Checklist: Briefing an Architect

[ToughButterCup]

This checklist is intended as a starting point for your own thinking. It isn't definitive, it is intended as a guide. There's a downloadable pdf (a link at the bottom of this list) version which I'll update in the light of comment. Comment and discussion make this list more useful: please add to it, and make suggestions or offer constructive criticism.

• Is an architect appropriate at this stage of your project? Will a Planning Consultant do?
• Do you have to brief an architect? Will an Architectural Technician do?
• Consider doing some of the designing yourself or perhaps a CAD Technician
• Is an architect working for a house manufacturer appropriate for your build?
• Research suitable architects: websites, relevant journals
• Make a long-list of possible companies
• Check each architects credentials here
• Is the architect bankrupt?
• Check the architects Indemnity Insurance
• Make initial contact; listen
• Ask for examples of existing work; visit / drive by
• Company brochure
• Work up a brief.
• Consider budget and don’t forget VAT
• Will the architect of choice actually do the work?
• Does ecology come into the mix somewhere? Time scales.
• Refine your brief, and write up. One side of A5.
• Send it to the architect in advance of your meeting
• List the questions you want to ask, and refer to the list during the meeting
• Meeting: has the architect read the brief?
• Does the architect listen?
• Is the architect merely an “Educated Artist”?
• What does the architect think of as the scope of his / her work?
• Clarity about Extras and Incidentals
• Does the chemistry work?
• Ask for references.
• Visit / ring/ talk to them
• Decide

Checklist Briefing an Architect.pdf

[Auchlossen]

Here is my experience FWIW. I checked quite a few of these points before appointing my architect, who did a very good but slow job on the planning process. I felt that we shared values, particularly ecological values, and I liked his design. I tried to give him a fairly free design hand. Then he did an even slower job on the detailed design for Building Warrant and Tender, and we began to fall apart. He was not interested in pursuing my detailed requirements, He put in many fancy and therefore expensive bits, and did not want to take them out before tender - 'wait and see what price comes in'. Finally he was uninterested in pursuing the ideas of my chosen contractor, who had suggestions for reducing costs and simplifying design. I had thought about changing architect after the Planning stage, talked to several others: one I didn't like and another I could have run with [though I understand now she has since left the area], but all the advice I had was not to change if at all possible, so I hung on. Eventually after tender, I talked with 2, one of who had been involved in PassivHaus consultancy for me, and he took on the revisions to Plans and Warrant change very willingly.

[ToughButterCup]

Yes, it's a delicate thing the relationship anyone has with an architect. There's a power relationship there which needs to be moulded into a partnership. Add a contractor with their own ideas and that's a difficult dynamic to manage.

That 3rd from last point in the checklist  above: Does the chemistry work... did it work when you talked together?

[jack]

While my architect wasn't perfect, he were very happy overall with what he did for us.

The design he came up with was a complete departure from the lines along which the previous architect we'd been using (and fired) had been going.  It was far better, and more importantly, it was something we had a chance of getting planning for.

Unlike many (indeed most) architects, ours is an absolute whizz at the planning process.  He's very familiar with local and national planning policies, and shepherded our extremely modern design through to first time approval in a very conservative area.  I like to think we helped by actively engaging with the community and our neighbours first (because we wanted to, I should add, not just because we wanted to get planning permission!), but the planning submission was a work of art.

He didn't have many serious weaknesses.  If there's one thing I think he could do with some work on it's his weathering details.  Some of them really didn't manage water very well, but thankfully these were picked up and rectified by others before it was too late.

There are two things I'd counsel:

1.  You MUST get a fantastic personal feeling from the architect at every point until you sign up.  Any misgivings, or misunderstandings, or odd vibes are a warning - if that happens now, it'll be HELL when things inevitably get stressful.

2.  There are exceptions to the rule, but choose an architect whose buildings you like.  There are very few architects who are so talented that they can design (or indeed are interested in designing) many different types of building well.  Ours is a specialist in modern designs, and we largely liked what he'd done before.  Don't go along to a specialist in neo-Georgian and expect them to design you a modernist temple!

 

 

 

[swisscheese]

Good checklist.

From my experience, once we had been thorough many of the points on the list, the single most important aspect to choosing the architect was thinking "Yes, he gets it, he understands us, and Yes I think in partnership, we can work together."

[ToughButterCup]

Right... it's got to click hasn't it ?

Ian