Does distance matter when choosing an architectural design company?

Feb 22, 2023 | Architectural Design Drawings, Frequently Asked Questions

Choosing an architectural design company for your project

Is it better to choose an architectural designer who lives around the corner rather than someone who might be more experienced and better qualified but is based further away? The quick answer is no, probably not. It’s the ability of the architectural designer that matters most rather than where precisely they live and work, and Ecclesall Design’s 100% success record in obtaining planning permission for our residential clients encompasses clients from many different planning authorities. Ecclesall Design has carried our projects in the following Local Authority Areas; Sheffield, Doncaster, Rotherham, Barnsley, Chesterfield, Kirklees, North East Derbyshire, Bolsover, Derbyshire Dales, Orkney.

Our experience at Ecclesall Design is that although we certainly do have extensive local experience and expertise, this same knowledge and understanding of planning legislation and guidelines can and has been put to good use in other planning authority areas too. We believe it’s all about professionalism and being good at our job and the high standard of our workmanship travels easily to be acceptable to planning officers in all areas of the UK.

So, in practice, how would it work for a client who lives further away? Well, exactly the same as for a client who lives in our local area! We would arrange an initial consultation and survey visit at your home, during which we would ask questions and take extensive measurements and photographs. As soon as the first set of drawings is ready, we will arrange the presentation and second consultation meeting so we can present the ‘existing’ drawings and a number of carefully considered ‘proposed’ options to you in detail, giving you the opportunity to ask questions and bounce further ideas off us as together we take the project further.

This presentation meeting is usually carried out remotely by Zoom as it enables us to zoom into the finer detail of the drawings via screen sharing which we have found to be much more beneficial than the previous method of spreading sheets of paper out on the homeowners’ dining table and everyone trying to peer at the element under discussion.

We would drop a set of paper copies off at your home after the Zoom meeting, so if you’re not someone who considers yourself particularly computer-savvy, we can very easily do the presentation in the comfort of your home if you would prefer this way of working. It’s not a problem to do this at all, no matter where you live.

Once you have taken time to consider everything that was discussed during the presentation meeting, we would expect you to revert to us with your requirements for how you would like the drawings to be altered to fine-tune to your exact requirements. A further couple of options or so are no problem if you are undecided about which way to go; we understand it can take time to evaluate all the opportunities we present to you.

We would generally email the revised drawings to you as pdfs, and this process would continue until the drawings are finalised and ready for planning and building regulations. We would ensure you received a hard copy set of the final drawings if required to be given to builders or for your own records, otherwise, everything will be sent to you electronically.

Ecclesall Design carries out work for clients all over the country, so if you like our reviews, our drawing style and our 100% success record in obtaining planning permission for our residential clients, please do get in touch. We will gladly send you a quote, and we hope to meet you soon.

You can find below some of the most recent architectural awards that we have won this year, as well as a selection of our recent designs. For further details, you can browse our architectural portfolio.