Spacemaker Architects

Stage 1 – Initial Consultation

At the initial consultation you can tell us what you want from your home; what works for you and what doesn’t, what you want to change and why. We’ll explore your ideas and share some alternatives that perhaps you hadn’t thought of. We will write to you with a summary of what we discussed, outline the processes involved, an estimated programme and budget, and our fee proposal.

We run a charitable consultation scheme where in return for our consultation and ideas you donate £50 to one of our favourite charities. We hope you will want to work with us but there is no obligation for you to proceed after this initial meeting; you will have some new ideas, and a local charity will £50 better off.

Stage 2 – Concept Design

We’ll walk through the computer model with you. It allows you to walk through your new home in a virtual world so we can adjust the design to make it just how you want it when it gets turned into reality. It’s worth taking the time at this stage to get the scheme just how you want it.

At the end of this stage we will have a clear idea of the scope of the project and we can give you a fixed price for each of our remaining work stages and an idea of the cost for building work.

Stage 3 – Planning Permission

Now you’ve worked out what you want we can prepare a planning application and submit it to the local council to approve how your project will look. We’ve plenty of experience in dealing with planning issues, so we can make sure we’ve minimised the risks and made it easy for the council to approve your new home. Sometimes we can tailor an extension so that we don’t need planning permission but we think you should get what you want rather than limit your ambition to avoid a planning application.

Stage 4a – Building Regulations

Almost all new building work requires Building Regulations approval. This is a technical exercise so there is always a viable solution. It’s also the stage where we build in eco-friendly elements so that you can be sure your proposal will address the climate crisis.

Stage 4b – Producing the Tender Documents

This is where we work with you to get the nitty gritty right. We document all of the detail elements in the project (from the taps on the basin to the type of steel ties in the brick cavity walls) so we can tell the builder exactly what you want and where and how you want them. We’ll invite builders we’ve worked with before to tender or else provide the tender package to a builder that you trust and want to work with.

Stage 5 – Construction

We help you select the right type of contract to protect you; and we then make sure the builder works within the contract and delivers your project in accordance with the designs you’ve agreed with us.

Stage 6 – Handover

At last, it’s yours. Sometimes snags can appear after the builder has handed over your new home and we document these, work out what needs to be done to put them right and get the builder to come back and fix them at the end of the contractual defect’s liability period. Only once the snags are fixed do you pay the contractor his final account.