Works To Existing Buildings:

Our charges will depend on the construction cost and whether the project is simple or complex.   There are normally 3 roughly equal stages to our involvement in a typical project.   You can employ us for all 3 stages that make up the Architect's normal full service, or opt for a partial service.

Preliminary consultation?                         

Stage 1 - Design & Planning                         

 Stage 2 - Building Regs., Specification & Detail 

 Stage 3 - Tendering & Contract Administration     

The graph below shows how to calculate our fee, which will be substantially lower than that recommended by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), due to our low overheads and high efficiency:

Example calculation (as indicated by the 'Example line' on our graph):

For a job with a construction cost of say £75,000 + VAT that is of average complexity, our cost for any one of the 3 stages would be about £1,500 + VAT (ie. £4,500 + VAT for the full service), in comparison with about £3,350 + VAT (ie. over £10,000 + VAT for the full service) that the RIBA would recommend.

A crude but useful 'rule of thumb' to estimate the construction cost of a typical residential job would be to multiply the total gross new floor area (all floors) by about £1,200 per square metre (or £120 per square foot), excluding the cost of alterations to the existing building, fitting out of bathroom/kitchen, external works, higher than average specification, VAT, design/Council fees, and a contingency sum for the unexpected (eg. special foundations).

In assessing the complexity of a job we will consider things like the building use, age, form and construction, the subsoil, how intricate the design and building process are likely to be, and the level of quality required.

Our popular price graph has been developed over the years, based on our normal and competitive hourly rates of £80 + VAT for a highly experienced Architect and £60 + VAT for an experienced Architectural Technician, both utilising the latest electronic technology and able to create added value through design excellence conveyed through top quality drawings - we are confident that you will be impressed with what we can achieve in a given time in comparison with our competitors.

Our terms and conditions, unless agreed otherwise, are always as stated on the standard RIBA Conditions of Appointment for Small Works (SW/99), copy available on request.

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