Hello

[Mrs H]

11 hours ago, IanR said:

I'd say the common ground on BuildHub, and eBuild before, is cost effective, low energy homes. I'm sure your professional experience will be warmly welcomed on the site and if you have interest and knowledge in low energy buildings there will be lots of opportunity to contribute.

 

Got a LABC gong for a self build certified Passive House. So maybe. 

[ToughButterCup]

32 minutes ago, PeterW said:

[...]

Whats needed is some way of finding decent architects who offer a service that is priced appropriately and can be independently rated and fed back on.

[...]

As you said in your original post, you want to streamline your services to the self build market - this is something the market is crying out for, yet bizarrely there seems to be no way for you to "advertise" that through your own registration bodies..!! If you can crack that, I think you're sitting on a gold mine !!

 

Pin heads are small places. And self-builders have been know to err on the side of being assertive, @Mrs H.

 

May I suggest a way into this market; a way which has low barriers to entry, and might be worth a little bit of investigation?

 

I am willing to bet that there isn't one self builder who isn't welded to their computer - without the Internet, we'd all of us keel over and scream - it would hit us right in the bank balance. The Internet can be seen as part of the Gift Economy. Consider the many online  channels you could employ to give  some advice and assistance. Think about what types of support you could offer online (have a look at say, Emplaw, the Employment Law website as one model) There are many models; have a stand at the NSBRC in Swindon, attend  self-build shows all over the place. Offer to give seminars and talks to self-builders. Link those activities to a developing  Social Media strategy, and get yourself known on line as well as in person. Build a reputation for connecting with customers.

There are lots of good media companies who run free courses on how to build an online presence. A few thousand pounds will see the job done well. Or you could look at a few small companies known to you and copy the Social Media model they use. For next to nothing.

 

Whatever you choose, I wish you well.

Ian

[Bitpipe]

Changing the topic slightly....

 

We used a local architect to design our house, before we knew anything about low energy / passive principals.

 

We chose him based on his in-house style and proven record at getting planning through, he worked with traffic and planning consultants so offered a complete package in that respect.

 

Once we had planning, we started to investigate build methods and discovered e-build, then the passive / low energy journey started. He admitted that his knowledge in that respect was pretty non existent and his usual path forward was traditional build methods (brick / block & block) though a main contractor.

 

We amicably parted company thereafter, especially as he wanted £15k for planning conditions & building regs submissions, even though our TF provider offered a complete package in the latter respect. We did the conditions & regs ourselves with no issues and this gave us the confidence to PM the whole project. 

 

We did love his design and by luck it lent itself well to being a low energy construction, especially wrt orientation and window placement.

 

So while we may not be typical self builders (if there is such a thing) I doubt our experience is unique, especially on this forum.

 

 

 

 

[Jeremy Harris]

25 minutes ago, Ferdinand said:

Welcome.

 

This is all interesting in a nerdy type of way. The only thing regulated is the title "Architect", and ARB (Architects Registration Board) * occasionally gets into a flounce about the wrong people using the title. Snice I am not in the Profession I can afford to be both a) mused and b) mused.

 

eg Renzo Piano and Daniel Liebeskind (https://www.dezeen.com/2012/10/09/watchdog-apologies-for-saying-renzo-piano-not-entitled-to-be-called-an-architect/) or John Pawson (https://www.dezeen.com/2013/08/01/arb-threatens-dezeen-for-calling-john-pawson-an-architec/). Pawson has the Architecture degree but did not complete the professional experience requires.

 

I appreciate that the law makes it very tricky in only regulating "Architect" and not "architectural" etc, and EU mutual recognition requires EU-qualified architects to be recognised ,but ARB only recognises them when they are actually written into the UK register (probably hence the above), and some of the consequences are a little peculiar. I feel sympathy for ARB on this score:

 

 

In the piece linked above, ARB actually suggest that Pawson be referred to as "Architectural Consultant".

 

I can do that, and could call myself "Architectural Consultant". I may even be able to market my business as an "Architectural Practice" (haven't checked that all the way, though).

 

Personally I think that architect should be allowed to be a generic, and "Chartered Architect" be the term that is legally protected - to be more like other Chartered professions.

 

But this has been an issue since forever. I know architects of 40 years standing who are not allowed to use the word even though they still do jobs occasionally since they are not registered with ARB. My own father had a spat with ARIBA about this in the 1970s.

 

Lord help us if the Chartered Institute of Builders tried to create a parallel practice .

 

Ferdinand 

 

* Nice paraphrased quote from Arthur C Clarke in A Fall of Moondust. "Boards are hard and unyielding. They are made of wood".

 

 

I think the term "architect" gets misused a fair bit, and given the training period needed to become an architect, and the relatively modest income most earn, I'm frankly not surprised that a few get shirty about misuse of the term.  People on TV don't help, as, if I remember correctly, only one of the presenters of the many TV house design shows is actually an architect (George Clark I think; I'm certain Kevin McCloud isn't one and near-certain that Charlie Luxton is just an architectural technician).

 

Another point of interest for self-builders is that only a small proportion of houses in the UK were designed by an architect.  Right now I can't find the reference, but it's in the 10% to 20% range, I think.  This means that it may not be that easy to find an architect reasonably close to you, with whom you can get on and who has experience of designing single self-build houses.

 

I've recited our experience here before, but I don't think it's that uncommon.  I went around the architectural practices within about 20 miles of us, with a site plan,  a topo plan, the already approved plans (which we didn't want to use) and a single sheet of paper with eight bullet point requirements, that I wrote as an outline spec.  These bullet points started with "must meet or be very close to PassivHaus performance, but we are not seeking PH certification" as the the most important, non-negotiable, point, and went down to a couple of "nice to have" features at the bottom.  Not one single architectural practice took any notice at all of the single non-negotiable point at the top of our list.  To say I was disappointed was an understatement, as I wasted days on trying to find an architect, then gave up.

