10 Things clients say that TERRIFY me as an Architect…
(3 Min Read)
Over 10 years of being an Architect, and here’s a shortlist of sentences that still make me wince when a client says them.
None of these are small things. Each one is how a good project can quietly turn into an expensive, avoidable problem. Here they are below and why they worry me…
1. "We'll just scale the floor plans off the Rightmove listing."
Rightmove plans aren't measured surveys. They're marketing tools, often drawn to a rough scale by an estate agent, not an Architect or better still a Building Surveyor. Design off inaccurate dimensions and you find out the hard way…usually on site when you are setting out and nothing works.
2. "We don't need a build contract, we've worked with this builder before."
A good relationship doesn't replace a formal building contract. Without one, there's no agreed scope, no payment schedule, no written terms, no mechanism if things go wrong. "We trust each other" isn't a substitute for something in writing.
3. "We're changing the design on site, but we're not going back to planning."
If what gets built doesn't match the approved planning drawings, that's a breach of planning control. It can cause real problems at sale, remortgage, or if a neighbour complains. Changes happen but they need to go back through planning, not get left as a loose end.
Changing the design yourself on site carries other risks too. Everything is drawn the way it is for a reason, often to comply with Building Regulations, and that's not always obvious to a client. Move a wall or resize an opening without knowing why it was there in the first place, and you can unknowingly take the proposals out of compliance. It can also cause coordination problems on site that aren't obvious at the time, and only unravel into a mess later on.
4. "We'll just agree the lighting and electrics with the builder on site."
No lighting or electrical plan means no coordination between trades, no record for building control, and decisions made on the fly with plaster dust in the air. It's one of the cheapest drawings to get right and one of the most expensive to get wrong.
5. "The builder's doing the structural calcs or we don’t need any it’s just one small load bearing wall to remove."
There's no such thing as a small load-bearing wall when it comes to calculations. That's a structural engineer's job, signed off properly, not something to leave to the builder's experience however good he is. Yes some builders might genuinely work with qualified Structural Engineers which is fine to provide these, but please check the builder is not just doing the calculations himself on an online calculator.
6. "We don't need a party wall agreement, we get on fine with the neighbours."
Getting on well with your neighbours is great. It's not a legal agreement nor complies with the Part Wall Act. Skip the party wall process and you're both exposed if something goes wrong during the works regardless of how friendly things are today and you aren’t compliant.
7. "We've only got a lump sum quote, no breakdown from our builder but it matches our budget so that is fine."
A single number tells you nothing about what's actually included. No breakdown means no way to compare it properly, query it, or spot what's been left out until it turns up as an extra. This is the easiest way to blow your budget.
8. "We're doing the work ourselves, we've never really done DIY before."
Ambition is good and a willingness to get stuck in too but inexperience on a live construction project isn't the place to build it for the first time. This is usually where costs, timescales, and safety all suffer at once.
9. "We'll sort the fire safety stuff later."
Fire safety isn't a finishing touch on any project. It shapes the layout, the materials, and the building control sign-off. Leave it late and you're often redesigning, not just adding to, what's already been built.
HMO conversions especially have specific regulations and spec to meet, and a lot of it needs wiring in at the first fix stage. Leave it until the works are complete and you're looking at ripping back into finished walls and ceilings to fit an adequate fire alarm system and emergency lighting…an expensive mistake you will only do once.
10. "We'll let the builder deal with Building Control, we don’t need to be involved in that or site inspections."
Building Control correspondence is where design decisions get tested against regulations. Step out of that conversation and you're trusting the builder to flag anything non-compliant and relay it to you.
I always recommend that the client appoints Building Control directly, manages the communication, and attends every site visit. That way you're checking compliance as the build progresses, not finding out about issues at the end, when getting final sign-off becomes a fight.
The common thread through all 10…they feel harmless at the time, and they're very easy to do particularly if you're new to property and construction. But they're expensive in hindsight, and more importantly, they often don't comply with regulations.
If you recognise any of these on your own project, feel free to book in a one-hour 1-1 with us and let's talk before it becomes a bigger problem.