Do you have ambitious ideas for your home and need help turning them into a reality?

Most of our clients approach us when their homes are creating friction in their lives in one of a few ways: they don’t have enough space, or the space that they do have isn’t allowing them to live the way they want to. Sometimes, the issue is the quality of the environment rather than the size of the house; their homes feel dark and disconnected from their outdoor space, and the spaces feel awkward and lack flow.

We believe that a well-designed home can significantly improve your lifestyle and we will work closely with you to find design solutions that make your home work better and elevate your everyday life.   

We understand that a building project is a financial and emotional investment and that getting started can be a daunting process.

As residential specialists we have worked with many homeowners, guiding them through this process and helping them avoid the pitfalls which often impact projects. This is where creative flair is balanced with attention to detail, organisation and good communication.

Our Process

  • Sometimes getting started is the hardest part. The first step is an informal video call or a meeting at our studio to discuss your project. We will briefly talk you through the process and some examples of what we do at each stage.

    If you feel we are a good fit for your project, we will provide you with a services proposal to get started with the Discovery Stage and advise you what our fees will be for the following stages.

    Fee - No cost

  • This initial phase focuses on understanding your requirements and exploring possibilities. We begin by discussing your brief in detail to fully grasp your needs and aspirations for the project. We then analyze your house and site, identifying both opportunities and constraints that will shape the design. From this foundation, we develop a series of sketch options, each exploring different approaches to meeting your brief. These options are presented alongside elemental cost plans, allowing you to understand the financial implications of each design direction and make informed decisions as we move forward together.

  • Using your feedback from the sketch stage, we develop a refined design with any sub-options, updating the layout, materials, and costs as we go. Regular reviews ensure the design aligns with your vision, and once finalised, we submit the Planning Application to the Council.

    Fee - Percentage Fee

  • With planning approval secured, we resolve every detail and prepare comprehensive construction drawings, coordinating with the structural engineer and guiding you through technical decisions from electrics and plumbing to finishes. Once specifications are finalised, we submit the Building Warrant application, ensuring all consents are in place for a smooth start on site.

    Fee - percentage Fee

  • The first step in pricing a project is creating a shortlist of contractors. We often recommend some trusted contractors we have completed projects with previously and ask the client to seek recommendations also.

    What is most important when seeking quotes for the construction work is a comprehensive set of detailed drawings and a written specification covering all aspects of the build, allowing you to compare prices like for like.

    With this information in place, there are a number of different ways of shortlisting contractors depending on the scale and nature of the project. We will guide you through this process and once prices have been received, we will review them and report to you on any key omissions, errors or exclusions noted by the contractor. This will then form the basis of a construction contract, which agrees on a scope of work and a fixed price. This stage will conclude with a signed Building Contract for the works, before starting on site.

    Fee - charged as an hourly rate

  • The construction phase is where the design is realised and your home transformed. During this phase, we will act as an interface between you and the contractor, monitoring quality, progress, and cost throughout the build.

    This involves resolving site queries, chairing, and minuting regular site meetings, liaising with Building Control and following thorough snagging of the works to the completion of the project.

    We will be a guiding hand on the project, keeping it on track and making sure the vision for the project is realised.

    Fee – Monthly fee

Frequently Asked Questions

  • We specialise in bespoke residential projects for private clients and we have successfully delivered everything from new build homes to transformational extensions and refurbishments of listed buildings.

    We are a small team, and we pride ourselves on delivering the best service possible; for this reason, we only take on a handful of projects each year. We love working with clients who share our design values and want to create something special.

    Most of our projects have a budget of over £200k.

  • We work on projects across Scotland and don’t see location as a barrier to where we work and are more than happy to travel for the right project.

    Online meetings allow us to work through the design process with you wherever you are and at the most convenient times, a process which has been well received by previous clients.

  • We are committed to the belief that a well-designed home will improve your lifestyle. We love what we do and bring our total commitment and passion to every project we take on.

    As you will see from our completed work, no two projects are the same. We believe your home should reflect you and should be designed to sit comfortably in its setting.

    We understand that starting this process can feel like a leap of faith where you are investing in a result you can’t yet see. We want to reassure you that our design process is truly collaborative. We will ask lots of questions to allow us to really understand your priorities so we are aligned on the vision for the project. We will meet with you regularly and keep refining the design until the result exceeds your expectations.

    Our design ambition is grounded in a practical approach to managing budgets and the construction process. We have been the client on our own projects, giving us a hands-on knowledge of the process. Attention to detail, organisation and good communication are all fundamental to what we do.

  • There are several factors which influence our fees for a project; the size of the project, location, complexity, and how involved you want us to be at the tender and construction stages of your project.

    We present our fees in a transparent manner, broken down into the different services and project stages so you can decide how involved you want us to be at each stage. Our fees typically work out at 8 – 15% of the build cost.

  • The first step in managing the budget is to establish what is possible and at what cost. We do this with our Discovery Service; this is a fixed-price service where we will take your brief and provide several design solutions at different price points, giving you a cost plan for each option. This process is a great way to discover if your aspirations are aligned with your budget and together we will help you plan the best route forward.

    When we start the full design stage, the cost plan will be updated throughout the process; if the scope of the project changes, this is accounted for and will be on the agenda at every meeting.

    Although the final cost is not known until the project is priced by the selected builder, we benchmark our costs against similar projects in similar locations to ensure our advice is grounded and realistic.

  • The length of the project will be influenced by four factors:

    • the time you need to consider the different design options and how quickly we can find a design solution that you are happy with

    • the time taken by the Local Authority to process approvals

    • the availability of the preferred builder

    • the pace of progress during the construction phase

    There is a lot more to say about each of these, but in summary, the design and approvals stage takes 8-10 months before works can start on site and the construction stage can take anything from 6 months to 2 years, depending on the size and complexity of the project.

“They say a good architect covers his or her fees in cost savings and I do think this was the case for Technique. More than that though, they helped us with an initial budget and tracking throughout, and this turned out to be realistic, heading off the potential drama and stress of cost over runs.”

Alasdair, Client, Mayfield House