Choosing The Right Architect

Making sure you choose the right architect is key to achieving your home improvement goal, they have one of the most significant impacts on your project. An architect should be able to take your ideas from imagination to the drawing board. They will create the design for you to consider, cover the obstacles which may arise and explain how to overcome them.

There are many stages to choosing an architect, Studio4 Architecture have created this condensed list to highlight some key points:

Referrals/Recommendations

When first beginning your research it easy to get overwhelmed by the amount of companies pitching to create your perfect home, its hard to sift through the sales ads to the genuine information. This is where recommendations come in handy, if you really want to know how an architect collaborates with homeowners ask for referrals.

Try and source a company who comes recommended by people you know and trust, ask family and friends if they’ve worked with an architect they would recommend. If you don’t know anyone who has recently had building work don’t be scared to hit social media with your questions. At this point if you still haven’t been able to speak to a past client go straight to the source and ask the company you are considering. Feel free to also ask people what they did not like about a architect and weigh their comments against your own set of requirements. Speaking to past clients is the absolute best way to see if an architect is right for you.

Online Research

Very similar to the above point, do your research online but don’t just look at reviews. Spend a bit of time on their social media, how do they interact with people, do they update daily (which usually gives you an idea of company size), what kind of things to they post about? Social media is an excellent insight into the kind of company you would be dealing with. They should be professional, friendly and share projects they are currently working on so you can investigate their work.

After social media look at your Google search as a whole. Look at things like ‘best architecture companies in Harrogate’ and check out the first few links, do they appear in the Google map with Google reviews? All of this confirms the validity of a company, and how much they take pride in their online profile.

Consultation/Meeting

Once you have completed all of your online research, its time to agree a meeting. Remember you will need to work fairly closely with this person, are they someone you can talk to and express yourself, and on a basic level like them as people?

Designing a home can be stressful, you need to feel like you can trust your architect to guide the process making it efficient and even enjoyable. Ask questions about style aesthetic and specialties, as well as the general design process. How many meetings can you expect, what’s the typical timeline and so on.

Project Costing

It’s an obvious one, but still important to mention. Designing your home will take up quite a bit part of your overall project budget, which is why it is so important to get the pricing right and make sure you are happy with it. Your project could end up smaller or bigger than you thought, especially after hearing your architect’s input so try to have some extra room in the budget and choose an architect who can deliver what you need at a price you can afford.

When you have a consultation with a possible architect don’t beat around the bush when talking about the costing, and what your budget is. They need to know the information right from the start, its likely you will be able to tell at this point if you are speaking with the right architect. They will either listen and take what you are saying on board, or simply talk over your budget and start rounding up.

Be upfront with your architect and they should be realistic with you in return. They will explain what is achievable within your price range and give you a timeline of events.

As always thank you for reading and we hope you found this blog useful. If you have any questions, or need advice concerning a home improvement call 01423 226 333 or email info@studio4.co.uk, we’d be happy to hear from you.