Hiring an architect or designer

“I can do it myself; I don’t need an architect or an interior designer . . .”

Architects and designers don’t always have the best reputation.

If you watch Grand Designs, a BBC series that takes a building project per episode and follows it from start to finish, you might well believe that if you hire an architect or designer for a project, you will inevitably end up firing them and that every project doubles in price by the end.

The thing is that we have all walked into a friend’s house and thought oh my god what were they thinking . . . that couch/table/kitchen/wallpaper/light is foul.

And we all have an opinion on contemporary architecture; often “oh my god how did they get planning/building permission for that?” Some people might even find themselves agreeing with Prince Charles, but that’s for another blog.

The fact is that reading Espace Contemporain every month or watching Extreme Makeover Home Edition does not make you a designer.

Thinking you have good taste does not make you one either. Would you treat a heart condition yourself just because you know about right and left ventricles and the concept of blood pressure?

Of course like any profession there are good and bad architects and designers, and there is no one who can choose for you.

But find one who suits you and chances are that the project you undertake will last inevitably. You will have avoided plenty of mistakes, which means time and money, and your project will actually get finished, as opposed to 90 per cent of self done projects which reach a state of 80 per centedness and remain that way indefinitely.

And the beauty of an architect or designer is that you don’t have to supervise everyone. You just have to supervise them. They then deal with the carpenter, electrician, plumber etc., and they, in theory actually know how to . . .