 

This is also reflected in an open day we had, where a load of architects came around to look at our almost-completed house.  I think that on that day there were eleven of them, and, with one exception, I'd say that they were pretty ignorant about low energy design, the way that the design had to account for things like excessive solar gain, and I gained a view that generally they thought all that stuff was the engineers problem, not theirs.  The exception was one architect, who apologised later for the behaviour of the others and with whom I've since had a couple of meetings.  That practice is one I would have used, without a doubt, had it been running when I was looking around a couple of years earlier. 

 

Given the pretty small self-build sector, then I'd imagine it's challenging to build an architectural practice around one-off house design.  My guess is that this is made harder by the relatively large number of architectural technicians who already seem to have a firm grip on that market sector, too.

 

 

[SteamyTea]

20 minutes ago, JSHarris said:

I think the term "architect" gets misused a fair bit,

Just like the term 'engineer'

[daiking]

1 hour ago, SteamyTea said:

Just like the term 'engineer'

 

Engines don't have ears, silly.

[SteamyTea]

Neither do the emoticons 

 

[Triple07]

Hello @Mrs H, and welcome ?

 

after much research  and visits to past projects, we decided to use a semi-retired Chartered Architect who mainly focused on self builds (a few each year)

He was fantastic.

He got us through planning and building regs and is "on the other side of the phone if we need him again" but we got our drawings and have been well on our way since. 

 

As was previously mentioned, no two self builders are the same and Different things are important for different reasons, but we felt he offered not only good value but really worked with us to get plans we loved. 

We had a site visit with him ( I am shocked by those who do not visit the site)

For our 1st meet we drew up our own plans and wish list and presented him "our vision" but we were flexible.

He gave us some great advise and alternatives. Helped us decide what we hated so he knew which way to steer. 

The cost included as many tweaks as we needed, he said on the first visit something like "if it takes 50 redraws don't worry, it's your house, but if it really takes that many, something is really not right"

Took us 3 redraws and that was only small tweaks, as he had also done his research into us- 

He asked us lots of questions to gain an insight into us as a family, like most self builders "sell on" isn't much of a factor, it's nice, and nobody wants to ruin that, but the house is for us.

He asked was it a family home? Were we looking at adding to it in future or downsizing maybe. Which rooms do we currently use most and why. 

He took note of Little things that make a big difference to how easy a house is to live in....i often work nights so sunlight in the bedroom isn't a plus for me, We have kids- glass balustrade are magnets for fingerprints but storage is essential and so on. 

He had a very good grasp of the planners likes and dislikes and we were made clear on what types of design would sail through planning, what he could push for (and if it was worth it) and what was a definite don't even go there.

i think it's also down to the client too, we were very open about finances and what was important. 

My sister in law is also "selfbuilding" (i would say having a bespoke house built, she has a PM and main contractor...) she is now on to her 3rd architect and none of them have discussed finance much more than top end budget and at least one set of those plans is just never going to be achieved considering the groundswork within the budget. 

With selfbuild I have found that budget changes so perhaps "what are you comfortable spending" is more appropriate, do you want to save time/money (both seldom possible) .

Some people have no idea what certain elements cost, did I want bi-fold doors once I knew cost and quality difference? nope! Does she? Of course, because she doesn't believe it's that much more expensive, in the scheme of things....(let's forget the fact we stay in north east Scotland and it's too windy and cold to even have a window open! )

Wow sorry that's a tangent and probably all standard but it's the little things that mean a lot they say! 

 

We got a fair few copies of the drawings and that helped a lot and also digital copies to send on for quotes etc. 

 

 Best thing I have read on here, and I don't recall who by unfortunately, was that self build does not mean building what you dream of but deciding where to compromise. 

 

 Wishing you well - Triple07

[Barney12]

19 hours ago, SteamyTea said:

Just like the term 'engineer'

 

Never mind all this talk of misuse of the term "architect" the bigger problem is misuse of the term "professional" !!

I've been disappointed by "professionals" in numberous different areas and their is zero legislation protecting that word! And there in lies my main point (which I've made before on here)........ do not ever, ever, ever assume that because someone or a company is a member of a "professional" body that they will be any good. Most are more interested in their members and their membership fees! Frankly a good deal of them are up their own arse! 

 

I'll get get my coat. 

[Jeremy Harris]

11 minutes ago, Barney12 said:

 

Never mind all this talk of misuse of the term "architect" the bigger problem is misuse of the term "professional" !!

I've been disappointed by "professionals" in numberous different areas and their is zero legislation protecting that word! And there in lies my main point (which I've made before on here)........ do not ever, ever, ever assume that because someone or a company is a member of a "professional" body that they will be any good. Most are more interested in their members and their membership fees! Frankly a good deal of them are up their own arse! 

 

I'll get get my coat. 

 

I'd agree with this.  Years ago we were badly let down by a lawyer who failed to properly word a clause in a purchase contract, and failed to discover that the house we were buying had an outstanding planning condition that not only hadn't been discharged, but which was at the enforcement stage.  I tried to complain, first to the lawyer, with no luck, (although the senior partner admitted liability to me and apologised) and then to the Law Society of Scotland.  The latter refused to accept a complaint from a client, saying that they existed to protect the interests of their members....................

 

I've recited here before that an NHBC warranty isn't worth the paper it's written on, and again is no indication at all that a builder who offers NHBC is in any way competent to build a house. 

[SteamyTea]

I had a copy of Windows 98 Professional.

 

I will get my coat also