I have some questions now:
Can we just walk away without paying him anything? We never agreed on a price, and I asked him on every occasion. He could have just told me what it would cost me without doing the actual work.
590 Euro for 2 hrs apprentice work, measuring the house, sounds a little much to me.
I suspect that you can - as there was no agreement regarding the consideration (i.e. the fee) for the design and hence no contract (IMO).
He might be entitled to quantum meruit for the survey though. (Is there a solicitor who can answer the question around?)
Do we really need any further detailed plans for the planning permission, the plans he sent us looked fairly detailed already… and had a lot more detail on them then the plans that were submitted to secure planning for the house.
Hard to tell - I suspect that the drawings you received are not sufficient - though the insufficiencies are probably quite small - missing north point, missing dimensions, perhaps finishes materials are not called up, no section through the building, no indication of foul and surface water drainage. Also there are site location maps, site layout plans etc. required for the submission.
He is member of the RIAI, so you’d expect it to be good. However he designed one bedroom without any windows. Isn’t this in breach of fire regulations, apart from being stupid? Obviously I feel no need to pay for that particular drawing.
Generally for a 2 storey house, one is expected to escape via the windows. (There are possibilities of escaping through the house, by putting in fire doors and fire construction etc) All habitable rooms have to have a means of escape.
http://www.environ.ie/en/Publications/DevelopmentandHousing/BuildingStandards/FileDownLoad,1640,en.pdf
A room without a window also has the problem that it has no ventilation.
That said, it may be that the initial sketches are "discussion documents", are are merely directions that the design can go in - they need not be perfect or "buildable" but rather are expected to put ideas down on paper. (Though not having a window in a bedroom is rather poor).
The other design is actually quite nice and I wouldn’t mind using that for the conversion, but I am just not sure whether we are being quoted a fair price and whether everything he is quoting is needed. Also the fact that he seems to try and pull a fast one by doing the work without a quotation has irritated me immensely.
The price so far is slightly high - but not ridiculously so. The service you are getting is below standard though.
I suspect the reason he didn't quote you a figure at the start is because he was uncertain of the amount of work required. Some clients can demand 5 or 6 redesigns, some merely want a few minor alterations, some just want planning for a simple "boring" extension, some want something architectural. Because of this, there is a strong tendency to avoid quoting at any stage and "play it by ear" when it comes to charging. For this reason, it is well worth arguing with the architect - you'll probably be able to shave off an amount off what you've been quoted.