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I'm trying to lay out a bullet-point list of what is unresolved at the moment, so I can send him a clear email. We just feel like he gave us a nice design, assured us all the way through the process that our budget was appropriate, told us he'd hand-hold throughout, and then just kinda fizzled out at the end. His recommended contractor has sent a big, confusing quote that includes blank numbers for "materials" and a little digging has unearthed that it doesn't include various important bits of the plan. And it's already way over budget. Now the architect has clammed up, and just says he needs the final invoice paying. We're sat here with the house in the same state as at the start, about £9k down on fees, and really tired and confused.
Sparky-
That sounds awful.
Sorry if already covered but did they give you a projected cost for their work and did you have any kind of contract with them?
Our original architect was given the boot as he did the same thing "you'll easily be able to do what i've dran on the plans for **£££ .
Reality is the structural engineer we later appointed said part of the design wouldn't even stand up for long and was a huge waste of money and work and was essentially a vanity project by the architect that would have reduced our views.
We've nearly finished our build and we've paid almost double what the original architect said it would cost... (although 2 other architects we spoke to were right on the money when we showed them our ideas!)
Check what you agreed on and then take a step back.. If he hasn't done what he said he would then i wouldn't pay . £9k seems way OTT -
How much did he say it would come in at and what's it come in at?
johnnettles2
princeperch
Sorry, that is a shit and difficult situation. Try not to treat it as a business exchange (ie at work; about something you don’t care about personally) and manage your emotional response.
I tried to focus on what particular outcome I was aiming for, and treat everything else as noise.
Do you have a list of everything that should be done in stage 4b? Can you clearly set out that he/she was supposed to do XYZ and has not - it sounds like you don’t need a call if an emailed list can work?
There are loads of architects and other professionals on here who will have more concrete advice.