Find an Architect you can trust in St Bees.

If you’d like to hire a commercial architect, but have a limited budget, there are a few options you could try.

Firstly, if you’re happy to manage the project yourself, you could just engage your architect to create the designs and technical plans. It will then be up to your builder and any other contractors to follow them. You’ll need to put some serious time and effort in to make sure that this goes smoothly, but it will reduce how much you’ll need to pay your architect.

You could also consider reducing the scope of your project. Many architects charge a percentage of your project’s total construction cost, so if you scale down the work then their fees will be lower. Alternatively, you may be able to negotiate a set fee if you want to guarantee that you won’t pay more than a certain amount.

Architects design new buildings, and alterations and extensions to existing buildings. They work with their clients to create plans for structures that meet their practical, structural, aesthetic and financial needs.

In some cases, an architect may only create the design and plans for a project. However, they’ll often stay involved in a project after this has been done to ensure its successful completion, providing project management too.

Like building an extension, you’re not legally required to hire an architect to build a house. However, given the amount of money you’ll be investing in your project, it’s vital to get it right. Clear, accurate plans are essential for any builder or other tradesperson to get the right materials in the right place. Building projects that go wrong because of inaccurate plans can at best look odd, and at worst be structurally unsound.

We’d recommend hiring either an architect or a skilled design and build company to create the plans for your new house. If you hire an architect to do your designs, you can choose whether to involve them further in your project, or use another professional or your own skills to take care of any applications and project management.

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.

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.

Commercial architects can produce plans and technical drawings as well as offering advice and assistance to help you achieve your desired goal. They will also put a creative spin on your building project – perfect for retail or office buildings. Commercial architects will make your building stand out from the crowd!

The best type of guttering material will vary depending on the requirements of the property. For example, on listed buildings cast iron or aluminium guttering may be required to maintain the character of the property. Generally, UPVC is the accepted standard for almost all modern properties.

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.