5 questions clients ask before starting a home project

Starting a home project often comes with a mix of excitement and uncertainty. Most of our clients are doing this for the first and probably only time, so the questions tend to be very similar. 

These are the five I’m asked most often, and how I usually answer them. 

1. “How much is this actually going to cost?” 

This is always the first question, and it’s the hardest one to answer in a neat sentence. 

The reality is that cost isn’t a single number, especially at the start. There’s the build cost, but there are also professional fees, surveys, planning, party wall matters, and client-supplied items that sit outside a builder’s quote. Those are often the things people don’t realise they need to budget for. 

What we focus on early is designing efficiently and realistically. I’m very conscious of not drawing something that looks great but costs two or three times what someone has to spend. If we listen properly to the brief and the budget from day one, we can avoid that. In recent years, this has gotten harder and harder to and we can still get it wrong.

2. “How long will the whole process take?” 

The build itself is often the most predictable part. 

For the kind of homes we work on, construction typically takes somewhere between seven and nine months. Larger or more complex projects might run longer, but it’s actually quite hard to build much faster than that once you factor in things like bespoke glazing lead times. 

What’s much harder to pin down is how long it takes to get from first instruction to starting on site. 

We generally advise allowing at least nine months for a proper design, planning, and procurement process. With shortcuts, that can sometimes be reduced to six months, but that usually introduces more risk. On average, twelve months is a sensible expectation. 

When projects take longer than that, it’s often because life gets in the way. Jobs change, families grow, priorities shift. That’s normal, but it’s worth being realistic about it from the outset. 

3. “Will you really listen to us, or will we get ‘your style’?” 

Listening is where everything starts for us. 

Our job isn’t to impose a look or chase a signature style. It’s to understand how you live, what matters to you, and what you can realistically afford, then design a home that responds to that. 

Listening also means not disappearing off on a tangent. We try very hard not to come back with something wildly different from the brief.  

A big part of listening is being honest. If something isn’t affordable or doesn’t make sense, I’ll say so early. That’s not to limit ambition, it’s to make sure the process stays efficient and enjoyable for all of us. 

4. “Will a sustainable home cost more or mean compromises?” 

Sustainability and cost sit on a sliding scale. 

If you strip a house back to brick, replace everything, and install the most advanced systems, you’ll get excellent performance, but it can also cost a fortune and waste materials that still had a useful life. 

In many cases, that isn’t the right answer. 

We take a pragmatic approach. We look at the condition of the building and focus on the areas where intervention makes the most sense. That might be insulating the parts you’re already rebuilding, improving daylight, upgrading windows, or carefully specifying systems like heat pumps so they’re properly sized and actually work. 

A lot of the fear around sustainable technology comes from poor specification & installation rather than the technology itself.  

Once we’ve designed the layout, we carry out a sustainability appraisal and talk through the options. That starts an honest conversation about aspirations, comfort, and budget, and helps find a sensible middle ground. 

5. “What do people usually underestimate?” 

Two things come up again and again. 

The first is the sheer number of decisions involved. People don’t always realise how many choices they’ll need to make, and how early some of those decisions need to happen. Making them while you’re already on site almost always increases stress and cost. 

The second is understanding roles. 

We’re often asked if we project manage. In a domestic setting, we don’t think this role exists. The builder manages the day-to-day construction and the build programme. Our role is to design the project, coordinate information, inspect the works, and administer the contract. Being clear about that from the start avoids misunderstandings later. 

A final thought 

Most of our clients are doing this for the first time. We do it every day. 

A big part of our role is explaining things that might feel obvious to us but are completely new to you. Good projects come from good listening in all directions.