How to Select an Architect?

It does not matter if you are after a bold and original home design or a modest and simple extension. What matters is that you will need the services of architect anyway. However, choosing a suitable one is a meticulous task, and also essential for ensuring success of the building project. The right person for the job will carefully discuss your requirements in detail, effectively change your ideas into something feasible and provide valuable advice about the options available within your budget.

Here are a few tips to choose an architect for designing building drawing plans in UK:

• For finding an architect in the first place, you can either consider personal recommendation, or look up on the internet. Architects Registration Board, the legal board that regulates architects in UK, features an online searchable register for architects.
• Choose more than one and invite them to provide you a free personal consultation. In this way, you will form an idea about their working methods and service charges. The designs and approaches of each may surprisingly vary a lot.
• Request for a portfolio from the one that you may consider for hire. Try to get feedbacks from his or her previous clients and if possible, contact them personally and ask if they were satisfied with the work. Check their records of preparing approvals for difficult and controversial schemes.
• Make sure that your architect draws up a contract for schedule of the construction works. This will enable you to appoint them as professional inspector, to frequent the site of construction and see if the works are as per as the required standards.
• It is important for you to confirm that the person responsible for planning your building has been involved in recent projects. If he or she has not taken up any work for a long time since his or her last one, many problems may tend to arise, such as underestimation of the construction costs, unfeasibly high builder’s quotes, etc.
• Obtain a written agreement for the fees and a strict timetable of due dates for the project on paper. Without a proper schedule, construction projects often tend to drift on for several months.
• If, in case, things do not seem to work out as planned and the issue cannot be resolved by cordial discussions, the Royal Institute of British architects can make arrangement for an arbiter who will examine the case in order to settle the matter.