By Alistair Crerar, Founder of Acre Design

I have a confession. One of my favourite television programmes is A Place in the Sun.

I know. Not particularly glamorous.

But there’s something about watching people search for their dream property abroad that I find fascinating, particularly because the process is remarkably similar to designing a house extension.

At the beginning of the programme, the presenter usually asks the couple three very important questions.

1. What do you need? How many bedrooms? A balcony? Somewhere near the beach? Walking distance to the restaurants?
2. What’s your budget? How much have you actually got to spend?
3. Is there any wiggle room? If we find something extraordinary, is there any flexibility?

Those three questions are absolutely fundamental.

Imagine trying to find someone’s dream Spanish villa without knowing whether they have £150,000 or £500,000 to spend.

It would be ridiculous.

Yet in residential architectural design, something remarkably similar happens all the time.

Homeowners approach a designer with a wish list. The designer produces something beautiful. Everyone gets excited.

And sometimes nobody has had a meaningful conversation about whether the proposed work is actually affordable.

At Acre Design, we believe that’s the wrong way around.

Why homeowners are reluctant to tell us their budget

I understand why people are cautious.

Extending or refurbishing your home is a significant financial commitment, and naturally, you want to protect your money.

Some homeowners worry that if they tell their designer they’ve got £150,000 available, they’ll inevitably end up with a design that costs £150,000.

Or that the design fees will somehow increase to match the amount they’re prepared to spend.

That’s not how we work at Acre Design.

Our design fees are based on the professional services and work involved, not simply calculated as a percentage of your construction budget.

And just because you have a certain amount available doesn’t mean we think you should spend every penny.

Quite the opposite.

Knowing your budget allows us to investigate how to achieve what you need while making the best use of your investment.

If we don’t know what you’re comfortable spending, we’re effectively designing with one hand tied behind our backs.

We might explore layouts, extension sizes or construction methods that ultimately turn out to be completely unsuitable financially.

That costs time, creates frustration and can lead to additional design work.

It’s far better to have an open conversation at the beginning.

The danger of falling in love with a design you can’t afford

I’ve seen what happens when construction costs are considered too late.

A homeowner commissions drawings, spends months developing the proposals, secures planning permission and falls completely in love with the finished design.

They can picture the kitchen. They’ve chosen the glazing. They’ve imagined Christmas dinner around the new dining table.

Then the builders’ quotations arrive.

And the project is substantially over budget.

Suddenly, they’re having conversations about removing features, reducing the extension, changing materials or redesigning parts of the building.

They may need revised drawings, further consultant input and potentially changes to their planning approval.

Worse still, they have to move away from the design they were so excited about.

It’s an incredibly disappointing position to be in.

Of course, even the most carefully developed design can be affected by market conditions, unforeseen site issues or changing specifications.

But that doesn’t mean we should leave construction costs to chance.

Rather than creating the dream and then working backwards to make it affordable, we prefer to build the dream around a realistic budget from the beginning.

What we actually need to know about your budget

When we first speak to a homeowner, we’re interested in more than just one number.

We want to understand the total amount available, what needs to be included and where the priorities lie.

For example, does your budget include the new kitchen? What about bathrooms, flooring, decorating, landscaping, professional fees and VAT where applicable?

Have you set aside an appropriate contingency for unexpected work?

These questions matter because a contractor’s quotation won’t necessarily include every item required to finish your project.

You could receive what looks like a perfectly acceptable price for the building work, only to discover that some of the finishes and fittings you were expecting aren’t included.

We also want to understand the difference between your comfortable spending target and your absolute financial limit.

That brings us back to our favourite property programme.

Is there any wiggle room?

Not because we’re looking for ways to spend it, but because understanding your financial boundaries helps us make informed recommendations and protect the contingency you may need.

Different designs. Different costs. Different possibilities.

Our Needs & Options Review is where we begin putting this thinking into practice.

Before committing to the full design process, we investigate how the existing property could be changed to meet your brief.

We look at different extension sizes, alternative floor plans and ways to reconfigure the spaces you already have.

And crucially, we consider the likely cost implications of those options.

We use early cost modelling, including the amount of new construction and likely internal alteration work, to establish indicative budget ranges.

We might explore a substantial extension that delivers everything on the wish list.

Then a more modest extension that achieves most of the same benefits.

And perhaps another option that relies more heavily on rearranging the existing house.

The aim isn’t to identify the cheapest scheme automatically.

It’s to help you understand what you’re gaining from each additional part of the investment.

Sometimes spending more is absolutely worthwhile.

Other times, you might discover that a smaller, more intelligent design delivers almost everything you need, leaving money available for the details that make the finished home special.

Spend less on unnecessary construction. Spend more on the magic moments.

This is one of my favourite parts of residential design.

Imagine we discover that reducing an extension by half a metre doesn’t meaningfully affect how the kitchen, dining and living spaces work.

Depending on the construction, that change could reduce the extent of foundations, floor construction, walls and roofing.

