Building Control Drawings - floorplans

NQManchester

Hi,
I’m in the process of going through building control to remove a wall between my kitchen and back living room and have submitted the engineer drawings and beam calcs which only show the floorplan for the back half of downstairs complete with comments from the SE.
The building reg guy has said I need to submit full floorplans for upstairs and downstairs, which I don’t currently have.

I’ve gone back to my engineer and he’s said he can do the existing upstairs and downstairs and the proposed downstairs floorplans for £250, does this sound reasonable? Is there any way of doing it cheaper? I’m not sure how in-depth the floor plans will be expected to be, ie just measurements or fully annotated by the SE.

Thank you!

Doozergirl

Submit a "building notice" application, not "full plans"!  

They'll do it on inspection only, having had sight of the drawings and calculations that you have.  

Silly to produce floor plans when they don't help you do anything.  BC could have told you that themselves, it's silly to do it any other way.  

NQManchester

That’s extremely helpful thank you. I’ve gone back to the council to see if I can change the application, I’ve already paid the fee tho so I hope they don’t want paying twice 😞 
Their website might as well be written in French for me so glad I asked on here, thanks again.

DevilDamo

Just to clarify, what type of application have you submitted, a Building Notice or Full Plans application?

And is the BCO asking for full floor plans (as in drawings) or a Full Plans application?

NQManchester

I put in a full plans application based on a brief conversation with an ex council officer telling me to (he works privately now and I’d initially approached him to do the building control but he was too busy so directed me back to the council) It’s a load bearing wall removal. 

Jeepers_Creepers

Did this a few years back for my sis-in-law's house - a structural wall to come down between the kitchen and living room.

BC said all I needed was a 'building notice', at a cost of - trying to remember - £120 or so? The guy came out, confirmed it was 'structural', told me I needed an SE to do the calcs, and I asked him for recommendations.

"Sorry - I'm not allowed to recommend any," he replied with a knowing smile. "But I can name a couple of SEs in the area..."

One SE wanted £400, and the other £80 - "I'll fit it in between jobs, and pop in on the way home." He (Mr £80) was great, spent an hour there having a good chat, talked through the pros and cons of 'steel' vs 'timber' (it was only around a 7' opening), and provided calcs for both. We went for timber.

Great service. Sounds a bit like a lottery, tho'!