects that a good architect will transform any project and the cost of that service will bring enormous value to the client. However, there any many non-professionals who haven't trained for 7 years that are all too willing to offer a service which is perceived by the public as being very similar only at a lower cost - unfortunately this couldn't be further from the truth. A builder won't help you as he is likely to be looking at any project from his commercial perspective and anyway he is unlikely to have any design training. A technical service will be able to produce plans, but not architecture or great design, therefore a good architect is the obvious solution. However, selection of the right architect is just as important as we do not all do the same thing; it is most important to find someone whose work matches your style and that you can build a great working relationship with, rather than an architect who gives the lowest quote. We do not do this type of project, but concentrate on complete new homes - especially paragraph 55 homes. I hope that this advice is of use and that you find a great architect to work with....See MoreIs this a reasonable extension idea (from someone with no experience)?
Comments (18)Hi Chloe, Thats an exciting project! We were in a very similar situation, with a very similar budget about 6 months ago and I have to say I think Jonathan's advice is very sensible; unless you really feel you haven't got enough space I would definitely focus on reworking the space you have rather than adding to it. Any type of extension will really eat Into your budget and limit what else you can do, whereas just reworking the space and changing walls etc will leave you with a lot more to play with :) As Jonathan and OnePlan mention concept planners are amazing... I'd never heard of them either until I was lucky enough to stumble across a few on here at the start of our project! It's worth noting that there are a couple of choices to consider; firstly an independent concept planner who'll look at the space and recommend the best layout for you, so you pay purely for their expertise in space, layout and optimal positioning of everything. There are a few on this site who seem to come highly recommended reading other people's posts (like OnePlan above) Your second option is an interior designer who offers exactly the same as the first option (concept planner) but in addition to that, looks at the style and finish of all the items in the room (so how to compliment the colours and textures of your soft furnishings, paint colours, decorative items, lighting plan and flooring) and helps you pull it all together so you get that beautiful polished look. Its also worth mentioning that if the concept planning plus interior design is more of interest than just concept planning, then I know several of the concept planners will also offer the interior design too- like OnePlan :) Personally we looked into both options but felt for the small additional cost of the interior designer service over just the concept planner, that we wanted both the layout and all the styling pulling together. I just wasn't confident I could pull everything together on my own and was worried it might be a bit 'flat' and had spent too much time dreaming about my 'perfect' space to risk getting it wrong. Its all very personal though and some people are much better at pulling a polished look off than others... unfortunately I'm not one of them :) One final thought to share- any good interior designer or concept planner will also pass on their trade discounts and what we saved on our designers trade discounts exceeded what we spent on fees! We used Create Perfect on here and would highly recommend her- she was amazing! As with anything it's worth getting a few quotes and comparing them so you get best value for your money and are able to ensure you're comparing like with like :) Whatever you decide to do, I think for such an important project it would be worth an investment of a few hundred pounds to get the look that you've spent so much time thinking about and to give you the confidence you're doing the right thing and making the right decisions. Having a professional onboard took all the worry away for me and made the whole thing lots of fun! Good luck!!! beat wishes, Claire...See Morekitchens - which bespoke joinery would be reasonably priced?
Comments (40)I cant figure out how to send a private message either! £15k on interior design / space planning alone was our budget for a 5 bedroom house refurbishment - I would say that ours definitely isnt ’light touch’ though - we get everything from the from the paint specification to a shopping list for every room and then a styling trip to come and do all of the finishing touches. Every room has everything from the floor covering to the window treatments to the files and designs for bespoke furniture. All rooms come with proffesional lighting plans, which can be handed over to an electrician. We paid around £3k for the structural engineer and £1k for the architect. We managed the project ourselves, so I dont have a comparison for that element i’m afraid but I certainly dont think that number looks unreasonable. I would definitely find out exactly what you are going to get for that money but honestly, presuming that the house is of significant value and your build cost is also significant (clearly important for spend to be relative) then that doesnt seem to be an unfair cost to me. Getting your space planning and interior design right, is a massive part of any project and can vastly change the look and feel of the finished house. We’ve all seen examples where people have spent A LOT of money on major reburbishments and the end result just looks a bit ’blah’ - its there in my opinion that an extra 5–10% of the overall cost would have completely transformed and ’polished’ the final result. Appreciate design is not possible for everyones budget but if its a possibility for you and you like the quality of their work, then I dont think that figure is out of the way....See More
matthewreavey
6 years ago
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