Papillon

Wow factors and design features are great, but how you get a good cohesive design is more important to me. I’ve seen a lot of designs that are just a mess of ‘features’ that are put together in just a blend of trash. like they will say ‘I want a secret library door’, and the door goes nowhere and eats space, I have a list of just terrible ideas I wouldn’t want to embarrass anyone with. absolutely get on Pinterest and get a ‘mood board’ of things, but then you need a designer to make the best of each feature and make them work. Please watch out on the make sure it has shading, tricky in this day and age.

I don’t understand the need to bash architects. I (architect) use the SE sparingly as he charges more per hour than I do, and I want what’s best for my customers. Hope your SE knows all the planning and building regs, and can design a workable and attractive plan, because most I’ve met are not planning or design creative. OP, depending on where you live and the size of your house, I would expect to pay maybe about 2-3k for each stage.

I love a vaulted ceiling and I’ll pt them anywhere, no shame. double height can be a bit weird and too much. It’s nice in a barnstyle but I’m careful with them.

I love these! Very cool. I always love getting them printed for my customers too, brings a smile to their faces lol

Have you put together a drawing showing the other examples that show you’re in line with others?

I’d ask to speak to their supervisor but not in a confrontational way, just for a second opinion. I don’t think going to appeal is a bad route, I’ve seen plenty successful appeals.

Mate, if a customer came to me with that as a site to design you a new house I’d be kissing the ground you walked on. They have really done you a solid there, that’s massive and ugly so you’re probably going to get something great there. I wouldn’t see any issues for you even not knowing the area to be honest. By looking at that circulation, you could improve your layout and get massive rooms. I wouldn’t bother with a pre-app. Just go in with a nice contemporary design on that footprint (you could maybe move the gable to the middle if you like). Full planning, go for it.

Good points. Maybe look at Custom Build, plots are serviced, not cheap or anything but it’s a little more organised. There are still plots at Bicester (Graven Hill), depends where in london you work but 1.5hrs from London isn’t bad and there’s a train too so might be an hour even.

Check whether you’re in an area with a solution available, most I’ve come across wouldn’t even accept treatment plants yet.

There are a lot of plots locked up in the nutrient neutrality issue, depending on where you are looking it might be an issue. North of London is fine until you hit Norfolk then it’s awful. East and West of London and it’s iffy.

Yes I think it looks nicer and it’s more lightweight. When you join say, a lower height garage to the main house, there’s a part that’s sometimes unsupported brickwork above the garage roof on the house wall (not sure how to describe it) but if you use cladding or render there, it is just neater and you don’t need a thick wall or support.

I really like timber frame as an architect, very versatile and a quick tidy build. Costs are about the same as brick and mortar. One thing to be wary of, they are putting block/render on the outside skin more and more now, which betrays the whole point of timber frame for me. I think I answered in that thread and my answer still stays the same. Happy to give impartial advice as an architect who used to work for a timber frame manufacturer. I don’t think you need both engaged at once.

I’ve worked for both as an architect and in timber frame. firstly don’t bother with their catalogue designs, I’ve looked at the main ones from all the companies and they are outdated and the new ones are a bit meh. I’d get an architect (or a designer with skills) for the concept and then the timber frame company for the rest. Make sure you disengage the architect and you’re happy with the layout. Don’t worry if it’s not perfectly to scale with the wall thicknesses etc, just get the rooms and elevations looking nice. Don’t spend more than 2k. The planning and design phase from a timber frame company is actually a bargain, but they have low creativity or flair in their design, they are usually technicians so ymmv. Ask for a discount as you have the design already. Most TF companies are using ~£2000 per M2 build cost (excluding land, but including foundations) to price. You can ring them up and ask what their general rule is and give the architect a floor area to work to. That way your design is buildable. this is assuming you have a plot with some potential already. I’d get a planning consultant to assess the site (from the timber frame company) for free, first.

I just use cad light now, I have used cad architect, but it’s not necessary. you can buy an add-on for sketchup that makes it easier to set up pages, it makes it to scale. I think it’s called LayOut? I find Cad the easiest, maybe you could get a trial version and do it in 30 days?

Draw the floor and elevations in CAD in 2D, this is because DWG is the industry standard for most, ie engineers, surveys and the like. Import into Sketchup, you might need Pro for this. I use sketchup to make it into a 3D model. I do this because it’s quicker than doing the 3D in Vectorworks, Revit or CAD and most jobs don’t need 3D drawings anyway. I use V-ray to render the sketchup. I mainly picked this one as it comes with the Sketchup Studio package. I think there are better ones but it’s fine for what you need. Then Photoshop the image to make it good.