How to write a good brief for your architect
What to put in a brief, what to leave out, and why how you live matters more than a list of rooms.
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A good brief describes how you live, not just the rooms you want. Tell us about your daily routines, what works and doesn't in your current home, your must-haves, your budget and your timing. Images help, but the story behind them matters more.
Start with how you live
The most useful briefs aren't lists of rooms. They describe a day in the house: who's up first, where you eat, where the kids do homework, where you'd like to sit on a Sunday afternoon. That tells us far more than “four bedrooms and a study”.
What to include
- What works now, and what doesn't: the rooms you love, and the ones you avoid
- Must-haves and nice-to-haves: keep them separate, so we know where there's room to move
- Your budget: an honest figure, so the design is shaped around it from the start
- Timing: when you'd like to begin, and any dates that matter
- How long you'll stay: a home for the next five years is planned differently to one for the next twenty
Images help, with a note
Saved images are a great starting point. A line on why you saved each one, the light, a material or a feeling, is often more useful than the picture itself.
The best briefs leave room for ideas you haven't thought of yet.
Don't worry about getting it perfect
A brief is a starting point, not a contract. We'll refine it together in our first conversations and test it against your site and budget before design begins.
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We take on a small number of new homes and renovations each year.
Share your vision
Tell us about your project, what you have in mind and when you'd like to begin. Every project starts with a conversation.