You might think you need a rear extension, a loft conversion or an extra bedroom above the garage. But before deciding what to build, it's worth asking a different question: what isn't working about your home?
Perhaps your kitchen feels disconnected from the garden, the bedrooms are too small, or the house no longer suits the way your family lives.
At Acre Design, we believe the best projects begin with a clear understanding of the problems you're trying to solve and the budget you have available. So rather than committing you to one design, we take time to understand your home, explore alternative approaches and help you make informed decisions before investing in more detailed architectural work.
Better decisions at the beginning, fewer surprises later.
What is a Needs & Options Review?
We assess your priorities and the existing building, consider relevant planning constraints and explore different layout options.
You'll receive a personalised report on the opportunities, limitations and potential approaches, with preliminary guidance on construction budgets and project timescales. Then you discuss the findings with our team before deciding how to proceed.
How the process works
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Step 1. Start with a free Ask the Expert call
A free 15-minute conversation about your home, your ideas, priorities, anticipated budget and timescales, and whether Acre Design is the right fit. If we can help, we'll send you a written outline of what the review includes.
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Step 2. Tell us about your home
Our office team arranges your appointment and sends an initial questionnaire about how you use your home, what isn't working and what matters most to you.
You'll also be invited to a shared Pinterest mood board for images of spaces, materials and details you like. You don't need a finished design in mind.
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Step 3. Your site visit and measured survey
One of our team visits for up to two hours to walk around the house with you and discuss your ideas, opportunities and challenges.
We also carry out a detailed point-cloud measured survey with our iMapper equipment. This accurate three-dimensional record of your home is a reliable starting point for layouts and technical drawings, and can be reused if you progress to the next design stage with Acre.
Site visitExisting
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Step 4. Understand the opportunities and constraints
Back at the studio, we process the survey and look at the existing layout, boundaries, neighbouring buildings and orientation, with a preliminary planning review of the property's planning history and constraints. That keeps the options realistic.
Existing
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Step 5. Explore different floor plan options
We typically prepare three or four preliminary floor plan options, depending on the property, brief and constraints. One might involve a larger extension; another could achieve similar benefits through internal remodelling or a smaller addition.
We consider circulation, natural light, furniture layouts, storage and how the spaces might work for your family. The choice is yours: we give you the information to make it.
Layout optionProposed design
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Step 6. Receive your personalised report
Your report brings together your developing client brief, the preliminary floor plan options and relevant planning considerations, plus likely timescales, Building Regulations, the different levels of architectural service available and any specialist consultants who may be required.
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Step 7. Watch your recorded design explanation
A short recorded walkthrough explains the design rationale and how the layouts respond to your brief. Watch it in your own time and discuss it with your family.
Needs and options review for building projects, Alistair Crerar.
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Step 8. Meet to review and refine the options
We then meet at our office or on Teams (included in the review) to discuss what you like, which options suit you best and any adjustments. We can make preliminary edits to your preferred floor plan and use our cost calculator to work through initial budget estimates.
These are broad estimates, not fixed construction prices. Contractors need more detailed design and technical information before they can provide reliable quotations.
Proposed design
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Step 9. Decide what happens next
You'll have a much clearer understanding of your home's opportunities and limitations, your options, and the likely costs, timescales and steps involved in moving forward.
We can then prepare a fixed-price proposal for the next design stage, at one of our three levels of design service. If you continue with Acre, the measured survey and project brief carry forward, so you won't need to start again.
Do you really need the house extension you think you need?
I remember a particular house extension project in Gosforth, Newcastle, where the homeowners came to us with a very clear idea of what they wanted. Rather than simply drawing up their original proposal, we explored what they were actually trying to achieve.
We presented four different layout options, each approaching the brief slightly differently. They loved all four. In the end, they realised the best solution wasn't the one they'd originally imagined. It was something they hadn't considered at all.
We helped them understand the differences in construction costs, timescales and disruption, so they could make an informed decision about which design worked best for them.
Sometimes a homeowner thinks they need a large ground-floor extension, when converting part of the garage, extending above it or carrying out a loft conversion might solve the problem for considerably less money. Other times, a more ambitious design could completely transform how they use their home, and they decide it's worth stretching the budget a little further for the enjoyment, comfort and value that space could bring over the next 20 years.
Our job isn't to persuade you to build the biggest extension possible. It's to help you find the right solution for your home and your budget.
Why take this approach?
A home extension or renovation can be one of the biggest investments you'll make.
And if we discover that a different approach would work better than the one you originally imagined, that's a valuable outcome too.
You don't need to know exactly what you want to build. Tell us what's not working about your home, what you'd like to achieve and the budget you have available, and we'll help you explore the options.
