How to hire
Match the person to the job first. A chartered architectural technologist draws and details straightforward residential jobs such as extensions and loft conversions, often for a fixed fee, while an architect is the natural lead where design judgement or tricky consent shapes the scheme. A combined planning-and-surveying practice suits rural plots where permission is the hard part, and one Telford practice specialises in care homes. When you first enquire, say which rooms, what you want to build and whether the home is listed.
Check the register before you book. Ask for the ARB registration number and type it into the search on the ARB register, which finds architects by number, name or company, then check the name that comes back matches the business you are hiring [1]. A logo on a website proves nothing on its own. For a chartered practice, look the firm up in the RIBA directory, which lists accredited Chartered Practices [2]; for a technologist, use the CIAT website's check-a-member and find-a-technologist tools [3].
Learn whether your job needs permission. Many small extensions fall under permitted development, while larger ones and most work on flats, listed buildings and homes in conservation areas need a full application, and GOV.UK explains which route your project takes [4]. Applications go in through the Planning Portal or straight to Telford and Wrekin Council [5] [7]. Say in your enquiry who will prepare the drawings, who submits the application and whether the fee is included in the quote.
Plan for building regulations as well as planning. Most extensions and conversions need regulations approval on top of any permission, with drawings showing structure, insulation, drainage and means of escape, and GOV.UK sets out how approval works [6]. If your home is listed or sits in a conservation area, extra consent applies, so check the council's heritage pages before you agree a scope [8]. Tell your designer the age and status of the house up front.
Get two or three itemised written quotes on the same scope, so you compare like with like [10]. Each quote should name the stages included, measured survey, concept design, planning drawings, regulations drawings and site checks, the fee basis for each stage, the start date and how long each stage takes. One Telford practice offers fixed fees for many job types, so ask for that format by name where your job is straightforward. Treat an outlier, far above or below the rest, as a question rather than a bargain.
Close the paperwork loop before the builders arrive. Your file should hold the planning decision notice, the building-control completion certificate and the full set of approved drawings, which you will need when you sell or remortgage. Ask whether the quote includes VAT on top, since published figures rarely say, and agree payment in stages tied to drawings delivered rather than weeks passed. If anything arrives uncertified or unapproved, pause and ask for the missing paper before you pay the balance.
Telford and Wrekin adds its own layer. The borough holds eight conservation areas, including Wellington and the Severn Gorge, where even small alterations can need permission and the council weighs the historic character of the area in every decision [11]. Inside the Severn Gorge conservation area, which is also a World Heritage Site, an Article 4 Direction tightens control over minor changes further [11]. The council runs a pre-application advice service that can flag these problems before a formal application, with free verbal advice on householder jobs and free half-hour surgeries for residents inside the Gorge site [12]. Mention the address and any designation in your first enquiry so the designer prices the right route.
A typical extension runs through the same stages whatever the firm. The first contact sets out the rooms, the goal and the address, then a surveyor or the designer measures the house and photographs the boundaries. Concept sketches follow, revised until the layout works, before planning drawings go to the council and regulations drawings go to building control. On site, the designer answers builder queries and checks the work at key stages, and the job ends when the completion paperwork lands in your file. Agree at the start which of these stages your fee covers, since a planning-only package stops halfway.
The written quote should read like a list you can tick off: each stage named, the drawings inside it, who submits what to the council, the fee basis per stage, start dates and stage lengths, which disbursements sit outside the fee, and whether VAT sits on top [10]. Where homes share walls or the work digs near a boundary, party-wall law sits entirely outside planning, with its own notices between neighbours, and GOV.UK publishes the framework both sides follow [13]. If a quote cannot name these items line by line, treat the gap as the question to put back to the firm.
Pricing
As of autumn 2026, the fixed costs around the design work run like this: a householder planning application for a single home costs £258, or £509 where it covers two or more homes [9]. Building-control charges are set job by job in the council's published schedule [7]. Treat both figures as disbursements on top of the design fee rather than part of it. None of the seven ranked practices publishes example rates for its own services, so the written quote is the price document that matters.
Extensions move on what changes rather than what grows: the footprint and height, how much drainage and structure shifts, how much glass goes in, and how many revisions the design takes before it works. A planning-drawings-only package stays the lightest commission, while planning plus regulations drawings plus site checks makes the fuller appointment. Fixed-fee packages suit the straightforward cases in this list, while awkward plots price to the job. Agree in advance what a resubmission costs if the council asks for more information mid-application.
Lofts turn on roof shape and where the stair lands, garage conversions on insulation, heating and escape upgrades, and new builds on the whole journey from layout sketch to completion certificate, each step priced in turn. Measured surveys and structural input usually sit outside the drawing fee and each adds its share. Ask how many revision rounds the fee includes, and what an extra round costs, before you agree the scope. Listed or conservation-area homes need extra drawings and consent on top, which lengthens the job [8].
Use the free first consultations on offer across the table to test value before you commit: most ranked practices open with one, so arrive with drawings of the house, a clear brief and the same questions each time. Ask whether every figure includes VAT, since the ranked sites say nothing either way. Get the scope in writing before work starts, exactly which stages, drawings and submissions are included, which disbursements sit outside the fee, and what changes the price if the council asks for more. Agree payment stages against drawings delivered and keep every quote, invoice and approval together [10].
Red flags
Uses the architect title but gives no registration number you can check on the ARB register [1].
Quotes for drawings without visiting, measuring, or asking for dimensions and photographs of the house.
Promises your permission is certain before the council has seen the scheme.
Starts design work with no written scope, fee basis, or payment stages.
Will not say what professional indemnity cover sits behind the advice.
Asks for the full fee in cash up front, with no written terms.
Dodges questions about a refusal instead of explaining the route to a revised scheme.
Cannot point to a past job like yours when asked what similar work the practice has drawn.
Presses for building work to start before the approvals the job needs are in hand.