Building Regulations in Advance - Help?!?!

3smees23_2

Hi all,

I completed on my house the end of last week and we are starting to get afew builders in for some quotes to convert a garage into living space. However one of the builders wont provide aquote until we get building regs completed as this will impact his quote (ie insulationthicknesses etc).

My question is who should I go to for this? From what I understand this is something the builder sorts. But as I need it prior to him starting, do Igo to the council? Or to a third partysurveyor? Which is likely to be cheaper?

Any help will much appreciated as I’m new to all this!! L

Thanks

Sam

andrewf75

We're at a similar stage to you. We got an architect to draw the plans which are then used to get building regs approval. You may not need a full on architect, some kind of surveyor may do it cheaper but I think you need someone to draw plans up.

paddy's_mum

Every builder worthy of the name that I've ever dealt with had a pretty shrewd idea of what the building regs would require. Maybe not to the last nut or bolt but certainly enough knowledge to be confident about giving an educated guesstimate.

Why hasn't this chap of yours got any idea?

3smees23_2

paddy's_mum wrote: »

Every builder worthy of the name that I've ever dealt with had a pretty shrewd idea of what the building regs would require. Maybe not to the last nut or bolt but certainly enough knowledge to be confident about giving an educated guesstimate.

Why hasn't this chap of yours got any idea?

I really don't know, maybe he is trying to play it safe. He keeps saying he wouldn't want to disappoint us by it going up in the future.

Also I think I have to provide elevations for the proposed work to the council. Do they have to be precise? As I can Use CAD but am not messing around measuring the roof or chimney!!

Johnandabby

paddy's_mum wrote: »

Every builder worthy of the name that I've ever dealt with had a pretty shrewd idea of what the building regs would require. Maybe not to the last nut or bolt but certainly enough knowledge to be confident about giving an educated guesstimate.

Why hasn't this chap of yours got any idea?

No, it's not the builder's responsibility to prepare a building regs package of information - this would normally be produced by an architect. There will be some builders who work with an architect to produce the information for you, but the builder will build what they are told to build.

It's actually the house owners responsibility to ensure that building regs compliance is achieved, although any decent builder should work with you to do so. I'm sure the builder will be able to guess most of what's required, but you need a package of technical drawings to submit to Building Control for building regs sign-off - a guess isn't good enough!

Johnandabby

3smees23 wrote: »

I really don't know, maybe he is trying to play it safe. He keeps saying he wouldn't want to disappoint us by it going up in the future.

How can he quote for something that hasn't been designed fully? There can be a significant cost difference in materials depending on how the walls are constructed ie blockwork density, insulation conductivity & thickness etc.

TBH, sounds like he is trying to be very fair with you and not estimating a high price with tolerances/continguencies already built in.

Get an architect or architectural technician (or similar individual - lots of posts on here about people not wanting to pay architects rates, but personally the right architect can add a lot to a project) to prepare the package and submission for you. Potentially there's a lot of insulation issues to be aware of, as well as ventilation and any changes to windows etc.