Frequently Asked Questions

If you haven’t used an Architect before you may have some questions about how things work. There may also be differences between the way we work and how other Architects might work which you may want to understand. Choosing an Architect to work with is a daunting decision which will impact your whole project, so it’s something you’ll to get right at the start.

We’ve put together a series of Frequently Asked Questions that will help you to understand how LA Hally Architect, or Architects in general tend to work. If your question isn’t covered here, please contact us, we’ll be happy to help.

Do you charge for initial meeting? 

For an initial meeting in our office in Winchester, or an online meeting, there’s no charge. This can be a useful introduction, especially if the property can’t be visited yet, or you want to find out more about appointing an architect first. If you are keen to meet us after the initial chat, we would always recommend another meeting at the property or the site to better assess viability or any potential issues, and get a feel for what the site offers.

We do charge a small amount for coming out to meet you at the property, for this we’ll spend over an hour with you discussing potential ideas and potential hurdles and showcasing our work. Local projects within 30 minutes of our office are charged at £75 per visit, if it is up to an hour away we charge £150 to cover some of our time out of the office. For projects further afield, we’ll agree a fee with you beforehand. If you appoint us as your Architect we don’t charge a fee for further visits, as these are included.

Do you have a minimum project size you take on? 

We tend to work on projects with a budget of over £150k excluding VAT (if appropriate). At our discretion, we do sometimes work on smaller projects, these tend to be projects that present an interesting challenge or are community based. 

Who will work on my project? 

In the early stages of the project, we tend to work as a team, so it is likely you will interact with our entire team throughout the duration of your project. During the later stages of the project one of the Chartered Architects will take the lead and become your main point of contact especially at the points where more complexities are involved. For all stages a qualified architect will oversee the works to ensure our high standards are maintained.   

How long does a project usually take? 

As a general rule, we expect a renovation and extension project to take around a year to start on site. This would include the design stages, gaining planning permission, building control approval, tendering the project and signing contracts with the chosen contractor.  

We tend to find buildings in conservation areas or listed buildings tend to take longer than the average project, due to the extra complexities involved. Similarly, new build projects also tend to take longer in the planning permission stages than renovation and extension projects.  

These timelines assume everything is addressed one stage at a time, for example, waiting for planning permission to be granted prior to starting work on Building Control drawings. It is possible to speed up the process by overlapping stages, however this comes with at risk to the client, as we can never guarantee planning permission will be granted without design revisions being resubmitted. If you are considering this approach, we can discuss this with you to ensure the risks are understood. 

What format will I receive drawings in? 

We give out drawings in PDF format, which can be viewed on most devices. For some stages of the project, we’ll also produce printed drawings.  many of our clients like having a set of paper drawings to have at home, which we are happy to issue to you.

Whilst we may share drawings in CAD formats with appointed consultants, working alongside us, such as a Structural Engineer.  Please note, in accordance with most RIBA Chartered Architects, we do not release drawings in CAD formats to clients or other professionals not working alongside us on the project. We take this approach to protect our intellectual property and avoid any issues around responsibility for drawing changes.  

Will I need to appoint any other consultants? 

Almost every project we work on will require a structural engineer to be appointed. There are a range of other consultant that might be required depending on your specific scenario. 

Every project is different, and we will help to advise which consultants may be needed in advance and at which point of the project. It might be that no other consultants are required but it’s possible you may need one of more of the following list: Party Wall Surveyor, SAP Assessor, Heritage consultant, Planning consultant, Ecologist, Arborist, Highways consultant, Quantity surveyor, Interior designer. Please note this list is not exhaustive but aims to give you an idea of what to expect. 

There are other consultants you may wish to consider appointing but are not a requirement, for example: Interior designer, lighting designer, acoustic consultant, Smart home designer, landscape designer.  

What other fees or expenses will I need to pay in addition to Architect’s fees? 

For a project involving an extension or renovation you are likely to need to pay for a measured survey of the existing building to kick start the project,. We organise competitive quotes for this for you, in most cases you should expect to pay between £1,000 and £2,000 + VAT depending on the size of the property and whether topography is to be included. In some cases, you may require an additional topographical survey, this is always needed for a new build and can cost between £1,200 and £3,000 + VAT depending on the size and complexity of the site. 

