Mills + McCullough

Our fees are bespoke to our client’s needs – our fee structure is determined through our outline design project phase to align with this. Our fees can be worked out as percentage fees at the end of this process but are never conceived in this way. Typically, our fees amount to 7-11% construction cost for a full service - from outline design to construction handover including a site administration role. In essence our fees reflect the project requirements and achieving value through our design services – not how much you are willing to spend on construction. We provide a fixed fee to begin the design process through our outline design project phase. Once complete we set our fee structure to progress through detailed design development, statutory approvals and construction. Our fees are structured in this way to ensure we can work with your best interests from the beginning to end. If you would like to discuss our fees in more detail please drop us a line at info@mills-mccullough.com .

Yes - Absolutely! One of the primary reasons we started our practice was to create an accessible design service for Charities. We love working collaboratively to ensure what we build together sustains the organisations vision for the long term. We find working from an early stage vitally important - we can help to define the scope of a project - test different approaches and assist with fundraising. If you would like to talk further about a project please get in touch - even if you think starting the project is a long way off - no conversation is too early! Email Nick + Stephen using info@mills-mccullough.com You might also be interested in learning more about how we work with communities on our Communities Page

We work with people who have a passion to create extraordinary places that are in harmony with their setting and users. We set up our studio to be approachable, provide a personal design service and support our client’s journey. If our work and approach resonate with you, we would love to chat about how we can work together. All our projects are a joint venture – the variety of our work is brought through the unique challenges and aspirations our clients bring to the table. Get in touch with us at info@mills-mccullough.com to find out more. or Give either Nick or Stephen a call: Nick - Edinburgh Studio 07809677120 Stephen - Aberdeen Studio 07702116303

Yes – We currently take on commissions with budgets over £150,000. There may be some exceptions to this when we can see that our service can add value at a smaller scale.

Yes- we offer an initial site visit consultation service for £250 across Scotland. This gives us a good chance to see first hand what you would like to achieve and allows us to provide some professorial advice and guidance following our visit. If you would like to arrange a site visit you can send us an email at info@mills-mccullough.com or give Nick or Stephen a call: Nick - Edinburgh Studio 07809677120 Stephen - Aberdeen Studio 07702116303

Believe it or not we do get asked this question quite a lot! When something is 'FREE' there is always a catch... starting our journey together in this way we believe to be in nobody's best interests. As a business we are focused on realising value for our clients through our services at all work stages - working for free inevitably results in that work needing to be paid for at a later stage and this is not how we work. We are simple and transparent in our costs and you can be assured there is no catch! We are more than happy to chat and answer questions and we don't work with a stopwatch in our hand. We run an initial 15min chat to get the ball rolling and answer any questions you have - this allows us to understand how our services can align with your vision and importantly ensure we provide value through our services. If you would like to chat about a project you can use our online calendar to book a call with Stephen or send an email to info@mills-mccullough.com to arrange a zoom meeting with us. We start each project with a feasibility study - this ensures that informed decisions can be made at the earliest possible stage and avoids unnecessary abortive work. We call this stage Outline Design - for more information about our services and how we structure our work - send a quick email to info@mills-mccullough.com and we will send you our services + process guide.

Managing build costs is something that we are extremely passion about. Our process ensures that costs are tested at the earliest possible stage. This allows us to work with you to best achieve your brief within the budgetary constraints. We haven’t really answered the question yet though – we find that there is so much conflicting advice on build costs and in simple terms – build costs have many variable factors that are not accounted in a general answer. The current market is quite unpredictable, and we are keeping a close eye on how costs are changing so that we can best advise our clients. As of Autumn 2022, in Scotland, we are finding that current project costs sit in the region of £2500 / £3000 per square meter internal area for bespoke new build homes / extensions. Our outline design stage is specifically set up to test costs that are aligned with your brief – in your location – and using the materials and specification that you desire. If you would like to discuss project construction costs further just send us a little information via email to info@mills-mccullough.com and we will get back to you.

The changes brought about through the CDM regulations in 2015 established very specific pre-construction obligations in regard health and safety that are the responsibility of the client. Designers like us have our own responsibilities under the regulations and professionally we have a responsibility to ensure that our clients are informed of their duties in regard health and safety. In regard the principle designer role and establishing if this is required on a project - the defining factor is not the project size, but rather if more than one contractor would be involved as part of the construction process. This can be misunderstood as typically you will employ one main contractor to undertake all the works, however - the majority of contractors will subcontract some elements of the work, such as an electrician / services engineer / ground works contractor / roofing contractor. The HSE consider all subcontractors as part of the overall contractor count. In short all our previous projects have involved more than one contractor. MMA can provide a fee to undertake this role as part of our pre construction design service. For more information please visit the Health and Safety Executive website https://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg411.htm Another helpful guide can be downloaded from the The Construction Industry Training Board website: https://www.citb.co.uk/media/bwzklrv5/cdm-2015-clients-interactive.pdf

Yes – we currently have a short waiting list for new commissions – this does change with our current workload and it will be the first thing we advise you about when you get in touch. We do however use this time wisely in developing the project brief with you and starting the process of obtaining any surveys that would otherwise delay our start. For an indication on our current project lead in times please get in touch with us at info@mills-mccullough.com

Yes - we have industry leading expertise in house when it comes to 3D Visualisation. We use 3D to test and develop all our project work and can use 3D visualisation as a tool to engage our clients in the review process. We also use cutting edge VR (Virtual Reality) technology to review the design with you on site. This is used in combination with high quality still images to capture a sense of the space - including light, volume and materiality. Our clients find this additional service an invaluable tool to aid decision making and enrich their engagement with the developing design proposals. For more information please download our visualisation portfolio.