Architect Plans (Loft & Extension) in Matlock

It’s not essential to hire an architect for a new extension project, but it can help you get a good result.

If you’d like to put your whole extension project in the hands of a professional, hiring an architect is a great idea. They’ll work with you to create the design you want, and can manage planning applications and work with building contractors to make sure your extension ends up just the way you want it.

However, if you want to save money, there are plenty of other options. Even if you’ve got good vision, you’ll need a professional of some kind to draw up plans for you. Either hire an architect to only do design work, or hire a design and build company to do the whole thing for you. If you’ve got the skills, you could even commission a design professional to draw up the plans and then build the thing yourself.

There are lots of design professionals out there, with different levels of experience and skill. So, it’s a good idea to pick a professional who has the level of skill to match your needs.

Yes. Residential architects are invaluable and will be able to manage the application process as well as offer you advice on the best way to design your building to satisfy the local authority. They can also help with ideas as well as advising on what is possible and what is not possible.

Not necessarily. Commercial architects may charge either a fixed fee, an hourly rate, or a percentage of the building contract. They could also save you substantial amounts of money as their plans and drawings may stop issues arising later in the construction.

If you’d like to hire a residential architect, but have limited funds, there are several things you can try to reduce their quote.

Firstly, you don’t necessarily need to hire them for project management – you could just ask them to do the design. This will mean you’ll have to do some extra donkey work, but you could choose between finding a cheaper professional to do your project management or simply doing it yourself.

There might also be other architectural services that you can cut down on. Some professionals offer extras like landscape, interior and detailed joinery design. If you can do without any of these, this will help to reduce the overall cost.

You could also think about scaling down your project. Lots of residential architects work out their fees as a percentage of the total construction cost of your project. Lower the cost of this, and your fees might go down too.