Hi Keswing, I'm not sure if this is helpful but we went through a similar (ish) process about 6 months ago and I found it all very confusing at the start as to what I needed from who and in what order! What I learnt from it was... We already had a very good idea of what we wanted (we got an interior designer / concept planner on board right at the start- highly recommended), so just used a local recommendation of an architect to do our basic drawings - we needed these for building regs and also to give to the builder so we had something to base the 'contract on'. We paid £500 for these drawings only. (For comparison we had architect quote for nearly £2k from a chartered firm) We also needed structural calculations for building regs and to give to the builders alongside the architects drawings. The builders needed the structural calcs so they knew what size steels etc to buy / install / quote against. This was £900 just on a separate structural engineer. It's worth noting our calcs were reasonably complicated and involved a site visit; had he been able to do them from the architect's drawings alone (quite often this is possible) then it would only have been £300. It then cost us £400 for all of our buildings regs submissions / certificates on top of the above. It's worth finding out from your two different quotes what they both will and won't include; Will either / both then require separate calculations from a structural engineer and therefore additional costs or is that already included in the quote with the architectural technologist? Does either quote include building regs and / or planning submission? Hopefully then you'll know that you're comparing the two quotes like for like and can also know how much of your budget is going to be allocated to fees. Hope this helps and good luck! Claire

Your kitchen is beautiful. The change of shelves look great too. @Forzaitalia and @Mary Mary F&B's hardwick white comes out a beautiful shade of sage once on the walls very close to the above colour

Unless the washing machine is a top loader, then you'll also have problems opening the washing machine door against the basin. One of the smallest you can buy is a Naro from Drench at 427mm wide by only 288mm deep, as shown on here to scale. So, as you have the width, i'd go for a corner basin. The room already looks more spacious. Then i'd stack the machines to give you sorting space. You could do one of two things depending on what the gap under the stairs looks like. Put in stair storage, have the machines on the left and a cupboard next to it for bits and bobs and sort on to your cupboard. Or, if you don't want / can't have for structural reasons the stair storage, swap the machines over to cover the stairs and have the cupboard to the left with little shelves above. You could even block the stairs off for a more finished look and still have visually more space. I like this last one the best, but it's your house, your call,

Well, that decision is very much your call! To reply to your questions: Is it possible to assess the quality? If you have the two side by side and know what you are looking for, you will get a flavour. But as I have said, because so much hinges on the quality of the brass, the manufacturing & machining process etc, and because any problems are likely only to come to light a couple of years down the line, that is where the challenge arises. So if things do go wrong, who will help you put them right? Another question to ask yourself: who do you trust more to tell the honest truth about what you are buying: a call-centre operative on sales commission looking to make a quick sale to someone they’ll never speak to again, or a local independent studio owner who knows he’ll be on the hook to fix it if it goes wrong, and whose reputation hinges on selling quality that lasts? Also consider the product you highlighted in the image: a concealed valve shower. All the core mechanical parts of that product are about to be embedded behind no doubt beautiful tiles or expensive shower boards, out of sight. If problems do occur, you may not realise it for some time. Putting it right is not necessarily as straightforward as replacing a tap washer! Is spending a little more now on quality a good investment, given the cost of putting right a leaking installation? Of course, you are not facing a “binary” decision. You could seek out some other quality brands who may have similar products at slightly keener prices. One we use is Flova, and while they are manufactured in China, the overall process & quality control is good in a single purpose built factory, and the back up support in the UK has been excellent. Or consider a different specification shower from Crosswater: exposed valve, but in the beautiful brushed brass finish like this: https://www.crosswater.co.uk/product/design-exposed-thermostatic-shower-valve-with-dial-fixed-head-and-pencil-shower-kit?variant=25753 At the end of the day, it is your money, and you have to spend it according to your budget & priorities. Personally, there are a few items in bathrooms I encourage customers not to skimp on: shower trays; showers & taps and the WC pan & cistern. These are the core functional items in a bathroom. If anything goes wrong, they can cause larger problems, and/or are awkward/expensive to fix. So worth going for trusted, quality brands on these. Make savings on secondary items - basins, tiles, worktops, furniture - if you wish to squeeze. They are less critical. But that is just me!