Tips on finding your Architect

1. Get recommendations from friends/ family
2. 'Interview' the architect - it's important you get along
3. Look for creativity in their past work
4. Don't be bullied by them - it's your house
5. Don't forget to compare costs.We scouted about asking friends and family if they could recommend anyone. We also got in touch with some trusted builders to ask them who they used. We got 4 firms around to see the space, talk to us about their ideas and give us an idea on how expensive it would be.

We were stunned how reluctant architects are in sketching or even talking through their ideas. What we were looking for apart from reasonable cost was inventiveness and a clear understanding of the space.

The first company – Loftplan – was a company we used on our last house to convert the loft. They impressed us with total professionalism, patience in waiting for us to commit without getting pushy and willingness to discuss every aspect the project. They draw up the plans, explained the process of planning and building and even introduced us to the builders who were going to work on the project. For loft conversions I would highly recommend them, but this project isn’t just a loft conversion and their quote was way over budget - £48,000 for the shell only

The second company was econo loft. The sent of a draftsmen (women) who arrived with smiles and promises at 7pm. She made us sit with her as she sketched her ideas out and it took man handling to get her out of our house at 12.30am. I can not stress how angry I was with this company and late apology from their smarmy MD didn’t help. Don’t touch econo loft

The third was an independent recommended by a builder friend. He was professional and would have done what we asked, and that’s where the plan lay. He didn’t show any creativity or to quote consultants – he didn’t think out of the box. He was also quite expensive for what he was offering. In short the cost would have been around £3000 for a drawing for the planning office and a building regulation plan.

So we went for another draftsmen that was recommended to us. Ignoring the fact he could talk the hind legs off a donkey (in a friendly way not sales way) he instantly offered new ideas that other, including ourselves, hadn’t thought of. He explained the planning process, payment process and sketched out ideas there and then. He didn’t get precious about changing the first draft and kept us in the loop regarding the talks between himself and the planning office. The total cost will be £1800 which includes the building regulation drawing taking us to the building stage. Details can be found on the proposal plan.

Other articles you may want to look at:
channel4
www.architecture.com
RIBA

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