Your feedback is in and the concept is settled. I'll ask you to approve it in writing — here's what that does, and what it doesn't.
A set of drawings has arrived and I've asked you to approve it in writing. If something in you resists that, it's a reasonable thing to feel — it's the first document that looks like it closes a door. When is it too late to change the design? Honestly, it never is. It only ever gets more involved.
Written approval, and written authority to move on, is part of the standard agreement architects and clients work under, and it's there for both of us. It fixes what was agreed, so neither of us is later relying on memory about what the kitchen was going to be. From here a change can be named, costed openly and agreed before it's drawn.
Nothing is forbidden after sign-off. It simply stops being free. So this is the moment to say the thing you've been half-thinking — I'd far rather hear it now, over a coffee, than read it in an email later.
Every project has a point where the decision gets made and the second-guessing starts.
Sign-off fixes the agreed concept in writing and authorises the next stage to begin. It gives us both a baseline, so from here any change can be named, costed and agreed before anyone starts drawing it.
A clear line under the imagining. Every project has a point where the decision gets made and the second-guessing starts — that's ordinary, and it passes. What you get from signing is a straight answer on the cost of any change before you commit to it.
Without a sign-off there's no baseline, so nobody can say later what has actually changed. On a small job that may never matter. On a larger one the design keeps drifting quietly and no one can tell you what the drift is costing.
Written sign-off isn't paperwork for its own sake. It's what makes a fixed fee per stage mean something for both of us — you're agreeing to the next stage only, and you can stop at the end of any stage without owing more. With a baseline in place I can tell you what a change costs before you decide rather than after, every time you ask. And you should ask. A change worth making is still worth making.
It's never too late. It only gets more involved as work builds up behind it. At concept, a change is a conversation. In design development it means redrawing, and possibly a consultant revisiting work. Once a builder is on site it's a variation. Same idea, very different prices — which is why earlier is always the easier place to land it.
It depends on what the change touches, which is why I'll give you the number before you decide rather than after. Moving a window in a wall nobody has detailed yet may cost nothing. Moving a wall the engineer has designed a beam for means several people revisiting work, plus coordination on top.
Two things, usually. That the concept in front of you is what we agreed, and that you're authorising the next stage to begin. You're not signing away the right to change your mind and you're not committing to build anything. Under a fixed fee per stage you're agreeing to the next stage's fee only.
More than the same change would have cost earlier, for reasons that have nothing to do with anyone being difficult. A variation carries the work itself, the builder's margin, the pause while it's priced, and the flow-on to trades booked for that part of the job. Every variation gets priced and agreed in writing before it's built.
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 settles on its own. Occasionally it's telling you something real, and just after sign-off is still an early and cheap place to act on it. 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.
