Pay architect before planning?

taserfrank

Hi,
I have had an architect prepare a planning application for me. He has shown me all of the documents and drawings he intends to submit, and I am happy with his work. However, he insists that I pay him the full fee prior to him lodging the planning application. Is this normal?

sydthebeat

taserfrank wrote: »

Hi,
I have had an architect prepare a planning application for me. He has shown me all of the documents and drawings he intends to submit, and I am happy with his work. However, he insists that I pay him the full fee prior to him lodging the planning application. Is this normal?

if he has the whole application there ready to submit, then yes absolutely.

Metric Tensor

100% yes. The work you engaged him to do is now done.

If he lodges without you paying him his only way to get you to pay if you decide not to is to take you to court.

taserfrank

I have no intention of paying this guy if my planning is refused. What I am considering doing is taking the drawings he has already given me, tippexing out his logos and lodging the planning documents myself. I'm not forking over €1500 to this guy with no guarantee of planning, its just not on.

treascon

Is this a wind up?

sydthebeat

taserfrank wrote: »

I have no intention of paying this guy if my planning is refused. What I am considering doing is taking the drawings he has already given me, tippexing out his logos and lodging the planning documents myself. I'm not forking over €1500 to this guy with no guarantee of planning, its just not on.

its not his job to grant you planning??

this has to be a wind up

sydthebeat

actually, after looking at ALL you posts on boards.ie its obvious you a troll.

TheBoyConor

Ah here, are you for real?

There is never a guarantee of securing planning permission. That is why it is called an application. And you are not paying an architect to get planning permission, you pay them to prepare and lodge the application for permission.

Assuming that he has applied due care and diligence in preparing the application, and has not made any stupid, glaring errors, then you absolutely should pay him regardless of whether your application is successful or not.

And that is exactly why he is requesting payment before submitting the application - because there are chancers out there who would refuse to pay if the application is refused because "i hired you to get my planning permission and you didn't get it so fúck off".

This level of ignorance would put a person off dealing with one off housing.

taserfrank

sydthebeat wrote: »

its not his job to grant you planning??

this has to be a wind up

Yes, his job is to grant planning. However, it is completely unreasonable of this guy to expect full payment before he lodges the application. He is then free to wash his hands of me. And if the planning is refused, I have no come back to this guy. At least if I only paid him half now and half after, he would have an incentive to keep things on track. The only wind up here is the way this guy is treating me.

TheBoyConor

eh, no it is not.
It is the job of the Planning Authority to grant or refuse permission.

An architect, engineer (or any person for that matter) may lodge an application on behalf of an applicant. They only prepare the necessary documents - they have no say whatsoever in the making of a decision.

You clearly know absolutely nothing about the planning process.

Op if i were your engineer, I'd tell you "fine so, no pay, no application".
And I'd delete everything and try not to get involved with ignorant pricks ever again.

garbo speaks

taserfrank wrote: »

Yes, his job is to grant planning. However, it is completely unreasonable of this guy to expect full payment before he lodges the application. He is then free to wash his hands of me. And if the planning is refused, I have no come back to this guy. At least if I only paid him half now and half after, he would have an incentive to keep things on track. The only wind up here is the way this guy is treating me.

In your original post you mentioned that the architect had done his work and you were happy with same. Pay the man, let him lodge the application, and stop this nonsense.

sydthebeat

taserfrank wrote: »

Yes, his job is to grant planning. .

well, youre completely wrong from the outset...
so theres no point discussing anything else youre posting about.

taserfrank

Looks like I will be taking his stuff and lodging it myself under my own name. Disgusted by the elitist snobbery on here.

wexie

taserfrank wrote: »

Looks like I will be taking his stuff and lodging it myself under my own name. Disgusted by the elitist snobbery on here.

How will you get it without paying him?

taserfrank

He's already given me one copy of the drawings. Just a case of photocopy in town.

sydthebeat

taserfrank wrote: »

Looks like I will be taking his stuff and lodging it myself under my own name. Disgusted by the elitist snobbery on here.

yeah, go off and do that :D:D:D:D:D

weak troll effort to be honest... no subtlety

TheBoyConor

In most cases the drawings remain the intellectual property of the person or company who drafted them.

He could potentially come after you for IP theft.

garbo speaks

taserfrank wrote: »

He's already given me one copy of the drawings. Just a case of photocopy in town.

.. and its just a case of being caught red-handed after the architect sues you for breach of copyright.

overshoot

taserfrank wrote: »

Looks like I will be taking his stuff and lodging it myself under my own name. Disgusted by the elitist snobbery on here.

And you only have a licence to use his design. So he will still bring you to court for the full fee.

Elitest snobbery haha, it's called paying people for their work. aka not ripping people off.

spodoinkle

We didn't pay our architect a penny until we moved into the house, however a friend had to pay his in three stages, so Id say its entirely up to the architect how or when they bill you.

taserfrank

TheBoyConor wrote: »

In most cases the drawings remain the intellectual property of the person or company who drafted them.

He could potentially come after you for IP theft.

I'm terrified :rolleyes:.

jamo2oo9

spodoinkle wrote: »

We didn't pay our architect a penny until we moved into the house, however a friend had to pay his in three stages, so Id say its entirely up to the architect how or when they bill you.

Generally, it's down to the client. If the architect trusts them well enough, he could ask half now and half after planning decision. However, there are cases where architect will ask for full amount before planning permission/retention is sought. Of course, every architect is different and will charge whatever amount he/she feels is appropriate and state a payment plan/stages

wexie

jamo2oo9 wrote: »

Generally, it's down to the client. If the architect trusts them well enough, he could ask half now and half after planning decision. However, there are cases where architect will ask for full amount before planning permission/retention is sought. Of course, every architect is different and will charge whatever amount he/she feels is appropriate and state a payment plan/stages

Seems this architect read his client spot on

Gumbo

taserfrank wrote: »

He's already given me one copy of the drawings. Just a case of photocopy in town.

How will you copy them to scale?

taserfrank

kceire wrote: »

How will you copy them to scale?

He has them on A3, photocopying these will be to scale.

Metric Tensor

3/10 OP

Opening post seemed genuine, drop the bomb then on the second post.

But there's no nuance and not enough grey area - that meant you were scrambling then for the next few posts with tippex and photocopiers.

Gumbo

taserfrank wrote: »

He has them on A3, photocopying these will be to scale.

No they won’t. With each copy on a photocopier, you will loose scale.

rayjdav

I'm sure you will be well capable of answering the detailed technical RFI that the council will inevitably issue.:D:D
No professional will touch you with barge pole so Billy down the pub will be your reliable consultant. Small country and all professionals do keep an eye on their local ePlan so expect detailed observation from your Architect too.

As per Syd, I call troll on this too after looking at other posts. Nobody can be this stupid........

BryanF

thread closed. OP’s question answered.