New Build -LOOKING FOR ARCHITECT.

promises

Hi Boards, myself and my partner are looking to do up plans for a new build in County Meath. What questions should I ask architects before deciding which one to go with, or if anyone has any recommendations please forward them as I'm feeling overwhelmed with where to begin. Thanks in advance.

mrsWhippy

I sent you a PM already, but I started by asking around, getting word of mouth recommendations - trawling the web for architect's websites and looking at their previous work. When I narrowed it down to 6 or 7, I had meetings or phone calls with all or most of them ... followed up by visiting some of their previous builds, and contacting previous clients too. There were some who I eliminated straight away, just didn't click with them and didn't anticipate a good working relationship which imo is very important. I got ballpark quotes from all of them also which helped me eliminate some too, particularly as some would only quote a percentage cost of the build costs which didn't appeal to me and our situation. Some guys tended towards the more traditional design, some were more contemporary so you'll have to think about what style would suit you best and find someone who can meet your needs.

Also think about whether you want the architect to just look after the design and plans, or if you want them to project manage the construction (which we did).

If you have any special requirements like wanting to tend towards passive design for example, you should probably seek someone who specialises in that area and check out their previous work & qualifications.

Anyway there are architects here who will no doubt answer your question better than I did, but from the point of view of an overwhelmed person, that's what I did.

FiOT

Hi promises,

I'm also in Meath and am about to start building in the next few months having received planning permission during the Summer. Overall, for me, it was a very smooth process and I really wouldn't have anything bad to say about our dealings with Meath Co. Co. I know you hear scary stories but personally, for us, it was very positive.

Much like MrsWhippy, I looked around a lot for recommendations to start because I guess they all have similar qualifications on paper and in all things I put a lot of weight on people's experiences. In the end, I didn't even go with an architect but an engineer. Well he's a "planning consultant/engineer". I found out about him from a local construction company and we just clicked. In my own personal experience, being quite young and "Green" about planning and building, I think feeling comfortable asking the stupid questions and being able to go back and changing the little things over and over is something I couldn't put a price on. But if you're looking for an idea of the price, we paid around €3000 including VAT from sketch drawings to lodging the planning application. He also acted as our planning agent and dealt with any correspondence from Meath Co. Co. We are now paying him another €3000 including VAT to produce our spec. drawings. It was great to get everything done by the same person.

Why did I choose an engineer over an architect? Well, we were almost positive about the style, size, shape, look of the house we wanted to build and we thought long and hard about architect v engineer. We really only needed someone to draw up our dreams in CAD and I think going with an engineer saved us some money too. I think though if you are building something more "modern" than a big square block, then I'd be going the architect route. Our house is very simple and plain - nothing fancy. I'm always very aware that I might sound like I'm saying an engineer can do all that an architect can do and I assure you I'm not. Our engineer didn't have any amazing grand designs ideas, he was functional and budget conscious and he kind of just did what we asked him to do which, for us, was perfect!


One little hint if you have a certain design in mind, is to check out the Meath planning website. They have all of the submitted plans to view online and the plans have the architects name on them. If you see a design you like it might be a starting point towards an architect who has the same vision as you.

If you have any questions about the process, drop me a line, I can try to explain my experience better and things I've learned along the way!

Best of luck.