18 Jan Working With an Architect for your Home
If you, your friends or clients are thinking of ‘building’ your own home it is worth bearing the following in mind:
- The TV programmes only show you ‘the good bits’, very rarely is the cost of the time taken up spent DIY building, ‘monitoring’ the build, or managing the sub-contractors etc accounted for. It is usually less costly and quicker to employ the professionals.
- No ‘project manager’ is ever needed for a house. All home-building projects are managed in three stages. There is the ‘client’ manager, that is you. There is the ‘design’ manager, that is the architect. There is the ‘construction’ manager, that is the builder. The architect can monitor the site, certify payments and certify completion to the satisfaction of any Building Society or funding body, it is a normal part of our work.
- From my experience, the figures quoted in the magazines are wildly ‘optimistic’ and usually exclude important aspects of a project.
- ‘Architectural designer’ and ‘architectural consultant’ are, oddly, job titles for which no qualifications whatsoever are required!
The Royal Institute of British Architects, the only professional chartered body for the profession, has prepared a useful leaflet that can be accessed at the link: workingwithanarchitectforyourhome-2015
KR.eativ: Architects Ltd is an RIBA Chartered Practice, there are only 4 in the whole of Kettering Borough, and not all that many in the County! The practice is the only one in the County that is a member of the Association of Self Build Architects (ASBA) a national group of practices specialising in bespoke homes. ASBA also has a useful guide:asba-brochure-2010
“If you need an architect, why not employ one? Only an architect can offer the services of an architect. ‘Architectural services’ are just a legal way of getting round the law and are most definitely not the services of an architect!”