Anyone in NSW can draw plans for you, however council and builders do not care where or who prepares the plans so that means anyone can call themselves a draftsperson or building designer without any qualifications or government regulatory body. However an architect can only be an architect if they are registered with the board of architects within the state they have registered in. For me while I was studying I was a building designer and while studying architecture at university this lead me to keep working toward registration so that I could provide a professional and accountable service for my clients.
Over the years I have seen so many clients who have spent so much money on plans, only to have to walk away with a design they hate and outlaid a lot of money for, to then also find out there is nothing they can do to recoup costs as there is no regulatory body checking on these business. Unless they take legal action which they need then to pay for legal advice and court costs.
Do I need to use a Architect?
Your architect however is required to meet the Architects Act and in the Architects Act there is a lot of information on what an architect can and cannot do. One major point we should highlight, if you have a budget the act requires the architect to manage that budget. Now if this is not adhered to, and you believe it was out of your control, then you have an opportunity to contact the board of architects who will then investigate and take further action as required for you. I think we need to stop worrying about the cost of plans and look at the overall service an architect can provide and what we must do for our clients to ensure they are happy and well looked after and that Is what The Right Architect needs to do. When you compare the service, time architects assist you through the duration of the project, follow up consultants, emails, deal with builders, phone calls, meetings then compare to costs of consultants who only off advice in their specialist field for a very short period of time, you start to see that the plans are only part of the service architects provide.
If you do not want to use an architect then please use at least an accredited building designer. These guys to do provide a great service and being apart of the this organisation they do care and want to provide a good service to their clients.
If you’re looking for an architect or building designer please we would love the opportunity to provide you with a fixed fee quote based on your project size. First step is to Book a call with Lauran here and we can talk about your budget, brief and some inspirational images of what type of project you love so we can get a feel of the scale and impact you are trying to get out of your project. I have a video here on what you need to do before you talk to an architect so you feel better prepared for our phone call.
