Three Questions Every Client Should Ask Their Architect.
February 2026 - Estimated reading time: 6 minutes.
Introduction:
Choosing an architect is an important decision. Most clients understandably focus on style, experience, and whether they “get on” with the person they’re speaking to. Those things matter — but they don’t tell you how a project will actually be handled. What really shapes outcomes is how decisions are made, how risk is managed, and how responsibility is understood. Those things rarely show up in a portfolio. The questions below are designed to help you get behind the drawings and understand how an architect really works.
1. How do you help manage budget — and what sits outside your control?
A good architect should be able to explain how design decisions influence cost, how budget is tested as a project develops, and where specialist input is needed. They should also be clear about the limits of their role. Architects are not typically construction cost experts, but a competent architect understands how cost behaves, recognises when assumptions need to be tested properly, and knows who to involve to do that well.
In my own work, that often means involving a quantity surveyor at concept design stage. The aim is to sense-check feasibility, test key design decisions, and build confidence that the project is developing in a direction that remains affordable before moving on to the next stage. Done properly, budget management isn’t about fixing a number early on and hoping it holds. It’s about giving you the right information, at the right time, to move forward with confidence — or, where necessary, to pause, adjust, or rethink aspects of the proposal before committing further.
That might mean refining the brief, revisiting scope, or testing alternative approaches while changes are still relatively inexpensive. The aim is due diligence, not guesswork. What you want to avoid is reaching a later stage of the process — after investing significant time and professional fees — only to discover that the project, as developed, is not affordable or viable to build.
A strong answer to this question will explain:
How cost is considered and tested as the design develops.
How uncertainty is acknowledged and managed as information improves.
When additional cost advice is brought in, and why.
How decisions are reviewed before moving from one stage to the next.
What you’re listening for is a structured approach that supports informed decision-making, rather than reassurance based on optimism alone.
2. How do you manage health and safety responsibilities on a project like mine?
Health and safety is one of the most important aspects of a building project, yet it’s often misunderstood or overlooked entirely.
Under the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 (CDM 2015), health and safety is not something that sits solely with the contractor. Responsibilities are shared, and as a client you also have duties — including ensuring that those you appoint are competent and properly resourced to carry out the work safely. These responsibilities are more explicit on commercial projects, but they still apply on domestic work.
Where architects play a particularly significant role is during the design stage — whether that role is explicitly discussed or not.
In most projects, there is no contractor appointed while the design is being developed. In those circumstances, the role of Principal Designer — which is responsible for coordinating health and safety matters during the design phase — will either be formally appointed to the architect for commercial clients or will automatically fall to them by default for domestic clients if no other appointment is made. This is not optional. It is a legal position.
The Principal Designer role involves coordinating the design team, identifying foreseeable risks, and ensuring that health and safety considerations are properly integrated into the design as it develops. Architects are typically best placed to undertake this role because it sits directly within the design process and requires an understanding of construction methods, sequencing, and risk — not just drawings.
For this reason, the appointment of a Principal Designer should be made explicitly and in writing. A competent architect should be clear about whether they are taking on this role, what it involves, and how it will be discharged in practice. They should also explain what your responsibilities are as a client and how these are met through proper appointments and competent team selection.
A strong answer to this question will explain:
How health and safety duties apply to your project.
What your responsibilities are as a client under CDM 2015.
Who is acting as Principal Designer, and on what basis.
How foreseeable risks are identified and managed during design.
What you’re listening for is clarity and proportionality. Health and safety shouldn’t be treated as an afterthought, nor brushed aside as someone else’s problem. A competent architect should be able to explain their role clearly, ensure appointments are properly made, and integrate health and safety into the design process as a matter of course — whether the project is domestic or commercial.
3. How do you make decisions when information is incomplete or things change?
No project begins with complete information. Surveys reveal unexpected conditions, statutory bodies raise new requirements, and site realities don’t always match early assumptions. Change isn’t a sign that something has gone wrong — it’s part of the process. What matters is how those changes are handled.
A competent architect should be able to explain how assumptions are identified and tested, how risks are communicated, and how decisions are reviewed as new information comes to light. This includes being clear about when a decision can safely be made, and when it would be irresponsible to proceed without further information.
Good decision-making in this context relies on structure, not instinct alone. It involves understanding what is known, what isn’t, and what the consequences of moving forward might be — technically, financially, and in terms of programme.
A strong answer to this question will explain:
How uncertainty is acknowledged and managed.
How assumptions are tested as information develops.
How changes are assessed before being accepted.
How advice is communicated so decisions are made knowingly, not reactively.
What you’re listening for is a deliberate, transparent approach to judgement — one that prioritises clarity and due diligence over reassurance or speed for its own sake.
In summary:
Choosing an architect isn’t just about how things look. It’s about how decisions are made when things are unclear, constrained, or under pressure. Asking the right questions early won’t guarantee a smooth project — nothing ever does. But it will significantly improve your chances of working with someone who understands the weight of the role they’re taking on.