Home Improvement Advice for Architects

Do it Yourself Tips for Architects

There is a great deal of overlap between the work carried out by Surveyors and Architects. Both will give you advice, design and specify works obtaining all the necessary permissions and meeting regulations, advise you on costs, assist you to appoint builders and manage the building contract.

However, Architects tend to more involved in the design of buildings and Surveyors will tend to be involved in the repair and maintenance of buildings.

To become an Architect, one has to have completed a seven year course and passed the exams for registration with the Architects Registration Board (ARB). Only those who have registered with ARB may call themselves Architects under an Act of Parliament in 1997. Only Registered Architects who are also associate members of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) can call themselves Chartered Architects and use the letters RIBA after their name.

The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has many different divisions ranging from Building Surveying, Quantity Surveying and General Practice to Marine Surveying and Antiques & Fine Art!. Whilst one must be an associate of the RICS to be a Chartered Surveyor, one does not need to belong to this organization to be called a Surveyor.

A further group who could assist you are architectural and surveying technicians, who have qualifications within their field and can all themselves architectural technicians or surveyors.

To complicate matters, Members of the Chartered Institute of Builders (Chartered Builders) can also call themselves Surveyors if they wish, as many carry out the role of specifier and contract administrator as well as managing building sites and the construction process.

To summarise, only persons registered with the ARB can be called an Architect. Only persons both registered with the ARB and associates members of the RIBA can be aclled a Chartered Architect. Only associates of the RICS can be called a Chartered Surveyor, but almost anyone can call themselves a Surveyor or Designer.