{"id":2814,"date":"2012-11-29T15:12:13","date_gmt":"2012-11-29T15:12:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markstephensarchitects.com\/?p=2814"},"modified":"2012-11-29T15:12:13","modified_gmt":"2012-11-29T15:12:13","slug":"self-build-week-no-4-why-architects-should-charge-self-builders-more-not-less-the-conundrum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.markstephensarchitects.com\/self-build-week-no-4-why-architects-should-charge-self-builders-more-not-less-the-conundrum\/","title":{"rendered":"Self-Build Week No.4 – Why architects should charge self-builders more, not less – the conundrum"},"content":{"rendered":"
It’s Day Four of ‘Self-Builder Blog Post Week’ and this post is an interesting one as it poses a real conundrum for architects.<\/p>\n
Why architects should charge self-builders more, not less…<\/strong><\/p>\n Now you’d think that as a self-builder you should get a better deal on your architectural services but the exact opposite should<\/em> be the case.<\/p>\n If you look at the four RIAI Work Stages:<\/p>\n 1. Initial Design<\/p>\n 2. Developed Design<\/p>\n 3. Detail Design<\/p>\n 4. Construction<\/p>\n Everything is looking hunky-dory until Work Stage 4 when the site inspections and certification kicks in. <\/p>\n Now let’s look back at a previous blog post on How many times should an architect visit and inspect a build?<\/a> and the UK has a great Building Control system and method of inspectors\/officers ‘risk-assessing’<\/em> a project in terms of the experience of the builder in relation to how many times visits should be made to create a minimum risk factor.<\/p>\n Now if you look at the potential risk of a self-builder (frequently with zero building experience) against a well qualified and experienced main contractor you can see immediately the increase in potential risk which will result in a greater number of visits. These visits will frequently involve a great deal of ‘hand-holding’ in addition to the contractual visits to ensure compliance with planning, building regulations and specification.<\/p>\n The potential risk has increased exponentially in the last few years with huge leaps in effective detailing to ensure thermal and air-tight performance – something that the average main contractor is struggling to come to terms with, let alone the self-builder with minimal building experience.<\/p>\n The problem however for the architect is that the self-builder (especially in today’s economic climate) is the one that can least afford such hand-holding; but I urge you (if at all possible) that in order to ensure your project is built well and is compliant in all respects that you make a registered architect part of your team and pay him or her accordingly for the service they provide.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It’s Day Four of ‘Self-Builder Blog Post Week’ and this post is an interesting one as it poses a real conundrum for architects. Why architects should charge self-builders more, not less… Now you’d think that as a self-builder you should Read More …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[15,17,26,27,53,64,73,78,79,80,81,89,90,93],"tags":[217,311,312,748,845,1034,1100,1154,1158],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\n