what sort of ball park figures should I expect for this?

We’ve got a clear idea of what we want, two storey extension to the side of our house, opening up the ground floor to be open plan so Steel(s) with pads/Piers, with a bedroom and with en-suite upstairs.

I’ll be arranging all building work and probably materials to so it’ll just be the drawings really and any structural calc’s

doing as much myself to keep costs down.

and if anybody can recommend anyone local then even better (Nr. Southampton)

Thanks

29er Keith. I do private work which keeps costs down. If you handle the engineering side I can do the drawings.

Do you know what you want teh extension to look like? That keeps the costs down. Most expensive thing is a survey of your house and then the construction drawing package but if you’re doing stuff yourself then it can be a minimal package.

500 to about 2k, engineer should be 300-500 ish (depends if you know one), price will depend on planning, warrant and construction issues. There is a lot of out of work architects who will bite your hand off for a bit of cash in hand. Just watch out because most will only provide non professional advice as an indemnity insurance dodge…

Ps I reckon 1200-1500 all in would be about ball park for a practice.

check out http://www.grosvenordd.com

Bloody good chap and very reasonable. Can do all the engineery stuff too.

If you get in touch, tell him Lugz sent you.

Varies

However if you want a good price / good service then give Malc a call at M2 Architecture. They’re based in Fareham.

Tell him Paul from Southampton sent you.

I think the numbers quoted here are quite low for proper Architect’s services. You haven’t really set out exactly what services you do require (you may not yet know). If you want pre-application planning advice, planning application, detailed design drawings, outline spec and building regulations, then a good Architect will probably be worth it. There are plenty of good sole traders out there who will give a solid service and be able to recommend an engineer. They could charge anything between £200 and £600 a day depending on how much they want the work and I would expect anything from 3 to 10 days work depending on how complex things are, how much you actually want them to do etc. They’ll probably do this as a fixed fee based on their perception of how long it will take. Any Architect should be ARB registered and therefore have sufficient professional indemnity insurance for the work they undertake.

Having said all that… if you really just want the drawings doing then a draughtsman will be able to do what you want. Although if you’re a bit unsure on the process then i would suggest this would be a false economy.

Architect Your Home is a great place to start.

Cheers all, some useful info to think about.
I maybe in contact with one of you/ your recommendations later in the year once plans progress a bit further

Think Baldysquirt forgot to mention about Architectural Technicians.

I’ll need to do a fair bit of reading I think

My initial thoughts were to make an appointment with planning to discuss pre application stuff to formalise our thoughts and make sure they broadly fit with what’s acceptable, which from what I’ve read they should.

Then get the proper planning drawings + design and specs + and calcs for the Steel(s). Then take the rest on myself doing what I can myself and then organising trades and building inspectors.

We’ll see though it’s all a bit fluid and just thoughts at the moment, There’ll be a few stages we think and everything will take us a few years we think. Starting with the garden and internal stuff now and moving on to a new garage then the extension.

Go and talk to planning and they should be able to give you some pre-application advice. Whether they will stick to that come application time is another thing!

Get the planning/survey drawings drawn up and off the back of thosethe building regulation/construction drawings can be done. In terms of structural engineer they would need to confirm the foundations, floor joists and possible roof trusses. Drainage can be done by architect/technician/technologist but would be confirmed by the BCO when on site.

Depends whether you want some design or just a drafting service. I’d say the former is better but then I’m an Architect.

I was quoted about £1 to £1.5k for the architect’s part for a fairly standard attic conversion recently (Bristol)

If the OP is doing the upfront consultations then it makes to just go for a drafting service as there are no design requirements as such. Would probably save a grand on costs too

Clubber – Who did you get that from? Was quoted 1.2k for a loft conversion, to include all dealings with the planning application, plus £500 for the structural engineers calcs. Could do with a second quote……

I’ll try and dig out the details if you like though we didn’t actually go with him as the builder we chose to do the conversion does it all included in one price though I can pass on his details too if you like. Drop me an email and I’ll send them on.

Will do – thanks. Was pie-in-the-sky when we got the quote last year but it is becoming dangerously close to being the next thing on the ‘to do’ list!

You may wish to try http://architect-yourhome.com/

They allow you to pick the level of service you require.

The biggest influence in the price of the any quotation will be ‘time required’.

If you know exactly what you want and therefore the designer only needs to draw up one scheme then this is a lot cheaper than having to produce lots of varied options for you to choose from.

For example, I have compiled from scratch a design and Planning Application for £200 for one Client who knew exactly what they wanted. Another Client who wanted ‘just an extension’ ended up with a bill of £2,000 to arrive at the design they wanted.

Structurral Calcs and Design should be completed by a Structural Engineer (for a loft conversion).