How do I bathroom / kitchen / extension? etc.

Thanks.

Well I think that we started stuff in 2020 and so costs were just way up, scope creeped and then you have unforeseen costs. I learnt to live with it and they were really helpful. I would recommend them totally as a business.
It certainly didn’t start with a 1 !

EC are a rare beast of a design led architecture firm who actually also build what they design via their contracting wing. So in theory they are a step ahead of a regular firm who will either have a QS do a cost review or make a broad guess. Or not - and wait till tender returns come back high er.

Even so I gather on this project the initial design needed to be revised to meet budget.

My point is that until you resolve any design to a reasonably high level of detail - you’ll never get a real idea of costs. And bearing in mind the design and planning process may take 6-12 months + it’s no surprise that often tenders come in more than expected at the outset.

Some clients will weather this because they want what they want - others can’t and have to compromise.

Within reason - If you start a conversation with a client by being negative about what they want to achieve given the budget - the risk is they go elsewhere to someone else who tells them what they want to hear.

I think it’s unrealistic to expect architects to also be cost consultants (and yet the RIBA domestic schedule of services seems to suggest we should be)Architects are not trained in this at any point.