House extension example plans - what should you be looking for

All house extension designers or architects will be able to show you their previous range of home extension plans as examples of their work.  You can either ask them direct during a site visit to their office or search online at the surrounding local authority council web sites under the public access systems for planning applications.

When looking at house extension plans examples, you should be checking for a number items in assessing the designers ability and skill sets.  Firstly, what is the quality of their line work or drawing presentation skills.  Are they well detailed and clear to understand?

Can you easily identify the new works? Do they look as though they have been professional prepared? Are the house extension example plans been drawn on tracing paper using traditional drafting skills or are the CAD outputs using a computer?  Most longer term house extension designers should now be using CAD drafting software due to its efficiency and ease of alterations to accommodate any client changes.

The house extension plans examples should also demonstrate a high degree of design quality (not to be confused with the drawn quality).  Is the house extension design sympathetically designed to match the existing property or does it look incongruous? Does the house extension fit well on the site and respect the scale & character of the local area & the existing property?

Regretfully, these tests are more difficult to assess as finally, the house extension designer will be preparing a design to their clients brief that may well override what the house extension designer would have preferred.

Viewing house extension example plans are a really useful way of vetting your home extension designers ability on several levels that excludes price.  Many homeowners simply want to use these example plans as inspiration for their own home extension scheme which is a bit cheeky but fully understandable.