Certainly not because of any lack of interest.
The pleasure of seeing a client delighted with their loft conversion or extension can be very rewarding. However:
- Financially, domestic projects are rarely rewarding - few domestic clients will commission an Architect except on a fixed price basis; and I cannot claim this is unreasonable, 'cos it ain't. If you carry out a building project on your home you would expect to know fairly clearly how much it will cost. Unfortunately the amount of Architectural time involved in a domestic project is usually out of all proportion to the fee chargeable and far from fixed under the best circumstances; and if the client cannot make up their mind (do I hear incredulity ?) it gets worse. Frankly there is more profitable work available with fewer headaches.
- Time wasters; more than half of all fee quotes for domestic projects lead nowhere. After several hours travelling to meet the prospective client, discussing the project and (inevitably) giving a considerable amount of free advice it would at least be nice to be told why the quote was not accepted. Silence is more normal ...
This seems rather negative. Sorry.
However, if you can interest me in your project - for instance by proposing to carry out alterations which are as environmentally benign as possible - I would at least consider it.
And if anyone out there wants an Architect designed new house on a site of outstanding beauty I might bite your hand off ...