There will be some small payments for our expenses such as purchasing Ordinance Survey maps, contract documents etc. We will inform you about these prior to purchase. There will also be expenses for travel, printing, and postage etc. as appropriate. At tender stage, printing costs tend to increase as we need to order paper tender packs to send out to the speculative tenderers.

Before the building work starts, you will need to take out appropriate insurance, often as a joint policy as a requirement in the building contracts. Again we can advise on suitable insurance companies that will be able to advise you.

Any consultants required are appointed, and paid, directly by the client, and there will also be fees payable directly to apply for Planning and Building Control approval. Also all utility companies costs re paid directly by the client and should be accounted for. 

There are lots of Architects in Winchester, why should I choose LA Hally Architect? 

We are specialists in residential design tailored to the client. We do not dictate the style of the design and can work with you to create the home you want, whist gently guiding you to a design that not only meets your style aspirations but also creates a home that is a joy to live in and works for your lifestyle. We care deeply about our clients, and our aim is to create a building our clients will love to call their home. We are an all-female practice who are passionate about design and endeavour to provide the best possible service to our clients. 

Every architect is different, we often compare choosing an Architect to purchasing a piece of art from an Art gallery, you don’t just choose any piece you need to really like it, you choose the architect because you love the work they produce and feel a synergy with them. You also need to know that you can work with them over a long period of time, so will need to choose someone you feel you can trust and get along with and feel you can communicate well with. We suggest you speak to a few Architects and take some time to understand the differences in the services that they offer and read reviews and testimonials from clients. If you like our work, we think you’ll be so impressed by our range of services and what our clients say about us, we feel that working with us is a decision well made! 

How much are your fees? 

We tend to either base our projects on either a Lump sum fee proposals or on a percentage of the contract figure.  If a client intends not to take us on site and wants packages of work, a lump sum fee proposal that is based on a number of hours tends to work best. We calculate and approximate number of hours that each stage would expect to take us, if the stages over run we would need to highlight this to the client and an additional charge would be made for any over run.  

If a client is keen to appoint us us for the full scope of works, we would charge based on a percentage of the contract figure. The smaller the contract figure the larger the percentage applied and vice versa. This structure tends can appear to be a little more expensive overall, however you will get far more of our time on the project, so is the best value for money. 

Can you share some past client references before we start on a project together?

We have a number of client reviews on our website, on google reviews and on Houzz, but if you feel you would like to talk to one of our past clients we would be happy to organise this for you. It quite often makes sense for us to try to put you in touch with a client who is currently or has recently been working with us, as their views will be still quite fresh. Talk to LA Hally Architect about this and we can organise this for you.

What is an RIBA Chartered Practice?

RIBA stands for Royal Institute of British Architects, which is a “global membership body driving excellence in architecture”. A chartered practice must have a certain percentage of RIBA chartered architects within the firm. Chartered members must adhere to the set out standards of professional conduct and practise that is expected, ensuring that architects proceed with their work ethically and with integrity.

How is LA Hally Architect approaching the new Principal Designer role

The Building Safety Act applies to all projects where work will take over a certain number of hours to complete or that involves the input of more than one contractor, this relates to every project we are currently working on in the office. The principal designer is appointed by the client to plan, monitor and manage health and safety risks, to ensure as far as is reasonably possible that the building has been designed without risk to those who will build or use the building after he works have taken place.

Under Building Regulations, the principal designer will co-ordinate matters relating to building control compliance in the pre-construction phase to ensure, and be able to prove, that the design is in compliance to current regulations.

In domestic projects, the role of principal designer is automatically carried out by the designer involved in pre-construction phase unless it is expressly requested by the client for this not to be the case, and where they opt to appoint another member of the design team to carry out this role instead. We act as principal designer up to the point that we are no longer involved in the project, and we tend to allow for this work within our fee proposal unless otherwise stated. It is best practise for principal designers to be appointed as early as possible.  We do not work on high-risk buildings.

Where can I find more advice, or independent, advice on working with an Architect?

We would always recommend the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), not only to they ensure Chartered Architects and Chartered Practices, like ours, uphold the highest standards, they also have a wealth of information, whatever your project. Start with their Working With an Architect pages.