My architect doesn't seem to be providing much imagination or commentary - is this normal?

[Midnight_wolfboy]

We bought a [relatively] inexpensive house with the plan of either:

 

1) Demolishing the existing property and building a new house

2) Keeping some of the house and doing a two storey extension

 

Ofcourse since moving in costs have gone up 4000% post pandemic.

 

We've asked an architect to help us design the house plan - given the large scale of the project.

 

We had an initial conversation stating we wanted a:

1) kitchen diner,

2) utility and

3) four bedrooms upstairs

 

They are pushing for demolishing half the house and doing a two storey extension - they've recently emailed a design although with no commentary

 

I don't think it's particularly cost efficient or imaginative

 

Am I being unfair on them? Does anyone have any better recomendations - I'm thinking of doing an extension around the existing structure and avoiding much demolition?

 

Our budget is circa £150k

 

 

 

[CharlieKLP]

It’s not that bad, apart from the bedroom with no door lol (just kidding I’ve done a few layer mistakes in my time). They are doing noob errors like not putting titles and furniture on the room. I think they gave your job to a new starter and didn’t check their work.

 

They have fulfilled your brief as you gave it. I think that’s probably the most route#1 answer to the brief, but it still works ok? What’s the problem.

 

A problem might be that they haven’t sold it very well. I’d expect to see a nice 3D and an email telling you how it works and looks.

 

Being critical of the plan, for the sake of improvement, I’d say the utility is too big (or needs some store to use the space better), WC needs a window, the dining table is enormous and you will be looking at that from your lounge which has no light. Usually I put the dining room away from the garden elevation because you use it less.

stick some roof lanterns in, people love those.

 

what were you expecting?

 

personally I think a new house would be better economically once you have don’t a 2 storey extension, you don’t pay VAT and it can be more efficient.

Edited July 3, 2022 by CharlieKLP

[Miek]

21 minutes ago, Midnight_wolfboy said:

 

 

Our budget is circa £150k

 

 

 

With a budget of 150k it will be very difficult to do a new build IMO. That would mean entirely your own labour for everything at a guess. 

 

2 storey extension might be feasible though.  

 

 

[JohnMo]

I think your extension will be difficult within the budget., You seem to two lounge and dining areas, which seems loads of dead space.  As said utility is huge.  Also the kitchen, diner sitting area looks very spacious.

[ETC]

If you’ve given your agent the budget they should be designing to it. I suspect this proposal is more expensive that your budget and I’d look again at your brief or your budget.

 

Consider leaving the upstairs as it is and reconfiguring the ground floor to give you the kitchen/diner you want.

[SimonD]

Okay, so just to stoke up a bit of emotion here, I think on the face of it, it is poor. They don't appear to have thought about or questioned your brief, just plonked an additional kitchen diner on the end of the house. I think the bedroom layout is a bit ropey too.

 

I'd reckon you need to step back a bit from your brief and ask yourself how you are going to use the space and what you need from it - from a functional perspective. Do you have a family? Is your family young or old? Are you planning for this house to be a family home or are you wanting it for older age and/or for a couple who wants to have space for guests? Some of these questions are likely going to feed into the design and how it works. For example, if you have a young family, the existing layout could work really well because you are going to want to have a seperate space to get rid of the kids and the kids stuff (possibly into the front lounge) when you want some piece, tranquility and tidyness when you want to chill out. Same thing with the utility - yound family with children means a great demand on washing an laundry etc. so a generous room is a great thing. But at the same time I think that the open plan dream can turn into hell on earth with a busy family because of noise and disturbance too - just think someone cleaning up the kitchen and making a load of noise while the other is watching something on tv.

 

Did your architect actually visit the site and sit down with you to understand you as a client? This could yield alternative and more efficient designs that might work better.

 

The whole thing needs a tad more thought IMHO, then consider designs and subsequent likely budget. For 150k, don't even think about knocking down to rebuild.

[ETC]

My attempt. First floor to remain as is.

[Russell griffiths]

With a budget of £150 you need to do a lot yourself including design, get all your ideas down and talk to them. 

That budget will just get you the extension, don’t waste it trying to get an award winning architect to come up with some fantastic design, it will just get your hopes up for something you cannot afford to finish. 

Keep it simple, nice family area, good working space, no fancy things and you can do it. 

But get carried away and your budget will disappear by the time you have a shell up. 

[Pocster]

4 hours ago, Russell griffiths said:

With a budget of £150

Yeah you want at least 200 quid 

[CharlieKLP]

Weird how they drew on a support steel and it lands on top of the oven hob, and a window. You do kind of get the impression they don’t know quite what they are doing.

[Thorfun]

what have people got against a large utility room? having lived in a mass built new-build with a pokey corridor type of utility room where you can't walk past if a cupboard door is open I would (and we have!) go for a large utility room. I see no issues with it if you have the space to do so.

[CharlieKLP]

1 hour ago, Thorfun said:

what have people got against a large utility room? having lived in a mass built new-build with a pokey corridor type of utility room where you can't walk past if a cupboard door is open I would (and we have!) go for a large utility room. I see no issues with it if you have the space to do so.

No issue with large utility rooms.

 

It’s the same size as the kitchen, is my issue. I think you should proportion the rooms a bit more carefully, take into account where you get the most benefit. 

 

I’d rather have a nicer living area. 
 

It’s all a bit big for the budget anyway, so maybe they do need to look at where the money goes.

[Pocster]

[Modernista]

I agree regarding the idea of a large utility room - especially if you plan to keep your kitchen / diner / lounge uncluttered as a bit of a feature. Our large utility room houses all of the crap and means no appliances on worktops in the kitchen (not even the kettle). With that layout you could connect the utility directly rather than a separate entrance - it would be much more use.

 

On the architects front what was agreed in terms of RIBA level / fee scale? That (partly) determines how much intellectual input you'll get.....

 

On a personal front I'd question the need for all that en suite space that will end up being damp and smelly. Depends on the occupants of course but a jack and jill might work somehow in that upstairs layout in order to cut a bathroom out.

[SteamyTea]

On 03/07/2022 at 12:30, Midnight_wolfboy said:

 

1) kitchen diner,

2) utility and

3) four bedrooms upstairs

As you know what you want, and you know what you currently have, what input from an architect were you expecting?