Your feedback is incorporated. Written approval of the concept. From here the shape of the house is settled.
A set of drawings has arrived and you have been asked to approve them in writing. Something in you resists that, which is reasonable. It is the first document in the process that feels like it closes a door.
It does, a little. Written approval of the concept, and written authority to proceed, is a requirement of the standard Client Architect Agreement — and it exists to protect both of us. It fixes what was agreed, so that later on neither of us is relying on memory about what the kitchen was going to be. From here, a change can be identified as a change, costed honestly and decided on properly.
Which is the part worth understanding. Nothing is forbidden after sign-off. It simply stops being free. The shape of the house is settled, and every stage that follows is built on top of that shape — so moving it means unbuilding something first.
The only free change you will ever make on this project is the one you make before you sign.
The CAA requires written approval of the concept and written authority to proceed to design development. It is a control mechanism that protects both parties: it fixes what was agreed and creates the clean point at which further change becomes chargeable.
A specific kind of anxiety — the last moment where everything is still possible. Every project has the point where the decision is made and the second-guessing starts. Being told this is normal, and to sit with it a week, is worth more than it sounds.
There is no sign-off, so there is no baseline. Later changes can't be identified as changes, which means they can't be charged for and can't be resisted. The architect absorbs them until the job becomes unprofitable and the goodwill runs out.
Written sign-off at the end of concept is not paperwork for its own sake. It is what makes a fixed fee per stage mean anything, for both of us. Without a fixed baseline nobody can say later what has actually changed — which sounds like it works in your favour and does not, because it means change gets absorbed invisibly until the goodwill runs out. With a baseline, I can tell you exactly what a change costs before you decide, every time.
It is never too late — it only ever gets more expensive, and the curve is steeper than most people expect. During concept, a change costs time and a conversation. During design development it costs redrawing, and possibly a consultant redoing work you have already paid for. During construction documentation it costs a fee, because dozens of drawings reference each other and they all have to agree. Once a builder is on site it is a variation, which is the most expensive kind of change there is. Same idea, four very different prices.
It depends entirely on what the change touches, which is why a good architect will tell you the number before you decide rather than after. Moving a window in a wall that hasn't been detailed yet may cost nothing. Moving a wall that the engineer has designed a beam for, and the certifier has assessed, and the energy report has modelled, means three consultants revisiting work and a coordination exercise on top. Ask for the cost of a change in writing, always. A change worth making is still worth making.
Two things, usually: that the concept documents in front of you are what you agreed, and that you authorise the work of the next stage to begin. You are not signing away the right to change your mind, and you are not committing to build anything. You are agreeing on a baseline. Under a fixed-fee-per-stage arrangement you are also agreeing to the fee for the next stage only — you can stop at the end of any stage without owing anything further, which is the point of dividing it up.
More than they should, and for reasons that have nothing to do with anyone being difficult. A variation on site carries the work itself, the builder's margin on it, the delay while it is priced and approved, the flow-on to trades who were booked for a particular week, and sometimes an amended approval. A change that would have cost an afternoon at concept can cost weeks on site. Get every variation priced and agreed in writing before it is built, not after — including the time it adds.
Tell me straight away. Every project has a moment where the decision is made and the second-guessing starts, and most of the time it passes within a week — it is the ordinary grief of choosing one thing over another. Occasionally it is telling you something real, and a fortnight after sign-off is still an early and cheap place to act on it. What costs money is sitting on it for two months and raising it once the engineering is done. Doubt is information. Say it early.
If you would rather start small, the First Sketch Session is two hours at your place. You keep the sketches, and there is no obligation afterwards.