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How do you choose the right design team?
Foundation Series · Episode 5 of 12
Tina Patel & Bart Kolosowski · 29 January 2026
A beautiful portfolio helps. It does not tell you how the team will guide your project through difficult decisions.
Bart and Tina explore how to shortlist and appoint an architect and the wider client team, comparing the process, capacity and working relationship behind the fee.
Would you trust them with an awkward conversation?
The first meeting may feel easy. Later, the team may need to tell you that the brief exceeds the budget, a deadline is unrealistic or a design change has consequences you had not expected.
Tina asks homeowners to consider how they would feel having those conversations with the person in front of them. Bart adds that getting on with the team matters: this is a close working relationship, often lasting years.
The aim is to choose people whose expertise, approach and communication suit your project. Recommendations and portfolios help you shortlist; meetings and references help you understand how that relationship will work when the project is under pressure.
01
Prepare the brief
State outcomes, budget and priorities.
02
Research the fit
Look for relevant work and skills.
03
Meet and check
Test the approach and references.
04
Agree the scope
Confirm deliverables and capacity.
Choose the first appointment around the project
For many home projects, an architect is the first professional contact, helping develop the brief and advise on the specialists needed. Larger or more complex projects may benefit from a separate project manager to organise the wider client team.
The important distinction is between designing the home and managing all the people and deliverables involved. Discuss who will lead each task, rather than assuming one appointment covers everything.
Scale and risk matter. The team should bring useful support in proportion to your project, while leaving you with a clear route from the first appointment to delivery.
Give the shortlist something useful to respond to
Start with what you want your home to achieve, the budget you can commit and the constraints that matter to you. You do not need to solve the design before you meet the architect.
Research relevant work and experience, then share the same brief with the shortlisted practices. That makes their questions and proposed approaches easier to compare.
Different priorities may lead you to different teams: design character, specialist sustainability experience, local availability or the way they involve you. Use the brief to test the fit, rather than choose on one attractive photograph.
A lower fee—or a promise of speed—needs context
Ask what will be delivered, by whom and when. An appointment covering early drawings is different from one providing technical design, coordination and support through construction.
If one proposal promises a much faster programme than the others, ask how it will be achieved and what it assumes. Previous clients can tell you about communication, timely delivery and how difficult moments were handled.
Allow time for the selection itself. Choosing quickly can feel like progress, but a considered appointment gives the rest of the project a stronger starting point.
Three decisions to take into your project
01 Interview for the working relationship.
Consider communication when decisions become difficult, as well as design.
02 Compare complete appointments.
Check the services, people, deliverables and timing behind the fee.
03 Test the promises.
Ask for the reasoning and speak to clients about actual delivery.
The full conversation
The Foundation Series is our 12-episode guide to the home project journey. Architect Tina Patel and quantity surveyor Bart Kolosowski work through the decisions, people and processes involved, step by step.
In Episode 5, Bart and Tina explain how to choose the first professional appointment and build a client team around the needs, risks and scale of your home project.
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