In the UK, anyone can offer to design your house. They can draw plans, submit a planning application and help run the project. What they cannot do, unless they are registered with the Architects Registration Board, is call themselves an architect.
That distinction surprises a lot of homeowners. The law protects the title, not the service. So the word on a website or proposal is useful, but it does not tell you everything you need to know about the person who will actually be working on your home.
This matters even more now because the rules changed in October 2023. If you are having building work carried out in England, you have a legal duty to take reasonable steps to make sure the people you appoint are competent for the work they are being asked to do.
That does not mean you are expected to become a construction expert overnight. It does mean that choosing the person with the lowest fee, the nicest Instagram page or the warmest recommendation is not enough on its own.
Start with competence, not the job title
An architect is someone on the ARB register. They have completed the required education and practical training, must follow a professional code and must make sure suitable professional indemnity insurance covers their work.
A Chartered Architect is also a Chartered Member of the RIBA. RIBA membership is voluntary and separate from ARB registration.
Architectural designers, architectural technologists and building designers can also be highly capable. Those titles are not protected, so you need to look beyond the label and ask about training, experience, insurance and the sort of projects they have actually delivered.
Interior designer is also an unprotected title. There are respected professional bodies and experienced practitioners in the field, but there is no statutory register and no automatic insurance requirement.
None of this means that an architect is always the right answer, or that someone without the title is automatically unsuitable. Registration is meaningful evidence, but it is still only the beginning of the conversation. A person can be well qualified and still have little experience of the type, scale or complexity of work you are planning.
The best question is not simply, “Are you qualified?” It is, “Are you qualified and experienced to lead this particular project?”
The appointments that now matter
The Building Regulations set out formal roles for people involved in design and construction. A principal designer is needed where more than one designer is likely to be involved. A principal contractor is needed where more than one contractor is likely to be involved.
On work to your own home, you are classed as a domestic client. If nobody is appointed to those roles, the designer controlling the design work and the contractor controlling the building work take them on by default.
That does not make the client irrelevant. You still need to appoint suitable people, give them enough time and information, and avoid making arrangements that prevent them from complying with the regulations.
It is far better to agree the roles deliberately and put them in writing. Otherwise, the legal position may be filled by default while the practical expectations remain unclear.
There is another source of confusion. There are now two roles called principal designer. One sits under health and safety law. The other sits under the Building Regulations and is concerned with compliance. The duties are different, and the roles may be held by different people. A prospective designer should be able to explain how both apply to your project.
What to compare between proposals
Fees are easy to compare because each proposal gives you a number. The difficulty is that the numbers often describe different services.
One designer may be pricing the planning drawings only. Another may include briefing, consultant coordination, technical design, tendering and support during construction. The second fee looks higher because the second appointment is doing more.
Ask for the scope in plain English. What is included? What is excluded? At what point does the appointment end? Who prepares the technical information? Who coordinates the structural engineer and other specialists? Who helps you choose a builder? Who stays involved once work starts?
Then ask who will actually lead the project. In a larger practice, the person you meet may not be the person producing the work. That is not necessarily a problem, but you should know who your day-to-day contact will be and who remains responsible for the overall direction.
Site involvement needs its own conversation. Designing a project and administering a building contract are separate services. Find out who will inspect the work, review the contractor’s payment applications, issue formal instructions and deal with changes. If nobody is appointed to do that, those tasks do not quietly complete themselves. They usually fall back to the client in an informal and uncomfortable way.
Ask about professional indemnity insurance too. You should know whose policy covers the work, the level of cover and whether it remains relevant after the project has finished.
Finally, ask for a simple responsibility schedule. It can be one page. It should say who is doing what across the client, designer, engineer, contractor and any specialists. Most project disputes do not begin with somebody refusing to do a job. They begin with several people assuming somebody else was doing it.
Why the lowest fee is rarely the best test
A lower fee may reflect genuine efficiency. It may also mean less time, less experience or less work included. You will only know which if the scope is clear.
The shortfall often reappears later as additional fees, unresolved details, hurried decisions or changes on site. At that point the project is moving, the builder is waiting and your choices are more expensive.
Design fees are a relatively small part of the overall cost of a renovation or extension. The decisions made during design shape nearly everything else you spend. A well coordinated opening can save structural changes. A properly resolved lighting layout can prevent rewiring. A complete tender package gives builders less room to price assumptions or raise extras later.
Choose the person whose experience fits the work, whose proposal is clear and whose way of communicating gives you confidence that they will still be present when the difficult decisions arrive. Then compare the fee against the value and responsibility included, not just against another number at the bottom of a page.