Questions to ask an architect
28 questions. Written by a licensed renovation contractor, built with architects, and checked against the research on what people actually regret after they build.
Before your first meeting, you'll want a list. Here's one, grouped by where you are in the process, from choosing a practice to the last week of the build.
One thing worth knowing before you start: the last section isn't questions you ask. It's the questions your architect will ask you. That's the part most people aren't ready for.
Before you choose an architect
How many homes like mine have you designed in the last few years?
Not just "residential" - homes at your scale, your budget, your kind of site. A practice that does mostly commercial work can still be excellent, but you want to know what you're getting.
Who will I actually be working with day to day?
In some practices the person who wins the project isn't the person who runs it. Worth knowing before you sign.
What does your fee cover, and what sits outside it?
Structural engineer, surveyor, planning submissions, revisions past a certain point - these are often separate. Ask for the boundary in writing.
A good answer names the exclusions in writing. "We'll sort that out later" is not an answer.
Can I speak to a client whose project didn't go to plan?
Everyone has references from projects that went well. The useful one is where something went wrong, because it tells you how they handle pressure - and every build has a moment like that.
What do you need from me before we start?
Most will answer with a list: survey, budget, references, and your brief. Worth asking early, because it's the one item on that list that only you can produce.
The process, the timeline and the site
Walk me through the stages, and tell me what happens at each one.
Concept, planning, technical drawings, tender, construction. You want to know what you'll be asked to approve and when.
At what point do decisions become expensive to change?
Everyone knows late changes cost more. What's less obvious is the order - which decisions lock other decisions behind them. Ask which choices open doors and which close them.
How many rounds of revisions are included?
Revisions are normal. Unlimited revisions are not. Find out where the meter starts.
Who talks to the builder, and who signs off on changes on site?
Some architects supervise construction, some hand over and step back. These are very different services and they cost differently.
A good answer tells you exactly which service you're buying, and what it costs. Vagueness here shows up on site.
What does my plot actually allow?
Height limits, setbacks, coverage, access. Before you fall in love with a shape, find out what's permitted - and who decides.
Which way does the sun move across this site, and what does it mean for the layout?
This decides where you'll want to eat breakfast and where you'll never sit. It's also one of the hardest things to fix later.
What about this site is going to cost more than I expect?
Slope, drainage, access for machinery, ground conditions. A difficult site can add a great deal before anything is built.
Budget and cost
Based on what I've told you, is my budget realistic for this?
Ask it directly, early, and be ready for an uncomfortable answer. An architect who tells you the number doesn't work is doing you a favour.
A good answer gives you a number or a range, even an uncomfortable one. "It depends" means they haven't thought about your project yet.
What's your estimate per square metre, and what does it include?
Ask specifically whether it includes site works, foundations, fees, and finishes. The gap between a "build cost" and a "total project cost" is where most surprises live.
What should I be holding back for the things nobody planned for?
Ground conditions, utilities, code requirements. Ask what a sensible contingency looks like for a site like yours.
If I need to cut, what would you cut first, and what should I never cut?
This question separates the decisions you can make later from the ones you can't. Most people find they've never ranked their own priorities - and the ranking is what makes the cut possible.
What decisions can I defer, and which ones do you need from me up front?
Some choices can wait until the walls are up. Others block everything behind them.
A good answer separates the two lists for you. If everything is urgent, nothing has been prioritised.
During the build
How often will you be on site, and what do you check?
There's a difference between a weekly walkthrough and a phone call when something goes wrong.
What happens when the builder hits something unexpected?
Something always comes up. What matters is who decides, how fast, and whether it costs you.
How will changes be priced and approved?
Get the process in writing before you need it. A change agreed verbally on site is a dispute waiting to happen.
What does "finished" mean, and who signs it off?
Snag lists, certificates, handover. Know what the last week looks like before you're in it.
Coming up: the questions they'll ask you.
The next section is the other half of that first meeting, and it's the half most people haven't prepared for. It matters more than it sounds: in a survey of a thousand people who built a new home, 88% wished they'd made different decisions, and the most common regret wasn't budget or quality. It was conflict over decisions.
The questions your architect will ask you
Everything above is what you ask them. This is the part most people don't expect: the first meeting is mostly them asking you. And these are harder than they look.
How do you actually live in your home - not how you'd like to?
Where do you eat on a normal Tuesday? Where does the mail pile up? Which room do you walk through and never stop in?
What's wrong with where you live now?
Easier to answer than what you want, and more useful. But "not enough space" isn't something anyone can design from - the question is what specifically fails, and when it fails.
When you say you want a bigger kitchen, what is it for?
A kitchen for hosting is a different room than a kitchen where two people cook together. Same request, two different designs.
What does this home need to still work for in ten years?
Kids leaving. A parent moving in. Working from home. Getting older. You know your own life - the question is what it looks like as rooms.
If the two of you disagree, where do you disagree?
This is the one that catches couples out. Not because they argue, but because the disagreement was never put into words - so it surfaces halfway through the build instead.
What are the three things you'd be genuinely upset to lose?
When was the last time you actually ranked them? The order is what survives a budget cut - and almost nobody has one before they're asked for it.
Is there anything you want that feels too indulgent to say out loud?
There usually is.
Those are the ones that matter, and they're the ones you can't look up.
Nobody remembers everything that matters to them while sitting alone with a blank page. Nestbrief is a guided conversation that works through these with you - following what you say, asking what comes next, and turning it into a structured brief you bring to that first meeting.
See how it works →You now have the list
Three quarters of these questions have answers someone else can give you - the architect, the builder, the planning office. The rest don't. They're yours, and they're the ones that decide what the house actually is.
Most people walk into that first meeting with the answerable questions and none of the others. It's not a failure of preparation - nobody works through them alone.
A guided conversation, at your own pace. You'll walk in knowing what you want, and why.