Project photoFinished build or before / after
[Planning outcome — e.g. Approved]
[Short project title]
[One or two sentences on the brief and the result.]
Build budget: [£XXk – £YYk]
★★★★★
4.7 · 574 homeowners reviewed us on Trustpilot & Google
Your dream extension,
Understand your
Your dream extension,
without the spiralling costs.
The online architect alternative
Understand your
project in 16 minutes.
Planning drawings, building regs and a real build-cost estimate — quoted up front, fixed for life. Start this week. Pay in easy monthly instalments . Everything handled in one place.
Tell us what you're planning. We'll give you a realistic build cost, a fixed price for the drawings, and the likely planning outcome — instantly. No calls, no forms, no obligation.
A short walkthrough of every decision — planning permission, build costs, timelines, what we do, what your builder does — so you can brief one with confidence. From our founder, for homeowners who've never done this before.
Fixed price, no hourly bills
Start drawing next week
Spread over 3 monthly instalments
Prefer to talk it through first? Speak to an expert
Instant price
Live
Tell us what you're planning
Pick all that apply — most people tick two or three.
Takes 45 seconds · 574 people found their price this month
16 min · watch full
"Everything you need to know about planning, building and budgets — before you call anyone."
As featured in
Why Arkiplan
An architectural service, without the architect anxieties.
Fixed-price, quoted up front.
From £1,690. No hourly billing, no surprise extras tacked on at month three.
Start drawing next week.
First design call in 3–5 working days after your scan — not "we're booked until June." We scan, we chat, we draft.
Video calls, not site visits.
Video meetings at whatever time works for you.
Build cost estimated with you.
We tell you what it'll really cost to build — while we design. No nasty surprises from the builder later.
Fixed prices. No surprises.
Settle the drawings fee up front by card or bank transfer once you accept your fixed quote. No hidden fees, no hourly billing.
Everything in one portal.
Drawings, council correspondence, contracts, your builder's quote. All in one place, always up to date.
Three free redraws.
All of our design packages include three rounds of unlimited design changes.
We chase the council.
You don't have to phone Wandsworth Planning on a Wednesday afternoon. We handle every reply until decision.
£2,284
saved, on average.
Our customers spend £2,284 less on drawings than they'd pay a traditional architect — and get approval weeks sooner.
Based on 2025 data across 2,000+ completed projects, compared with an average traditional architect fee of 7.5% on a £50k extension.
Partnered with
D
Dave Chamberlain
Founder, Arkiplan
1,500+
homes designed
over 17 years
over 17 years
Every project starts here
Every project starts with a free 30-minute meeting with our founder, Dave.
He's personally sketched the first draft of 1,500+ homes over the last 17 years. Yours will be one of them.
-
He sketches live, on your plot. Dave shares his screen and draws the proposal in front of you — you see the extension take shape in real time.
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Honest answers about what's possible. What planning will and won't allow. What the build will cost. Whether your idea is sensible. No pressure, no pitch.
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Genuinely free, genuinely no-obligation. We'll send you a written summary afterwards. Take it to another firm if you'd rather — we don't mind.
"Most people come to us half-convinced they can't create the home they need without spending crazy money. Nine times out of ten, they can. My job on this first meeting is to show them how."
— Dave Chamberlain, founder
See it happen
Real calls, real sketches, real drawings.
Homeowners trust work they can see. Drop a few unedited shots of the process in here — these placeholders mark exactly where they go.
Design callScreenshot of a real video design call
Sketching a layoutDave marking up a floor plan
Concept drawingA concept or CAD elevation
A modern process
Four steps. One site visit. No phone tag.
We designed this around one thing: you have a job, a family, and zero evenings to spare. Everything after step one happens on video, on your schedule.
STEP 01 · WEEK 1
We scan your home.
One hour, one Matterport Pro2 scanner. We capture every wall, window and skirting to within 1% accuracy so we can design on-screen.
