Building notice charge £828. What do you think?

ritesh

Want to think what others think of this charge. I bought three garages as a block from the council. The garages are at the end of my garden. They will be opened up into one open plan building to be used as a garden office with access from a newly incorporated bifold door. The existing garage doors will be infilled and new cavity wall and roof replaced with warm roof. Cavity wall and garage infill will require proper footings.

We will have electric supply introduced into them as well.

There is no fixed fee and is a value assessed by building control. Personally I think the charge is high (was expecting it to be £500 to £600) as I can only envisage 4 to 5 site visits by the building control inspector but would liken to hear of views from others regarding this fee.


Thanks in advance

clockworks_2

I used private building control , they were much cheaper than the council . Have you considered private? My extension was in Herts too so my building control company isn't too far from you.

ritesh

Thanks clockworks and something I had not considered in all honesty. A good lesson ther indeed. Could you PM me details of the company you used please?

Prothet_of_Doom

clockworks wrote: »

I used private building control , they were much cheaper than the council . Have you considered private? My extension was in Herts too so my building control company isn't too far from you.

Until I read this I assumed it was because they have no competition, and can therefore charge what they see fit.

System

it sounds like a fairly sizeable job to be doing on a building notice - their pricing will be based on the number of inspections required, you might find that submitting full plans has less of a fee associated with it once you get over a certain size of job...
are you doing the work yourself? if not how are you planning on getting quotes without any drawings - could end up messy if you don't have a trusted builder

ritesh

I am actually doing the work with my father in-law (site foreman at a construction company) and some hired labour.

In escence the bulk of the work will be digging gthe foundation for the new internal cavity walls and garage door infill. The cavity walls will be tied to the existing single skin wall. The next big task will be replacing the current roof and putting a warm roof on. For the concrete and screed we will be getting this ready mixed and poured in.

I have had all the drawings created by structural engineer which includes all lintel calculations.

DirectDebacle

When you asked building control to breakdown the £828.00 how had they arrived at that figure?

ritesh

DirectDebacle wrote: »

When you asked building control to breakdown the £828.00 how had they arrived at that figure?

I did ask and they confirmed that this does not fall under any particular bracket so the figure is estimated on the number of site visits and administration involved.

I am estimating around 5 site visits with a final sign off

1 Check new foundation prior to filling with Gen 1 concrete.
2 Check cavity wall correctly tied to existing wall and insulation.
3 Check new roof joists and lintels correctly placed over bifold doors and garage doors.
4 Check construction of warm roof.
5 Check insulation for screed floor before laying screed.

clockworks_2

Prothet_of_Doom wrote: »

Until I read this I assumed it was because they have no competition, and can therefore charge what they see fit.

Used to be like that until a few years ago.

Ritesh , I have dropped you a PM with the company I used.