Is a Cheap Architect Actually a Good Deal?

Three quotes are sitting in front of you, and one is noticeably lower than the other two. If you’re converting a property into an HMO, that gap probably feels like a decision you didn’t expect to have to make. Is this architect cutting their margin, or cutting something out of your project that you’ll only notice once it’s too late to fix cheaply?

The gap between two quotes for a project like this might only be a couple of thousand pounds. On a build that will cost six figures and take a year of your time, that’s rarely the number that should decide it. The real question isn’t whether an architect is expensive. It’s whether the advice is expensive relative to the risk it removes, and architect fees are usually the smallest risk sitting inside an HMO project, not the biggest.

We’ve sat on both sides of this as HMO Architects: as architects and as HMO investors ourselves. We’ve seen what a lower fee actually buys, and what it quietly leaves out. This guide walks through what to check before you commit, so you’re judging the quote in front of you on what it covers, not just what it costs.

If you’d like a second pair of eyes on your numbers before you go further, our Project Feasibility Call is built for exactly this stage, sense-checking a quote, a layout, or a budget before you sign anything.

What “Cheap” Usually Means in Practice

A lower fee rarely means the same outcome for less money. More often it means fewer services, fewer checks, or more responsibility quietly shifted onto you: fewer site visits, no one chasing the council if a decision stalls, or a scope that stops at planning drawings and leaves building regulations and licensing for you to sort separately.

None of that is dishonest on its own. The danger isn’t a lower fee. The danger is assuming the scope is identical when it isn’t. Two quotes that look similar on price can cover completely different amounts of work, and the cheaper one often assumes you’ll either do some of the coordination yourself or pay for it later as an “extra.”

Before comparing numbers, ask each architect to set out exactly what’s included stage by stage: design, planning submission, building regulations, and any liaison with the council if something gets queried. Ask specifically who submits the planning application and who handles it if the council comes back with queries, since that’s often the work a lighter quote quietly leaves with you. That’s the only way to compare like with like, rather than comparing a full service against a partial one.

Do You Actually Need an Architect for Your HMO?

If your project is small and uncontentious (internal works only, no extension, no change of use, and no licensing threshold to navigate) you may genuinely be fine without a full architectural service. Some landlords manage straightforward layout changes with a draughtsperson or designer at a lower cost, and that can be the right call.

Where it gets riskier is anything involving planning permission, a change of use, an Article 4 area, or HMO licensing standards around room sizes, fire safety, and amenity space. These are the points where a missed detail doesn’t just cost you redesign time, it can mean a licence refusal or a planning condition you didn’t see coming. If your project touches any of these, the question isn’t really “architect or no architect.” It’s whether the cost of professional advice is lower than the cost of getting it wrong, because that’s what determines how much of this you can afford to get wrong on your own.

The Real Cost of an Architect Mistake

An architect mistake on an HMO rarely shows up as one obvious failure. Most expensive design mistakes aren’t dramatic. They’re small details discovered at exactly the wrong stage: a room a few centimetres under the licensing minimum, a missed soundproofing detail between units, or a layout that looks fine on paper but doesn’t account for fire escape distances. A room that’s slightly too small is often more expensive to fix at that point than a room that was never designed at all.

Each of those triggers the same pattern: a redesign cycle. That means new drawings, a resubmission, and time added to a project where every extra month is rent you’re not collecting yet. It usually also means professional fees a second time, council delays while the resubmission is reviewed, and a contractor standing by with nothing to build while the design gets fixed. The redesign itself is rarely the biggest cost in that list; the knock-on delay almost always is.

This is the gap that the headline saving on a cheap quote doesn’t show you. A few hundred pounds saved on fees can turn into a few thousand in delay and rework if the original design didn’t hold up under scrutiny.

How Much Should Architect Insurance Actually Cost or Cover?

This is worth checking directly rather than assuming. Architects registered with the Architects Registration Board are expected to hold professional indemnity insurance, and ARB’s published guidance sets a minimum level of £250,000 on an each-and-every-claim basis. That’s the floor, not a target; many practices carry considerably more, and the right level for your project depends on its scale and complexity.

Insurance tells you something about how a practice manages risk, not just how it’s priced. Cost to the architect, and therefore sometimes the fee they pass on, varies with that cover level and their claims history. The cheapest fee and the lowest insurance cover often appear together for a reason, so it’s worth asking directly rather than guessing from the price alone.