Those savings might then be available for something you’ll appreciate every single day.

Perhaps it’s a beautifully detailed shower niche with concealed lighting.

A hidden utility room tucked behind bespoke joinery.

A bookshelf that cleverly disguises a structural column.

Elegant wall panelling through the entrance hall.

Or that slightly extravagant downstairs WC with beautiful wallpaper, concealed plumbing and gold taps.

These are the little moments of theatre that give a home its personality.

The things that make you smile when you walk into a room.

Good budget management doesn’t mean stripping all the lovely things out of a project. It means making sure there’s money available for the right lovely things.

Of course, the essential construction work and an appropriate contingency must be accounted for first.

But when we approach the design with the overall budget in mind, we’re far better placed to make these decisions deliberately rather than cutting things out in a panic.

We don’t check your budget just once

This is another important difference in how we approach projects.

Construction costs aren’t something we want to discuss at the first meeting and then forget about until the builders submit their prices.

We consider them at several stages.

First: During the Needs & Options Review

We use preliminary cost modelling to understand what different layouts and extension sizes could mean financially.

These are early estimates, not contractor quotations.

Their purpose is to help establish the likely scale of the project, compare alternatives and identify whether your ambitions are broadly aligned with your budget.

Next: During concept design

Once a preferred direction is established, we can introduce more detailed independent quantity surveying advice as part of the appropriate design service.

This gives us a more developed assessment of likely costs before progressing too far towards planning.

At the concept presentation, we can bring together architectural proposals, realistic 3D visuals and a quantity surveyor’s cost report.

That creates a much more useful discussion.

You aren’t simply looking at something beautiful and wondering whether you can afford it.

You’re considering the design alongside a professional assessment of its likely construction cost.

And when we make changes to the concept, we can consider their financial implications at the same time.

The figures will still be estimates, with a range of potential outcomes. But they provide a stronger basis for decision-making than simply hoping the eventual contractor prices come back favourably.

Finally: At the tender stage

For clients choosing our full-to-tender service, we develop the technical information and specifications required to obtain contractor quotations.

We then help organise and assess the tenders, looking beyond the headline figures.

Are the contractors pricing the same information?

Have they included the same materials and specifications?

Are there exclusions, allowances or assumptions that could lead to additional costs?

A lower quotation isn’t necessarily better value if it leaves important elements unpriced.

This is why we believe detailed drawings, clear specifications and a properly managed tender process are so valuable.

Ultimately, contractors determine the prices they’re prepared to offer, and no designer can guarantee the final cost of construction.

But we can help make sure you’re reaching that point with far more information and fewer avoidable unknowns.

Should you speak to a builder or a designer first?

This is something we’re asked regularly.

Good builders are enormously valuable. They understand construction, can advise on practical solutions and ultimately bring the project to life.

But builders and architectural designers have different roles.

A builder may naturally approach a project from the perspective of how they would construct it, using their preferred methods and resources.

Our role is to work on your behalf to investigate the possibilities, understand the planning and technical constraints, and develop a design that meets your needs and financial priorities.

We aren’t tied to one contractor’s preferred construction approach.

We can explore alternatives, coordinate technical information and, where instructed, help you obtain competing quotations against a consistent set of documents.

It’s about ensuring that your project is shaped by your priorities before a contractor is asked to price and build it.

Is good design worth paying for?

When you’re about to invest a substantial amount in your home, it’s understandable to look carefully at professional fees.

But there’s a significant difference between buying a basic set of drawings and commissioning a thorough design process.

One might document the extension you’ve already decided you want.

The other can help you establish whether that’s the right extension in the first place.

At Acre Design, we believe our value comes from helping you make better decisions.

Understanding your priorities. Exploring different solutions. Considering planning and construction constraints. Introducing meaningful cost advice. Developing detailed technical information. And helping you make sense of contractor quotations.

We don’t believe beautiful design and sensible budgeting are competing objectives.

They should work together.

Three questions before you start your house extension

So before you invest in detailed design work, ask yourself the same three questions I hear on A Place in the Sun.

What do I actually need?

Not just the extension you think you want, but the problems you need your home to solve.

What’s my budget?

An honest understanding of what you can comfortably invest, including the wider costs of completing the project.

Is there any wiggle room?

What flexibility do you have, and how much should be protected for contingencies?

Answer those questions and you’ve already given your designer a much better foundation to work from.

You might still face some difficult choices. That’s perfectly normal.

But wouldn’t you rather have those conversations early, while the options are open, than after you’ve paid for detailed drawings and fallen in love with something you can’t afford?

Let’s talk about your project

At Acre Design, we help homeowners across Newcastle, North Tyneside, Northumberland and the wider North East explore their options and make informed decisions before committing to major building work.

Our Needs & Options Review is designed to give you clarity on what might be achievable, the planning considerations and the likely budget implications.

If you’re thinking about extending or renovating, start with a free, no-obligation Ask the Expert call.

We’ll discuss your own home, what you’d like to achieve and the next sensible steps.