First available slot in 3–7 days
STEP 02 · WEEK 2
We meet on video.
Sketch the proposal with a qualified designer — 60 mins, live, share-screen. Budget estimate locked in before you hang up.
Evenings & weekends available
STEP 03 · WEEK 3–7
We draft your plans.
Planning, building regs and structural, ready in three to six weeks. Request as many tweaks as you like — it's in the fixed price.
Three free redraws included
STEP 04 · WEEK 7+
We handle the council.
We submit, we chase, we reply to queries. You'll get an approval notification in your pocket, not a letter six weeks late.
94% planning & LDC approvalBuilt on modern systems
You'll always know exactly where your project is.
Most traditional practices can't show you this. Every project runs through a live portal — these placeholders mark where the real screenshots go.
Portal screenshotYour project dashboard
Your project portal
[One line on what clients see and do here.]
Tracking screenshotStage-by-stage progress
Live progress tracking
[One line on milestone tracking.]
3D scan viewerMatterport / 3D Home Scan
3D Home Scan™
[One line on the scan / survey technology.]
Documents screenshotDrawings & approvals
All your documents
[One line on drawings & approvals access.]
Project map
Hundreds of real projects, right across England & Wales.
Every planning application we've drawn and submitted, plotted on one interactive map. Browse real projects near you, open the actual drawings, and see the package each homeowner chose.
Explore the project map →
Live map
Proof, not promises
Real projects, real approvals.
A few recent homes we've drawn and taken through planning. Replace these placeholders with your own photos and outcomes.
Project photoFinished build or before / after
[Planning outcome — e.g. Approved]
[Short project title]
[One or two sentences on the brief and the result.]
Build budget: [£XXk – £YYk]
Project photoFinished build or before / after
[Planning outcome — e.g. Approved]
[Short project title]
[One or two sentences on the brief and the result.]
Build budget: [£XXk – £YYk]
From our homeowners
Trusted by 2,000+ families across England and Wales.
100+ unscripted video reviews — filmed by customers on their phones, the week they got their keys back. Swipe through a few below.
VIDEO REVIEWS · UNSCRIPTED
Swipe or use arrows to browse
Browse all 100+ video reviews
And in their own words
Plans are absolutely excellent. We were complete novices at this, so their help is just invaluable. Each stage is explained, and logging onto the portal keeps everything together in one place.
RM
Rachel M.Wandsworth · Rear extension
Approved first time, no amendments. We saved thousands on what a local architect had quoted.
EK
Ellen K.Norwich · Loft + rear
The video calls were a game-changer. we'd never have found time for in-person meetings with two kids.
DH
Dan H.Manchester · Side return
We got planning, building regs and structural calcs in one price. Our builder said the drawings were the clearest he'd ever been given.
TJ
Tom J.Leeds · Double extension
Monthly instalments meant we could start designing while we saved for the build. A total godsend.
SP
Sian P.Cardiff · Garden room
Packages
Three packages. Pick the right depth for your project.
Every project is unique, so your fixed quote is tailored to its complexity. Answer a few questions and our instant price tool gives you a tight range in 45 seconds — finalised in writing after your free design meeting.
Essentials
Need planning drawings only?
- 3D Home Scan™
- Planning application drawings
- 1 × video call with your designer
- One round of unlimited changes
- Submitted on your behalf
Most popular · 7 in 10 choose this
Standard
Need everything to get approval and start building?
- Everything in Essentials
- Building regulations drawings
- Structural engineer's calculations
- 3 × video calls with your designer
- 3 rounds of unlimited changes
- Trusted Builder Network intro & comparable quotes
- Party Wall notice letters
Premium
Want us to handle almost everything for you?
- Everything in Standard
- Photorealistic 3D exterior renders
- Unlimited video calls with your designer
- CCTV drainage survey
- SAP / thermal calculations
- On-site soil test
- Tree survey
- Party Wall Notice Pack
Get a tight price range in 45 seconds. Compare packages in full →
Built differently
Why our prices are lower — without cutting corners.