What to Ask Before You Sign

• What’s your current professional indemnity cover, and is it each-and-every-claim or aggregate?
• Are fire safety or cladding-related claims covered separately, and on what basis?
• How many live projects are you managing right now, and what does that mean for my timeline?
• How much relevant HMO and licensing experience does the team actually have?
• What’s explicitly excluded from this quote, and what would trigger an additional charge?

Get the answers in writing. A confident, specific answer to each of these tells you more than the headline fee does.

Cheap vs Cost-Effective

Cost-effective doesn’t mean the lowest number on the page. It means the budget holds up because nothing critical got missed along the way.

We saw this play out on a terraced house conversion on Soham Road in London, where the brief was about as tight as it gets: a very limited budget, in an Article 4 area where alterations are heavily restricted. There was no room to over-design and no room for a mistake that needed correcting later either. The solution involved relocating the staircase to free up space on the first floor, which allowed for additional rooms within the existing footprint, and the council supported the proposal as a result.

The project succeeded because the constraints were identified before the design decisions were finalised, not worked around after the fact. The value wasn’t that the design was clever. The value was avoiding an expensive redesign later, because most projects become expensive when problems are discovered late rather than early. The budget stayed tight throughout, but the design still delivered a compliant, functional HMO.

That’s the real test for any quote you’re comparing: not whether it’s the cheapest, but whether it’s been priced by someone who’s accounted for everything your specific site and project type will throw at it.

What to Do Before You Instruct Anyone

Before you sign with anyone, run the numbers properly. A cheaper architect quote should improve the deal. It shouldn’t end up being the reason the deal no longer works once a redesign or delay enters the picture. Our Deal Analyser lets you stress-test a project’s full costs, construction, VAT, and the rest, so you can see whether the saving on a lower quote actually holds up once everything else is accounted for.

We regularly help investors compare options before committing to planning, design, and build costs. If you’d rather talk it through directly, you can book a free discovery call here: a conversation about your specific site, what your project actually needs, and where the real risks and savings sit before you commit to anyone.

Whichever route you take, you don’t need to be the one weighing this up alone. Comparing scope, insurance, and experience properly takes the guesswork out of a decision that’s easy to get wrong on price alone.

The biggest property mistakes usually happen before construction starts. Our HMO Masters newsletter focuses on helping investors spot them earlier, practical, no-fluff resources for landlords doing exactly what you’re doing right now.

FAQs

Is It Worth Paying More for an Architect on a Small HMO Project?

It depends on what your project involves, not its size alone. A small project with planning, licensing, or Article 4 implications carries the same risk of costly mistakes as a larger one. A small project with none of those factors may genuinely suit a lighter, lower-cost service.

What Insurance Should My Architect Have?

ARB-registered architects are expected to hold professional indemnity insurance, with a published minimum of £250,000 on an each-and-every-claim basis. Ask your architect directly for their current cover level and confirm it in writing before instructing them.

Can I Convert a Property Into an HMO Without an Architect?

For straightforward internal works with no planning, change of use, or licensing complications, some landlords manage without one. Once your project involves any of those factors, the risk of a costly mistake increases, and professional input becomes worth the cost it adds.

What’s the Difference Between a Fixed Fee and a Percentage-Based Fee?

A fixed fee is agreed upfront for a defined scope, so you know the cost regardless of how the project develops, provided the scope doesn’t change. A percentage-based fee is calculated against the project or build cost, which means it can move if your budget changes during the project. Ask which model you’re being quoted under, and what happens to the fee if the scope or build cost shifts partway through.

Why Are Architect Quotes So Different?

Usually because they cover different amounts of work, not because one architect is better than another. A quote that stops at planning drawings will look cheaper than one that includes building regulations, council liaison, and licensing input, right up until you have to pay for those stages separately later. Compare scope stage by stage before you compare the total.

Should an Architect Understand HMO Licensing Requirements?

Yes, and it’s worth confirming this directly rather than assuming it. Licensing standards around room sizes, fire safety, and amenity space affect the design from the first layout sketch, not just at sign-off. An architect without HMO-specific experience can produce a scheme that looks compliant on paper and still falls short of what your council’s licensing team expects.