Architects plans for Barn Conversion

[oldgit72]

I am converting a barn in the Charente and need to draw up plans. The barn is over 170 sqm so I will need a signed off set of plans from an architect. Has anyone undertaken a similar project (finished project around 250 sqm over 2 floors) and if so, how much should I expect to pay? I can draw up the plans myself as I have experience in this area but not the qualifications required by the French planning people (unless Technical Drawing 'o' level counts!!). Has anyone gone down this route of drawing up their own plans and had the plans signed off by an architect?

As always, any advice much appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Devon]

I am renovating a ruin at the moment in the Charente Maritime. I purchased the property with plans already passed. the plans are for a 300m2 property with a pool I believe the people I  purchased the property off paid 3000 euros for the plans to be drawn by the architect.

 IMHO and in my experiance trying to design a property with little experiance or knowhow is not a good idea. Working with an architect and using their training to design a house  incorporating your own ideas is the best option

[BIG MAC]

I took dims and got drawings done by a CAD technician I know. His colleague has a French wife who translated Techy Terms. Got the specs sanity checked by my French builder and into the Maire they went. Cost me £500 all in

[BJSLIV]

But that doesn't work if the building is bigger than 170 square metres. Hence the OP's problem.

[oldgit72]

[quote]I took dims and got drawings done by a CAD technician I know. His colleague has a French wife who translated Techy Terms. Got the specs sanity checked by my French builder and into the Maire they went. Cost me £500 all in .[/quote]

 

How big was the property?I have heard of people going down this route on large renovations but surely this could cause problems when selling as no architect was involved.

[mint]

[quote user="Devon"]

 IMHO and in my experiance trying to design a property with little experiance or knowhow is not a good idea. Working with an architect and using their training to design a house  incorporating your own ideas is the best option

[/quote]

Agreed.  A good architect should also get the most out of the site, such as features incorporating views, slope of the land, drainage, etc.

And should also get the most "useable" space out of the property.  The layout is also all important when  it comes to designing a structure that is the most economical and efficient to build and to live in.

[johnnyboy]

We bought an old barn in Haute Vienne about 3 years ago,similar size to yours by the sound of it. Had most of the work carried out by local artisans and designed through the architect with our input.

Cost is totally dependant on you really,how long is your piece of string??[:D]

Seriously though,we have made quite a few alterations along the way which pushed up the costs.All the sort of things that other threads tell you not to do!!

We decided that if we felt we could afford it,then better to have it done the way we wanted as it is planned to live there permanently one day.We are both still working which helps.

A few other items like a new roof were not in original budget,but we ended up spending approx €285,000 overall.Have got a lovely house with quite good spec now,still fitting kitchen myself during trips over.That helped to keep costs down,paid £2,500 for component parts in the end,due to their mistakes we got it almost half price!!Still awaiting some parts now though the kitchen was ordered in July last year.Heating sytem was another large chunk of overall cost(underfloor heating and wood burning stoves)

We absolutely stress that we could not have managed without the architect,who project-managed the whole process too in our absence.Not only that ,he came up with some brilliant ideas(interspersed with a few not so brilliant!),but on the whole a sound investment.

One last thing,he recommended that the stone walls upstairs be covered with insulated dry wall system,very good idea as it turns out.Plenty of insulation is a must! Er indoors was not best pleased when he first broached this subject,but thankfully saw sense and is now more than happy!

Apologies I cannot be more precise,but as you can see it all depends on you and your budget.

Johnnyboy.

[oldgit72]

Thanks for the reply. My piece of string is probably a fair bit shorter than yours.!! I have a builder to do the bits (roof/floor) that I don't fancy tackling and a electrician and probably a plumber but other than that I will be doing most of the work myself whilst living on site (early retired so need to earn my keep!!) . Excluding an architect I am working on a budget of 125k euros for the project which  is fully costed and allows for 10% contingency.  My main question is around the cost of employing an architect to sign off the plans. As you seem to have employed the architect to project manage as well as draw up plans, I guess the architects fees were quite high?

[Iceni]

At our first meeting our architect made it quite plain, ad nauseam, that he would not sign off plans drawn up by A.N. Other - though I have read that other architects take a different view.

One possible way to cope with this is to make your first planning application < 170 m2 then when you do the rest the fees may be lower (depending on how big yours is of course).

John 

[BIG MAC]

Or make 'ahem' a first project less that 170m2 'habitable' surface carry out conversion but not fit out then get simple drawing from your own CAD layers adopted by French Architect to produce a change of use drawing for the 'non habitable' but nonetheless quite cosy areas.

So long as the end result is right and no attempt is made to deprive the public coffers of what they should have, things should be hunky dory.

 

[Boiling a frog]

There is a British architect (fully registered in France and UK) who has his office in La Rochfoucauld, Charente. Perhaps a phone call to him would establish a ball park figure.