Consultation with an architect
Ask before you decide: by phone or at the office, by appointment.
Some decisions need no project, no report and nobody travelling anywhere: they need asking. A consultation is exactly that — you set out the case, someone with technical judgement listens to it and tells you what they see — by phone or at the office, by appointment.
It is often the first sensible step for a buyer who has found a property and does not yet know what they are looking at. Spanish planning and registry rules rarely work the way they do at home, and an hour of straight answers early on is worth more than months of guessing.
What you can ask about
Almost anything to do with a building or a plot. These are the questions that reach us most often:
- Whether you can build, and what. What the planning rules allow on that particular plot, how much buildable area is left, on what terms.
- Planning and legal questions. What situation the existing building is in, and what obligations come with it.
- Building questions. How something is actually solved, and what the renovation you have in mind really involves.
- Defects. Cracks, damp, movement: what causes them and whether they are the kind that needs attention now.
- Structural stability. Whether what you can see compromises anything.
- Compliance. What the rules that apply to your case require.
- Disputes with a neighbour. A wall, a boundary, works that affect you — and a technical opinion before the argument starts.
The project consultation
This is the main one, and the only kind that leaves you with a document. When the question is a project — a new build, a renovation, an extension — the consultation does not stop at the answer: we take the case, study the situation, explain the steps ahead and prepare a plan of action with its quotation, which we do email to you.
What comes out of it is what needs doing and in what order, which is the part nobody has clear at the start. If you then decide to go ahead, that is contracted separately: the consultation covers the advice, not the work it uncovers.
When it has to be seen
Some answers cannot be given without standing on the site. A crack that needs looking at closely, a plot whose slope and access decide the whole project, a house you are about to buy. That is what the architect's visit is for — a separate service, booked as such.
The line is simple: the consultation covers what can be settled by talking — phone and office — and the visit covers everything that requires going to look. If your question turns out to have its answer on the site rather than in the conversation, we will say so before you spend a consultation on it.
Booking a consultation
By phone, or through the contact form at the foot of this page. We agree a day and a time, and the consultation gets the time it needs.
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Consultations are paid for in advance, so you know where you stand when you book. The office is in Altea, and we take questions from Alfaz del Pi, La Nucía, Polop, Calpe, Benissa, Moraira, Finestrat and Callosa d'en Sarrià among others: over the phone it makes no difference where the property is, and for the office you decide whether the drive is worth it.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need an appointment?
Yes. You book it by phone or through the contact form, and we agree a day and a time, for the office meeting as much as for the call. That way the question gets the time it needs rather than being answered in the middle of something else.
What do I get from the consultation?
Usually the answer itself: an architect's opinion on your case, which is generally what was needed. When the question is about a project, or about what something would cost to do, we also email you the plan of action and its quotation.
If work comes out of the consultation, is it included?
No. The consultation covers the advice; anything that comes out of it is quoted separately and you decide whether to go ahead. Asking commits you to nothing else.
Can you come and look at the house or the plot?
Yes, but that is a different service: the architect's visit. The consultation covers what can be settled by phone or at the office; when answering properly means standing on the site, the visit is what you want, and it is booked as such.
Can you tell me whether I can build on my plot?
It is one of the most common questions we get. With the cadastral reference and the municipality we can check what the planning rules allow on that specific plot: whether it is buildable, on what terms, and what steps would follow. If the answer depends on seeing the ground, we will say so.