Groundwork InteriorsDesign and renovation

Services and fees

Three ways to work with us, with the price of each written down.

We are asked for our fees on almost every first phone call, and there is no reason to make anyone wait for the answer. Here they are, along with what is actually included and what is not.

Every project starts with a free site visit.

Anywhere within 25 miles of Shrewsbury, at no cost and with no obligation. It takes about ninety minutes. We look at the space, listen to the problem, and tell you honestly whether we are the right people for it. Beyond 25 miles we charge travel at 45p a mile and nothing else.

Design consultation

£350

Half a day, one fixed fee.

For a single room, a decision you are stuck on, or a sanity check before you commit to something expensive. A good number of people need nothing more than this.

What you get

  • Three to four hours on site, with both of us if the project needs it
  • A worked through conversation about how you actually use the space
  • A marked up plan of what we would change and why
  • Written notes within a week, yours to use however you like
  • An honest view on what your budget will and will not buy

What it does not include

A measured survey, drawings a builder could price from, or a specification. If you go on to a full design package within three months, the £350 comes off the fee.

Full design package

From £2,400

Six to ten weeks, fixed fee agreed before we start.

For a room or a set of rooms you intend to build. You end up with a drawing set and a specification that three builders can price against the same information, which is the only way to compare quotations honestly.

What you get

  • A measured survey of the existing space
  • A written brief we both agree before any design happens
  • Two or three layout options in plan, with the trade offs explained
  • Developed design, joinery elevations and construction details
  • A full specification: finishes, fittings, ironmongery, paint colours
  • An electrical and lighting plan with every socket and switch located
  • Two rounds of revisions built into the fee

What it usually costs

£2,400 to £3,200 for a single room. £3,500 to £6,000 for a small commercial space or a new garden room. £3,800 to £6,000 for a kitchen involving structural work. £8,000 upwards for a whole house. We give you a fixed figure after the first visit, not a range that moves later.

Design and project management

Design package plus 8 to 12% of build cost

From appointment to the closed snagging list.

For when you do not want to be the person phoning the plumber. Everything in the design package, and then we run the job. This is how most of the projects on this site were delivered.

What you get, on top of the design package

  • A tender issued to three contractors against identical information
  • Quotations compared line by line, with the gaps found and priced
  • A written contract between you and the builder
  • Site visits weekly, or twice weekly on a fixed programme
  • Every variation priced and agreed in writing before it is built
  • Payment valuations, so you never pay for work that is not done
  • The snagging list, chased until it is closed
  • A handover folder of warranties, certificates and paint references

Where in the range you land

8 per cent on a straightforward domestic job with one contractor. 12 per cent where the building is listed, the programme is fixed, or the space has to keep trading through the work. We tell you which before you appoint us.

How we charge

No commission, no mark up, no surprises at the end.

Design fees are fixed and agreed in writing before we start. They are invoiced in three parts: 30 per cent on appointment, 40 per cent when the detailed design is signed off, and 30 per cent when the tender is issued. Project management fees are invoiced monthly against the build.

We take no commission from any supplier, contractor or manufacturer. Where a trade discount is available on something we specify, it is passed to you in full and shown on the invoice. We do not mark up materials and we do not sell furniture.

This costs us money and it is the only arrangement under which our advice about what to buy is worth anything.

On a small job our fee is a larger share of the total than on a big one. The survey, the drawings and the specification take much the same effort on a £20,000 room as on a £50,000 one, so the percentage looks higher at the bottom end. We would rather say that plainly than quote an average that hides it.

Travel within 25 miles of Shrewsbury is included. Beyond that it is charged at 45p a mile, and we will tell you the figure before you agree to anything.

If you want to see how these fees appear on a real job, every project on this site lists ours next to the build cost. Start with the cafe refit on a market square, which is the clearest example of the percentage arrangement, or the one bedroom flat above a shop, which sat at the bottom of the design package range.

Being straight about it

What we do not do.

We do not do free design work to win a job. If someone offers you a full scheme before you have paid anything, the cost of producing it is somewhere in what you eventually pay.

We do not do whole house new builds, extensions designed from scratch, or anything requiring an architect's involvement in the structure. We work with architects regularly and we will tell you when you need one instead of us.

We do not take on more than six projects a year, so there are times when the honest answer is that we cannot start until the spring. We will say so on the first call rather than three weeks later.

And we do not work by email alone. If you are more than a couple of hours away and want the whole thing done remotely, we are the wrong studio, and there are people who do that well.