Client guide to extending and refurbishing your home – part i: The Measured Survey

After four years of economic turbulence there is still life in the construction industry and still a requirement to improve private residential properties in the UK.   In spite of the construction industry being one of the first to suffer and the last to recover in a recession, it is buoyant in London and as a result there are now a plethora of routes to realising ambitions for an extended and refurbished home.  The previous blog ( lohttp://wp.me/p2HLFF-ei) looked at some of the incentives compared to moving house.

There are several routes to improving your home; traditional builder for a bolt on extension, architect designed with a full tender process, or a design and build contractor.  There are also several other consultants preparing planning and other drawings to facilitate the build.  So how do you choose which route?  Whilst the bottom line figures are currently the deciding factor for most home owners, there are services you should expect from all of them, particularly any claiming to be an architect.   In the UK this is a title protected by legislation and should not be used except by ARB registered professionals.

There is a need for an updated guide for clients to explain the steps usually taken by an architect to deliver a good building.   The RIBA publishes a Client Guide that predominantly explains the advantages of using an architect’s services.  The guide here can also form a check-list for services that you should expect from other consultants and contractors if you decide to go down that route based on cost.  After all, if you are going to ask a framer to paint a portrait for you, or a hospital porter to carry out an operation on the basis of cost, then they ought to work to a manual of sorts!

The next few posts are intended to form a step by step guide through the RIBA’s work stages.  The work stages (A-M) have always been the basis of excellent architectural service.  Although the guide will offer some information on how to refurbish your home yourself or directly with builders, it will advocate the use of an architect’s services.    An experienced architect is not only trained to understand the requirements of your brief, but also to orchestrate the design and build process and advise on the maze from best plan arrangement to planning and building control requirements to payments to the contractor.

The first thing that needs to be done once you’ve decided to proceed with the work is the Measured Survey.

The measured survey drawings form the basis of every drawing to follow and need to be very accurate.  If extensive works are planned for the property then make sure that your surveyor draws all the plans and elevations and at least two sections showing heights and window cill heights and heads.  We usually also document information on the positions of manholes, rain water pipes and soil pipes; the location of utility meters and the direction of floor joists.  This allows sensible design decisions to be made – a new bathroom will need a drainage run to connect to existing drain runs at some point.

Every surveyor will make different decisions about the final CAD drawn form of the survey.   A plastered wall in an old property can be as much as 40mm different from one end of a room to another and the surveyor has to take a view about why that is, where or whether to draw that in (at 1:50 or 1:100 this will not read as much) and whether the area will be affected by the proposed works.

Your architect does not have to carry out the measured survey and for most architects this is considered an additional service.  Loft companies sometimes only draw up the loft area and essentially are measuring up for materials and making standard assumptions about structural requirements.  This works well for them when they are not impacting the rest of the property and allows them to get the shell to a loft extension built very quickly.

Unless you specifically request it, the survey will not include positions of existing light fittings and switches or radiators.  We sometimes document these as well if we know that the works to the property will affect them.    If your proposed extension might affect neighbours it is usually worth mapping on neighbouring buildings and their windows to see the impact that your works will have on their daylight and outlook.   You may require this information for planning purposes.

We draw our survey in our 3D software – Revit Architecture.  Most other surveyors will use AutoCad or can save the drawings in a .dwg format.  Most architects still use this, although some also use Vector works.  If your surveying company is different to your design consultant then you should receive a copy of the drawings in digital format (.dwg or .dxf – openable by both AutoCad and Vectorworks). Most surveying companies will make an additional charge for drawing a project in any 3D software.

It is worth noting that no surveyor will want to accept responsibility for the assumptions of another so that 40mm that might make a difference to whether your desired kitchen fits or not will be up for argument should there be a problem.    Surveying companies, as opposed to architects, usually have the expensive equipment required for levels surveys – usually for gardens.

If you decide to carry out the measured survey yourself, take every dimension and remember that even if you’re planning to extend your home on the ground floor only you will still need information on the first floor to ascertain where structural elements will be required.

The measured survey is, essentially, the foundation drawing for every drawing to follow.  Errors in this will be repeated and passed on to the next design stages.

Planning Drawings by AWK based on measured surveys carried out by architecturewk