We’re looking at doing a small extension to the back of the house to give us a bit more space, roughly 3m x 3m. It will be under permitted development for a variety of reasons so no planning required. I’ve spoken to one architect but he originally seemed a bit shocked I’d found his number despite being in a town 6 miles away and didn’t seem that keen on coming out to us. A lot of the architect websites I look at show pictures of commercial or expensive resi projects with nothing so piddly as ours so not sure if i’m taking the wrong approach.

We’d like it to look good, interested in new design ideas and want to flood as much light into the kitchen area which it is attached to as possible. Is this architect territory or not worth their hassle and they’ll just leave it to a builder? I don’t want to waste anyone’s time.

If anyone has a number for an architect in the Guildford area they would recommend please do so. Ta

I’d say that was architects territory if you want something ‘interesting’ unless you can find something and tell a builder you trust that this is what you want.

We;ve just had a fairly large glass curtain/sliding door wall specc’d up for our current West Wing extension – glass is pretty expensive! Then you realise you want some privacy and end up spending more money on blinds etc.!!!

We’d like it to look good, interested in new design ideas and want to flood as much light into the kitchen area which it is attached to as possible.

This says it is worth using an architect.
You might end up spending more at the design stage, but if you want something more than a simple extension then it may be money well spent.

You might be able to get away with an architectural technician to draw something up for you. Or if you are looking for something a bit different then look for a specialist builder who should have a few ideas. We found a couple through Green Open Doors. TBH it’s not rocket science, I drew ours. It’s nothing fancy but does let in plenty of light and makes good use of the space.

breatheasy – can I ask who you are using for the sliding wall and whether you are using bifolds or sliders. Interested as could be wanting 6 metres of similar soon.

Cheers

Try searching for an architectural designer for your local area, should be much cheaper than a RIBA architect. Despite the modest size I recommend a building regulation ‘full plans’ package so you can obtain accurate quotations from builders, the plans will then be checked by Building Control prior to site commencement which provides the opportunity to raise any queries before you start building. Depending on the design of the extension and modifications to your existing house you may also require a structural engineer to provide calculations for steel work, for example if you want to open a room into another etc.

FYI I’m a self employed architectural designer located in Somerset.

Nope, I’ve done an house extension with just structural plans and a builder.

I did Planning consent myself (using power point) and a structural engineer drew up the plans for Building Control.

breatheasy – can I ask who you are using for the sliding wall and whether you are using bifolds or sliders. Interested as could be wanting 6 metres of similar soon.

I’m up in the NE but we used Solarfold (recommended by friends). Few designs on their website, suspect they don’t serve the sexy south though – Solarfold

As a rough guestimate, bifolds are £1000 a metre, sliders half that.

There are skylight options as well – check out Fakro roof lights but they’re not cheap either!

A lot of the architect websites I look at show pictures of commercial or expensive resi projects with nothing so piddly as ours so not sure if i’m taking the wrong approach.

They’re not going to show you pics of plain 3m x 3m square boxes are they? They’ll put up picks of their best projects. Doesn’t mean they don’t do 3 x 3 square boxes though. It’s something the apprentice can work on!

I wanted a kitchen extension in my last house and figured pretty basic so just wanted someone to do the appropriate structural calculations and drawings. Found someone one the internet who did it for a fixed fee. It was cheap but it did take a bit of getting right before I could get the builders in, I wasn’t in a rush so didn’t matter to me. End result was what I wanted.

Thanks all. Re their website I appreciate they wouldn’t put the real pokey stuff on there as we’re doing but most of it just screams “you are too poor to deal with us” which may well be right hence why I wondered if I was going down the right path.

If you do get an architect, make sure you agree and understand all costs up front. I managed to agree a cost for what I thought was drawings required for builders / planning but was in fact just for the design. Ended up paying 50% more than expected for the detailed drawings. Even at that cost (about 4% of the build cost) we thought it was money well spent for our extension – the guy had a few ideas that we wouldn’t have had; and it was good to have something easy to agree with the builders.

Is this architect territory or not worth their hassle and they’ll just leave it to a builder? I don’t want to waste anyone’s time.

I wouldn’t leave it down to a builder. Try and find someone. Word of mouth or personal recommendation being the best advice I can give.

If someone is cheap don’t expect too much.

Single residential projects can be time consuming (when not left down to the builder to sort out) and therefore loss leaders. Its nothing to do “you are too poor to deal with us”.

It does help if you have some ideas. If its a single storey 3×3 box then look at lantern lights for the roof space. You won’t get much more light in that that. Also bear in mind that if you fill one wall entirely with glass in a 3×3 it sort of makes the room unusable for anything other than looking outwards.

We live in a house that has had two similar sized extensions – both planned and built by builders.
They are built well, but the use of space and circulation around from ‘old’ house to conjoined extensions is shocking. An hour of an architects time would have come up with much, much better use and layout.
Haggle on cost, but do involve one.