Not one recommendation! And I thought there was a glut of Architects all over the country now....
A Glut of Architects - now there's a phrase to conjure with.
There are several good people on this forum, some of whom may be architects, some of whom may give you a Grand Designs result.
However if you actually watch the series closely, you'll see that in many cases, the clients have very strong ideas and the architect's role is often to define and refine them and bring them into reality in a cost-effective manner.
Designing private houses well takes a particular kind of architect/design professional, one that realises its the clients home no matter what they might want to do to it, and its not about the Architect imposing a design solution on them.
The point being that you get out what you put into it and designing a new home is one of the most time-consuming and stressful occupations on the planet - for the clients I mean - the designers do it for a living.
We once put three solid years into one large dwelling, but it was worth it to see the finished result.
Before you waft off into a lyrical reverie of inspiration, just remember that the most important thing in building a private house is having a builder who is competent, accommodating and who will put up with repeated changes to finished work.
The number of times clients who are not used to reading drawings get dismayed at seeing the reality is significant, as are the number of changes clients will want to the finished work even though it was all agreed at drawing stage and initially there was no problems arising.
Be careful, and try to inform yourselves and instruct your architect as well as you can, whether from houses or buildings you have seen, magazines from which you have kept clippings or programmes / documentaries you watched.
Communicating your deepest wishes to the architect correctly makes it easier for him/her to deliver what you desire and this in turn makes life a whole lot easier on the builder - and yourselves.
Do not tie yourself to a fixed price with no variations and then look for vast amounts of changes at no extra cost - that's not going to happen, even in today's market - and if it does the builder is likely to resolve this by skimping in some way you won't like and may not discover for years.
Do allow for variations in the price and prevent the builder fleecing you on extras; -
- by using an RIAI form of contract or a similar one which allows for variations and
- by appointing a QS to produce a bill of quantities and agree rates, from which fair prices for variations and revisions can be calculated to the benefit of all involved.
Do retain a structural engineer.
Do retain a mechanical and electrical engineer for anything above a standard 2,000 sqft detached house.
None of the three professionals above cost the earth and on every job where we have worked with a team, the client has greatly benefited, particularly where there were significant numbers of variations.
I hope this is of some use to you and it may also bump your post up the listings to inspire others to respond.
ONQ.
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