Hi, What an exciting position to be in! What area do you live in?

To clarify, what exactly does the extension involve? Are you opening up/changing the existing family/kitchen space? Or is it just a tack-on as per the rough sketch? Is it only single storey? What is the site access like? Is it high end finish or have character/heritage type detail/fabric to tie in/continue with? 4-500K It seems high, but then if the whole area was being re-jigged and you have to then do structural support to the upper level etc....then it's surprising how much the costs can stack up...... Have you only just discussed this in concept and an architect throw a number at you, or have you actually completed a proper/professional pre-design/feasibility stage of service? The way we professionally manage/address these types of "weighing up" scenarios (which is very common) is by properly crunching the numbers on several different options based on specific scope of works. We call this a "feasibility" stage of service, which is relatively contained/compact, and we find it really helps people regularly in situations like yourself to make confident decisions moving forward with projects. But you need to be given the right information and then have the capacity to properly weigh up options (say renovating/extending in various formats and aspects) against the next in terms of costs and overall value. For that type of number, whatever it is, you want to make sure that it makes sense for the property investment, and that it is the best way to spend it. For example, you may have to spend 4 or 500K one way or the other, but is there a more effective design strategy than just a relatively small extended footprint? What we try and achieve for clients is best bang for buck with the design solution, in terms of property/investment value of the built result, and so we see our job to not just simply design a kitchen extension because that's what is being asked of us, but rather look at it all broadly, identifying the opportunities and maximising them, and sometimes particularly for small scale/tight sites reno scenarios, that we find better value outcomes often involve a larger scale project where the budget is more cost effectively distributed, so in other words, you still pay the money, but it's spent so much better ;) Hope this helps as food for thought, but ultimately until there's more information provided (or a proper investigation/service performed) it's hard to provide accurate comment on whether in your case doing something is "worthwhile" or not. As a last comment - we've done several similar scale/nature projects - let's just say we "spread" that type of budget much further than just a 10m2 extension scope ;) Feel free to contact us if you're interested in discussing further Kind regards PD :) Paul Di Stefano Design www.pauldistefanodesign.com admin@pauldistefanodesign,com @pauldistefanodesign

The bigger and more complex the project, the more you'll need the services of an architect. The architect should be doing the lot from the very start to the end when you get handed the keys to the finished project. The client only liases with the architect and they do everything on your behalf. If you only require design and plans, etc for approvals and your builder is very good then using a building designer or draftsman is more than sufficient. They need to be able to design well in this day and age otherwise it could be non compliant with thermal requirements, planning regulations getting tighter, etc.. The days of you telling the draftsman what to draw because they don't know how to design are long gone. Experiance with projects comparable to yours is what is needed. Choose the one that suits your project rather than the piece of paper with their qualification written on it.

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