DesignXY Ltd Journal offering guidance on the use of our Construction Cost Calculator, for architecturally led extension or new build projects, for domestic / residential clients.

[4min Reading Time]

At an initial client / architect meeting, there’s a key question that we have to broach before we conclude our information gathering.

“What is your budget for the project?”

All projects start with a recognition of a need. The need can be due to a lack of space, poor utilisation of existing space, or perhaps poor orientation and daylight. When a client contacts us and asks to meet to discuss their needs, a Chartered Architect is required to establish their client’s budget as a core component of the brief.

The question of “…do you have a budget in mind for your project?”, is sometimes met with the response “…well, how much is it going to cost?” . No-one wants to be in the position of [a] spending more than is needed to achieve their aim, or [b] starting a project only to realise that the ambition outweighs the means.

It’s also very common for us to be invited to meet with a potential client after they’ve already spoken to a builder.

Typically, the builder isn’t willing to offer even a vague estimate of costs, until they’ve seen the client requirements in drawn or written form. Both the architect and builder will wish to avoid creating a situation where a budget cost is initially considered reasonable, only to find at a later date that due to the scope of the project, the level of specification, or perhaps increases in material and labour costs, that the budget figure is no longer realistic.

This potentially puts the project in a ‘chicken & egg’ situation from the very start. The client seeks cost certainty, but the builder needs more detail to be able to provide it. Understandably, the client would like to know how much the project will cost, before they’re willing to commit to design fees, to generate the information needed by the builder.

Architects bring shape and order to projects as well as to buildings.

We do this by applying tested and refined processes to our work. At DesignXY, we recognise that there’s an opportunity for architects, often as the consultant that’s engaged at the start of the project, to utilise their expertise and lessons learned on previous projects, and offer some initial guidance to their clients in terms of construction costs, project duration, critical dates, as well as architectural and third party fees.

This is what clients expect architects to do anyway, however there’s a cost. Analysing the initial viability of a project takes time and therefore fees; either the architect has to charge the client for that time, or the practice bears the cost when the client receives reliable and therefore valuable information regarding their proposed project.

We believe that it’s possible to harness knowledge in a format that empowers our clients to answer some of their own pre-start questions and explore options before we even meet for the first time.

It takes pressure off those initial interactions if a client is already aware of what a realistic budget would look like for their specific needs; this means that we can focus on the overall requirements, offer some initial thoughts on appropriate design responses, building rapport and ensuring that by the end of the meeting, all involved are confident of the actions that we agree to undertake as next steps.

With all of this in mind, we’ve developed a Construction Cost Calculator, that’s free to use.

Through a simple process of answering a number of questions about your intended project, including the location, scale and level of specification required, the Construction Cost Calculator will take the floor areas provided and generate a report that is sent to the submitted email address.

This initial project appraisal provides information regarding the estimated construction costs, realistic timeframes, and can even issue an illustration of architectural fees for the project, if that is requested.

All of this happens through the Construction Cost Calculator web-interface - the results are issued automatically and the team at DesignXY Ltd will only make contact with you regarding your potential project, if you specifically request it when filling in the details of the form. If you’d like to discuss your project with us, you can make contact, pass on the reference number given to you in your appraisal email, and we’ll be able to access the information and discuss your project with you in more detail.

For more information on how the Construction Cost Calculator works, we’ve developed a Construction Cost Calculator Guide to take you through the process, step-by-step.

We hope that you find the Construction Cost Calculator to be a useful tool in planning your domestic project. If you have any questions about the Construction Cost Calculator, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us.