A traditional practice carries the cost of high-street premises, in-person meetings and the overheads that come with them. We’ve rebuilt the whole process to run online and remotely, so that saving lands with you. On average, homeowners spend £2,284 less with us than with a traditional architect.
Online-first, not office-first
No high-street premises to fund. Your designer works remotely, so you're paying for drawings — not rent on a building you'll never visit.
Digital surveys
Our 3D Home Scan™ captures your property accurately the first time, so we avoid the repeat site visits that add cost and delay.
Refined, standardised systems
Seventeen years of templates, checklists and processes mean less time billed re-inventing every project from scratch.
One team, England & Wales
Our team works remotely across England and Wales — there’s no office or regional premises for you to help fund.
One efficient flow
Planning, building regs and structural work are handled in one place, in one sequence — fewer hand-offs, less waiting, less wasted time.
How we compare
Arkiplan vs a traditional architect.
Same drawings, same planning and building-regs expertise — a very different way of working.
Arkiplan
Traditional architect
Pricing
Fixed price, agreed up front
Often a percentage of build cost
Getting started
Start online this week
Weeks of scheduling, in person
Meetings
Video calls, evenings included
Office visits in working hours
Coverage
England & Wales, one remote team
Usually local to their office
Paying
Deposit, then monthly instalments
Larger staged invoices
Built for
Homeowners doing home projects
Often a commercial & residential mix
This isn’t a knock on architects — for highly bespoke or complex buildings, a traditional practice is exactly who you want. For most extensions, lofts and standard home projects, our online model simply gets you there faster, for a fixed price you can see up front.
Never done this before?
Watch 16 minutes and know more than most experienced renovators.
Our founder walks through every decision you're about to make — permitted development vs. full planning, how building regs actually work, whether you need a structural engineer, how to avoid getting ripped off. Made for homeowners, not for the trade.
- Planning permission When you need it, when you don't
- Building regulations The document your builder cannot skip
- Structural calculations When you need an engineer — and why it matters
- Timelines Drawings → approval → spade in the ground
- What we cost And what you can expect to spend elsewhere
Questions
The things you're about to ask.
Five minutes of reading saves a twenty-minute phone call. But we're happy to take the call too.
Do you need to visit my house?
+
Once — for about an hour, for the 3D Home Scan. After that, everything happens online: sketch sessions on video, drawings in the portal, approvals by email. We've worked with homeowners from Cornwall to the Highlands this way.
How long from signing to shovel-in-the-ground?
+
Typical timeline: scan in week 1, drawings complete by week 4, council decision within 8 weeks of submission (statutory). Most of our customers break ground around 14–18 weeks from kick-off, depending on their builder's schedule.
What happens if planning is refused?
+
Rare (94% of our planning and lawful-development applications get approved), but if it happens our Planning Permission Guarantee gives you two options: we keep working with you for free until approval, OR we refund 50% of your Arkiplan fees. You choose. (Available on Premium packages and on any package paid up-front; excludes Prior Notification Applications.)
How do I pay?
+
Two options. Pay the full balance up front by card or bank transfer when you accept your quote, or pay a £499 deposit followed by 3 monthly instalments. Instalments don't begin until after your 3D Home Scan and design meeting — no credit checks, no interest. You can cancel before your first instalment, no questions asked.
Are your designers UK-qualified?
+
Every design lead is a qualified UK architectural designer with a minimum of 10 years' experience. We're a Welsh company; all our designers are based in the UK and work in UK time zones.
Start your project this week.
Get an instant build-cost estimate, or book a 20-minute video call with a designer. No obligation, no pushy sales.
Prefer to talk it through first? Speak to an expert
Average response time to enquiries: under 30 minutes, Mon–Fri 8am–8pm.