Choosing an architect London homeowners can genuinely rely on isn't really about finding the flashiest portfolio. It's about finding a team that answers a handful of practical questions clearly, without dodging or padding the answer with jargon. Most people don't know what those questions should be until they're already three months into a project and wishing they'd asked earlier.

This is a practical list. Not marketing language, just the questions worth putting to any architect before signing anything, especially if you're planning a home extension in London and want the process to go smoothly rather than becoming a source of stress.

Do You Have an In-House Structural Engineer?

This one question filters out more firms than people expect. Most architectural practices outsource structural engineering entirely, meaning every structural query has to travel between two separate companies before you get an answer. Only a small share of firms, roughly 1 in 10, keep this function in-house.

Having a structural engineer sitting alongside the design team matters more than it sounds. It means calculations, load-bearing assessments, and building control compliance get worked through collaboratively rather than passed back and forth, which tends to prevent the kind of nasty surprise, an unexpected column, a bulkhead nobody planned for, that shows up mid-build when specialists haven't been talking to each other properly from the start.

What's Your Track Record With My Specific Borough?

Planning departments across London don't behave identically. What sails through in one borough might get flagged or refused in another, and an architect's success rate is only meaningful if it's backed by real experience with your local council specifically.

It's worth asking directly how many applications a firm has submitted in your borough, and what their approval rate looks like there. Practices with genuine longevity in London tend to have this kind of data readily available, sometimes across thousands of applications spanning house extensions, basement conversions, loft conversions, and new builds throughout Greater London and the wider Home Counties.

Is Planning Liaison Included in Your Fee?

This is one of the most common places budgets quietly balloon. Some firms charge separately for council submission, follow-up queries, and liaison with planning case officers, fees that aren't always obvious from the initial quote. Others fold this into the core service, meaning design, submission, and council communication all sit under one price.

Asking this upfront, before any contract is signed, avoids the frustrating experience of discovering additional charges appear at exactly the point a project is already committed and hard to walk away from.

What Does Your Full Service Actually Cover?

A turnkey architecture practice, one offering design, planning, structural engineering, building regulations, and interior design all under a single roof, tends to produce a noticeably smoother project than one where each specialist is hired separately and coordinated by the homeowner. It reduces the number of handoffs, and handoffs are usually where miscommunication and delays creep in.

Worth asking specifically: does the fee include interior design input, or is that a separate engagement entirely? Does it include tender packs, detailed specification documents that let builders quote accurately and construct without ambiguity? These extras aren't universal, and knowing what's included versus what needs to be arranged separately shapes the real cost of a project far more than the headline fee alone.

How Do You Handle Building Regulations and Party Wall Matters?

Planning permission and building regulations approval are separate processes, and it's worth confirming an architect manages both, ideally with structural calculations produced internally rather than farmed out. Building regulations cover the technical safety side, structural integrity, fire safety, insulation, drainage, and it's a stage that shouldn't be treated as an afterthought once planning is granted.

If your project touches a boundary or shared wall, party wall act obligations come into play too, separate from planning entirely. A firm with experience coordinating party wall surveyors alongside the design process saves considerable back-and-forth later.

Can I See Real Client Reviews, Not Just Portfolio Photos?

A polished portfolio shows what a firm is capable of designing. It doesn't show what it's actually like to work with them for the six to twelve months a typical project takes. Genuine, verified reviews, ideally through a third party like Google rather than curated testimonials on the firm's own site, tend to reveal far more about responsiveness, communication, and how problems get handled when they inevitably arise.

Look specifically for mentions of how the team handled unexpected complications, delays, or design changes mid-project. That's usually more revealing than praise for the finished result alone.

What Happens If My Design Needs to Change Mid-Project?

Design rarely stays static from first sketch to final build. Budget realities, structural findings, or planning permission feedback often mean revisions are needed along the way. Ask how a firm handles this, is it built into the process as expected iteration, or does every change trigger a fresh round of fees?

Firms that frame revision as a normal part of the journey, rather than an inconvenience to be charged for repeatedly, tend to make for a far less stressful working relationship over the life of a project.

Who Will I Actually Be Working With Day to Day?

Larger firms sometimes hand a project to a junior team member after the initial consultation with a senior partner. That's not necessarily a problem, but it's worth knowing in advance who your actual point of contact will be, their experience level, and how often you can expect direct updates rather than relying on email chains that go quiet for weeks.

Ask to meet, even briefly, the person who will be managing your project day to day. Their communication style over that first conversation is often a fairly reliable preview of the working relationship ahead.

Are You Accredited, and Can You Prove It?

This sounds basic, but it's worth confirming rather than assuming. RIBA chartered status for architects, and IStructE or ICE accreditation for structural engineers, are the recognised professional qualifications in the UK. A firm that's genuinely accredited across its team, fully licensed and insured for the projects it takes on, should be able to confirm this without hesitation.

Insurance matters too, specifically whether the practice carries cover that protects you as the client throughout the entire project lifecycle, not just during the design phase.

How Long Have You Actually Been Operating in London?

Longevity isn't everything, but it correlates strongly with the kind of local knowledge that makes planning applications smoother. A firm that's been submitting applications across London boroughs for well over a decade has almost certainly seen every kind of planning quirk, conservation area restriction, and council preference those boroughs throw up. That accumulated pattern recognition is difficult to replicate quickly, no matter how talented a newer practice might be.

Why Choose Extension Architecture

None of these questions are complicated, but very few homeowners think to ask them before signing with an architect, mostly because nobody explains upfront what actually separates a smooth project from a frustrating one. Asking about in-house structural engineering, borough-specific track record, what's genuinely included in the fee, and how design changes are handled puts you in a far stronger position from the very first meeting.

Extension Architecture, based in London for over 16 years, brings design, planning, structural engineering, and interior work together under one roof, with an in-house structural engineer, a RIBA-chartered team, and a track record spanning thousands of planning applications across London and the Home Counties.