Who’s the right person to design your new home? Mike Hardwick helps you choose the best route for your project

Mike Hardwick

When I ask self-builders who they think can design a house – and who they think should do it – more often than not, the reply is an architect. While it’s true they are highly trained and able to design, plan and manage the construction of a new home, there are a number of alternatives to choose from.

Trained architects are professionals, and professionals aren’t generally known for being the inexpensive option. Moreover, while in certain circumstances an architect is the obvious choice, sometimes using their services can be a costly overkill.

So how can you tell whether you need an architect, or whether an alternative design solution would work better and be more costeffective for your project?

Your design options

One of the key considerations when taking on a self-build or other major project will be the complexity of the scheme. Some of you might be tackling the kind of high-end scheme beloved of Grand Designs – but the vast majority of self-builds do not fall into this category.

Creating a modest family home with four walls and a simple roof is not rocket science. We build tens of thousands of them every year in this country. So do we really need to go to the expense of a fully-qualified architect to draw up something so straightforward? I would suggest not. Here are some of the key design options available to you:

5 WAYS TO SAFEGUARD YOUR DESIGN

1 Always take and follow up references so you know what kind of service you will be getting.

2 Make a record of each meeting and phone call and write notes into an email so both parties have a clear understanding of what has been agreed.

3 Ensure everyone is on the same page about budget. If you have £200,000 to spend on your build including all fees but your designer thinks their costs will be added on top, for instance, you’ll soon get into hot water.