How to get a House Designed

Building your own home is a big project – and one that is likely to take up a lot of your time, energy (and money) during its course.

With that in mind, you had better make sure that the home you’re ending up with meets your expectations.

Good house design is at the heart of a successful self-build project, and because it provides your project with such key early direction, making the right choices - and having a clear understanding of the process and what you should expect of the process itself - is critical.

‘Good’ house design isn’t just the drawing of a house that looks amazing – it is about the process itself, and the channel it establishes for the whole project.

So how do you avoid this all-too-common scenario? It’s worth pointing out that just as hiring an Architect has never been a way to guarantee a successful design process (just as hiring an accredited builder has never been a way to guarantee a successful build process), there are many Architects who specialise in working day in, day out with self-build clients.

They provide an excellent customer-focussed service, at good value fees, with successful outcomes in terms of both project viability and high-level house design.
 
Let’s be clear with job titles. An Architect (capital ‘A’) is a house designer who has been through the formal seven years of training and is currently registered with the Architect’s Registration Board (ARB).

This training gives them both a broad overview of design (from residential to commercial and all the aspects of construction in-between) and, just like doctors, they will begin to specialise in certain areas.

Ultimately what self-builders need is someone who is a brilliant house designer, who understands your motivations, and is able to create a plan for a home that can be built within your constraints; Architects can of course be brilliant house designers; but so can almost anyone with skill, talent and experience.

Many of the best-renowned award-winning individual homes created in the UK have been designed by house designers without a formal qualification to their name. House designers can be architectural technologists, surveyors, engineers, or anyone with the skills required.
 
Because, as we have established, a key role for the house designer is in providing a connector between all the different elements of the house construction process (from build cost, to planning consent and even construction choice), it is critical to choose wisely.

When you talk to potential house designers, ask them not just about their design ideas for your new house, but to provide examples of projects that they have previously been involved with.

 

• How long did the design process take?
• Did it get through planning easily?
• Were there any revisions of the design scheme during the construction process?
• Does the designer have favoured builders locally (and, if so, make sure you talk to the builders about the designer – they more than anyone will have a view on how clear and comprehensive the quality of the drawings themselves is).
• Did the projects overrun for time and/or cost, and if so, why?
• What were the build costs of the projects?

Your choice of designer will be critical to the success of the project and as such it should reflect your own priorities.

If money isn’t an issue, and you really are after a genuine one-off that has unique design merits, then the attitude of the designer to practicalities will be less of an issue.

If you want a house that isn’t necessarily totally unique, but has everything you want but within a very well-organised and budget-focussed context, then your designer should share these concerns (and talk about costs with you a lot).
 
One way to have the best of both – mixing the individual design flair of the best architects with ‘buildable’ practical engineering skill and an ingrained understanding of the unique design priorities of self-builders – is to use the in-house designers at companies such as Potton.

We provide design and build services for our customers. Marrying these two elements together ensures that the designs remain buildable, but also include all of the exciting things that self-builders want from their own individual home.