Architects talk in stage numbers because a building project is not one job. It is six of them, in sequence, each producing something different, and each with a point at the end where you could reasonably stop.
That last part is the bit nobody explains. Most clients assume they are signing up to a single indivisible process that runs from first sketch to finished building. They are not. Below is what each stage produces, what you have to decide, what it costs you beyond the architect's fee, and what you are left holding if you stop there.
We price a fixed fee for each stage, which is what makes stopping a normal decision rather than a negotiation.
The six stages
| Stage | What it is called | What it produces |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Preparation and Brief | An agreed brief, an accurate record of what exists, and a detailed fee quote |
| 2 | Concept Design | The design idea, tested in options and in 3D |
| 3 | Spatial Coordination | The planning application, submitted and negotiated |
| 4 | Technical Design | Information a builder can price and build from |
| 5 | Manufacturing and Construction | The building, with the design supported on site |
| 6 | Handover | Completion, as-built information and the record of the finished project |
The full RIBA Plan of Work also covers strategic thinking before a project properly begins and the building's performance once occupied. On a house extension or a one-off home, the six above are what you will actually experience.
Stage 1 — Preparation and Brief
Before this even starts we come to the property. The feasibility meeting on site is free, and it is deliberately first, because the site determines everything that follows. The detailed quote for architectural services is issued at Stage 1, once we have seen the building and agreed the scope. We do not quote in the abstract.
What happens. We establish the brief properly — what the building has to do, for how many people, on what budget, against what timescale. We get an accurate record of what exists. If a measured survey of the building or a topographical survey of the site does not already exist, we procure one. We establish the planning constraints: listed status, conservation area, which authority, flood zone, anything on the title.
What you decide. The scope. What you are actually trying to achieve, and what your budget genuinely is rather than what you hope it is. This is the stage where being honest about money saves the most.
Third-party costs. Surveys, where needed.
If you stop here. You have a proper brief, a measured record of your building and a clear picture of the planning constraints. That is a genuinely useful asset even if you do nothing for two years, and it is the correct point to stop if the constraints turn out to make the project unviable. Better to learn that now.
Stage 2 — Concept Design
What happens. The design work most people picture when they think of an architect. Site analysis, orientation, how light moves through the building across the day, how you enter and move through it. We develop options rather than presenting a single take-it-or-leave-it scheme, and we review them with you in 3D so that you are looking at a space rather than interpreting a plan.
The sustainability strategy is set here, not later. Orientation, passive heating and cooling, glazing area and position, air-tightness, ventilation, whether renewables are worth it on this building. These are cheap decisions at Stage 2 and expensive ones at Stage 4.
What you decide. Which option. This is the biggest single decision you make, and it is worth taking time over. Changing your mind at Stage 2 costs a conversation. Changing it at Stage 4 costs a redesign.
If you stop here. You have a designed scheme and visualisations of it, but no consent. Some clients pause here for finance. It is a reasonable place to stop, though the scheme has not yet been tested against the planning authority, so its value to you is potential rather than proven.
Stage 3 — Spatial Coordination
What happens. The design is resolved to the level of detail an application needs, and the planning application is prepared, submitted and then defended. That means the drawings, a design and access statement, and whatever supporting documents your site requires — heritage statement, ecology, flood risk, energy statement. Where the site warrants it, we recommend pre-application engagement with the authority before submission.
What you pay that is not our fee. The planning application fee, paid by you directly to the local planning authority. Any specialist reports.
How long. For smaller applications planning approval may take eight to ten weeks; for larger applications this could be thirteen to fifteen weeks, and it is sometimes delayed. Crucially, that period starts when the authority validates the application — after the fee is paid and all required documents are present — not on the day it is submitted.
What you decide. Whether to accept any conditions or amendments the authority asks for, and if it is refused, whether to amend, resubmit or appeal.
If you stop here. This is the most common and most sensible pause point, and most clients do not realise it exists. You hold a planning consent. That is a real, transferable asset: it settles the argument with the authority, it adds demonstrable value to the property, and it can be taken forward later, by you or by a buyer. Consents are time-limited, so this is a pause rather than an indefinite hold.
One thing to understand clearly: your interiors are not resolved at planning stage. The application deals with what the building is and how it looks and sits. It does not settle kitchen layouts, joinery, finishes, lighting or bathroom design in any detail. Clients who expect to walk out of Stage 3 with their interior designed are consistently disappointed, and it is a disappointment worth avoiding by saying so now. Interiors follow their own sequence, and we run those to the BIID stages.
Stage 4 — Technical Design
What happens. The scheme becomes buildable. Construction details, junctions, insulation, waterproofing, drainage, the actual specification of what goes where. The consultants are coordinated here — a structural engineer for anything structural, an M&E engineer where servicing is more than a simple extension of what exists. Building regulations approval is dealt with at this stage, and it is separate from planning permission.
We usually recommend appointing a quantity surveyor at this point, to price the project properly and manage the tender. A tender package built from proper technical information gets you comparable prices from builders rather than three numbers based on three different assumptions.
What you decide. Specification, and the procurement route. How much of the finish you want fixed in the tender against how much you want to decide later — noting that "decide later" usually means "pay more".
If you stop here. You have a consented, fully detailed scheme with prices. Some clients stop here and manage the build themselves with a trusted contractor. That is a legitimate route, provided you understand you are taking on the coordination that Stage 5 otherwise covers.
Stage 5 — Manufacturing and Construction
What happens. The contractor builds. Our role is a pre-start meeting, periodic site visits, answering design queries as they arise, reviewing what is proposed against what was drawn, and dealing with the things nobody could have known until a wall came down. On older buildings, that last category is never empty.
What you decide. Variations. Every one has a cost and a time consequence, and both should be established before the instruction is given rather than after.
If you stop here. You cannot, meaningfully. Stopping mid-construction is expensive in every direction. The decisions that avoid it are made at Stages 2, 3 and 4.
Stage 6 — Handover
What happens. Completion. As-built drawings, the building manual and warranties, and the final account. We photograph the finished project and ask for your honest feedback, which is how the work you can see on this site came to exist.
Where the fee sits
Fees are fixed per stage and agreed before each stage begins. That structure exists for a specific reason: many architectural firms lure customers in with low starting fees, which they then make up by increasing costs towards the end of the project. Paying stage by stage means the price is set before the work is done, and it means you can stop at the end of any stage without renegotiating anything.
For what drives the size of the fee, and the full list of project costs that sit outside an architect's fee entirely, see our guidance on architect fees.
A worked example
Our two-storey rear extension at Stoke Holy Cross in South Norfolk ran the full sequence: brief and survey, concept options tested against the existing house, a planning application and its supporting material, technical design coordinated with an engineer, and construction. The visible outcome is an extension that reads as part of the original building. The reason it does is decisions made at Stage 2 about roof form and materials, months before anyone lifted a tool.
Start at the beginning
The feasibility meeting on site is free and it is where all of this begins. We will review the site constraints, discuss what you want the building to do, identify the planning and technical challenges, and outline next steps and indicative timelines.
Call +44 (0) 1508 830 310, email info@archidite.com, or book a free initial consultation. More on how we work is on our architectural design service page.