If you have recently put off hiring a good architect in London due to the costs or fear that you might be ridiculed, here is a guide to approachable and affordable professionals. The right architect can cut out mistakes and stress in the following ways:
- Finding the best builders for your job.
- Suggest materials that your builder or you wouldn’t have considered or know about.
- Translating your anxieties and fears into a practical solution.
- Guiding you through contractual obligations or regulations that you have to handle.
How To Find The Right Architect
To begin with, spend a bit of your time either talking to neighbors or friends or knocking on the doors of the homes that inspire you. Word-of-mouth is still one of the best recommendations.
Alternatively, you can visit www.ribafind.org/dom.asp which is a search engine for the Royal Institute of British Architects, which is an outstanding resource to look for architects in the area that you live in according to the work you would like done and to match up to your specific budget. This site also provides a 5-day free referral service that can match up to your specific project, by recommending a maximum of 5 architects.
By now you should have compiled a short list of architects that you are interested in.
Here are the steps to follow:
- First phone each one to inquire if they have availability for your project as a few architects may be booked up for months.
- The next step is to arrange an interview with a minimum of 3 available architectural firms. You should ask to meet the team that will be working on the project.
- Make sure you come prepared and bring along all the information or ideas that you have about the project.
It is important to ask each architect how they typically liaise with clients, so that you gain an idea on the amount of time you can expect on-site, online or face-to-face.
Make sure that your final choice on an architect is an individual that can do the home architectural designs you have in mind, has experience in your property type and check on the amount of houses that they have already built.
In conclusion, your first interview is typically for free, so it really pays off to look around until you find the best architect. Keep in mind that a few architects only have an interest in designing white modernist cubes, so make sure the architect that you choose matches the style of your project.