Is a local architect always best?

Five years ago, if you were looking for an architect, you had two options: local or fancy. You could take your home project to an architect in your area, or you could splash out and go to one of the big firms located in the UK’s top cities. For anyone not looking to spend £10K on a set of designs, it was the local architect that won over most homeowners.

However, things are changing, and now there’s a new kind of architect on the block - online architects.

As the world’s first online architecture platform, we’re proud to be pioneering a new approach to home design. We believe we bring the best of local and high-end, giving our clients a new and improved delivery of traditional architecture services. Not convinced? Here’s how we stack up when compared to your traditional local architect...

Team Size

One of the biggest differences between online and local architects is the number of employees in the company. While a local architect will have roughly two to three designers (or maybe even just one), at Resi we have a team of over 30 architects, technicians, and surveyors.

The benefit of having a larger team is the support it allows us to give our clients. While you’ll still work closely with your personal designer, they'll be able to confer with a wider team of experts, meaning your project always benefits from decades of specialised knowledge.

Experience

Before you sign up to any professional, you want to see their previous work and know they’ve dealt with similar projects in the past. But more than that, having a good history of work shows that professional has been there, done that, and likely has the answers to any problems that come up.

A local architect will typically turn around 10-20 projects a year, depending on the size of their team. At Resi, we’ve successfully completed over 1500 projects. Our larger team and more efficient work flow allows us to reach such high numbers, and therefore gives us a greater amount of experience of not only design, but of planning policy across the UK.

Communication

One of the things we hear most from prospective customers is 'if I go with a local architect, they’ll be there for me more'.

And it’s true, your local architect will come to your house and meet over tea in your kitchen. But what comes after that? There will be missed calls, weeks in between your next meeting, and when a new customer pops up, their attention can quickly become divided.

Our online dashboard allows our customers to communicate with their architect at a time that suits them - thanks to our messaging feature. Not only that, we’re able to skip delayed meetings and share results in record time by walking customers through their projects with our screen-share. Though we are able to meet our customers face to face, our online platform means those customers who want a faster service can start seeing results the moment they click ‘confirm’.

Better Industry Connections

Architects don’t work in a bubble, in fact, they’ll often collaborate with other industry professionals to help your home get the best results possible. From structural engineers, all the way to fitting suppliers, a good architect will create relationships across these professions, so their designs work with the whole home vision.

All architects should endeavour to recommend only the best professionals to you. At Resi, we operate a Connect service that introduces you to suppliers and services for you to consider for your project. We vet contractors by assessing them against a range of criteria amongst which are: whether or not they are Trustmark or FMB affiliated, whether they have the relevant insurances in place; an assessment of their past work; meeting minimum financial standards; and finally, references from both previous customers and trade.

What to know more about the Resi difference? Book a free consultation with our team.