Architects & Trade Professionals
Confidence Before Construction
Spend Smart Money
Design with Real Cost Awareness
PreBuild Cost acts as an on‑demand QS department for architects, designers, and trade professionals who want robust cost input without the overhead of a full-time hire. Our detailed cost proposals plug straight into your workflow so you can brief clients with accurate, data-backed figures early on, reducing redesigns, delays, and late-stage cost shocks.
Think of us as an extension of your team, bridging the gap between design ambition and deliverable budgets with true cost confidence.
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Design with Real Cost Awareness
At PreBuild Cost, we help architects, designers, and other trade professionals keep projects aligned with realistic, deliverable budgets. Our detailed cost proposals allow you to guide clients with accurate, data-backed information early in the process - helping prevent redesigns, delays, and late-stage cost surprises.
Bridge the gap between design and delivery with true cost confidence.
How It Works with Your Practice
1. Upload Drawings & Project Information
Send your client’s existing and proposed drawings (plans, elevations, sections), plus any structural calculations, specs, or key notes, along with optional site photos or short videos to show context, access, and constraints.
2. Complete Our Project Fact Finder
We send a short Fact Finder to capture the essentials: specification level and finishes, services/structural requirements, site and planning constraints, and any key materials or signature design features. This keeps the numbers aligned with your design intent rather than generic allowances This ensures our pricing reflects your design intent rather than generic allowances.
3. Confirm Scope and Fixed Fee
Once we’ve reviewed the drawings and Fact Finder, we confirm the scope and provide a clear fixed fee for the cost proposal, taking payment before we begin the detailed QS work. This makes it easy for you to position the service as part of a transparent, value-led offer to your clients.
4. We become your QS function
Our experienced estimators analyse the drawings using live UK material and labour rates, including sensible overheads and preliminaries to reflect real-world contractor pricing.
We remain fully independent, not tied to any builder, architect, or supplier, so you can rely on impartial cost intelligence.
5. Review Together as a Team
You receive a professional cost proposal plus a 1-hour Teams session with our estimator to walk through assumptions, sensitivities, and value-engineering opportunities you can feed straight back into your design and client conversations.
What’s Included in Your Reports
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Comprehensive cost report aligned to the current design stage.
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Clear breakdown by major trades and construction elements, including overheads and preliminaries for real-world accuracy.
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Commentary on key specification assumptions and where efficiencies may be possible.
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1-hour Teams consultation to review the figures and agree next steps.
You get clear, professional, fully independent cost data ready to share with clients. Effectively a plug-in QS arm for your practice.
Branded Reports as Part of Your Service
We can add your logo and contact details to the report so you can present it under your own brand as part of a “design + cost planning” offer. This lets you extend your service without adding permanent headcount or internal workload, while we quietly manage the pricing process behind the scenes.
Your expertise. Your branding. Our cost intelligence
How Architects Use Our Reports
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Budget validation: confirm viability and affordability before committing to technical work.
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Design refinement: tune layouts, materials, and details with live cost feedback in mind.
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Tender benchmarking: cross-check contractor quotations against an independent baseline.
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Client confidence: keep projects moving with realistic, evidence-based guidance.
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Value engineering: identify and solve cost pressure points early rather than on site.
Why Partner with PreBuild Cost
✅ Strengthen your offer with credible, independent QS support you can call on project by project.
✅ Avoid late-stage redesigns, budget disputes, and awkward cost conversations.
✅ Provide professional cost data at planning or RIBA Stage 3 without employing an in‑house QS.
✅ Collaborate with an experienced, construction-grounded team that understands buildability as well as numbers.
✅ Maintain independence and trust – we represent the costs, not any contracting party.
✅ Offer branded cost plans under your own practice name, delivered by a specialist partner in the background.
Transparent and Fair Pricing
Every scheme is reviewed individually so fees reflect size and complexity, not just headline value. As a guide, services typically start from £850 + VAT for residential projects up to around £600,000 construction value, with larger or more complex schemes priced following a short review of drawings and scope.
Spend smart money. Invest in clarity now so your clients avoid costly redesigns and uncomfortable conversations later.
Get Started
Upload your client’s drawings today or contact us to discuss your next project.