Building control comments answered, and the drawings amended
When building control replies to a Full Plans application it either grants it, grants it with requirements, or rejects it, and a rejection must give its reasons. We read the letter, write an answer to each comment, amend the drawings that need it and send the lot back. The fee is a fixed £245, no VAT is charged, and it costs nothing when the drawings are ours.
Fixed fee from £245 · all prices
Prefer to talk it through?
What the letter from building control is telling you
A Full Plans application does not get a simple yes or no. Under regulation 14A of the Building Regulations 2010, where the plans are defective or show that the work would break a requirement, the authority can reject the application, or grant it on condition that you modify the plans, provide further plans, or both. So the letter you hold is one of three things: an approval, an approval with requirements, or a rejection.
The most common reason for trouble is not a clear error. The authority may decide the application is not sufficiently detailed to tell whether the work would meet the regulations, and the regulation says it need not grant an application on that footing. That is a drawing problem, and a drawing problem is exactly what we fix.
Building Control Comments Answered
from £245
Every price is the full fixed fee you pay. No VAT is charged. Council application fees are paid to the council separately.
What you get
- Every comment in the letter answered in writing, one by one
- The affected drawings amended and re-issued as a clean revision
- A short note of what changed and which comment each change answers
- The reply sent to building control as your agent, once you authorise it
- A flag on any comment that needs an engineer's figures, before we start
- Free of charge when we made the building regulations drawings
- Send us the letter
Forward the decision notice and the plans you submitted. We read both against each other.
- Comment by comment
Each point gets a written answer: a change to the drawings, a detail added, or a reasoned explanation.
- Drawings amended
Affected sheets are revised, dated and clouded so the officer can see what moved.
- Back to building control
We send the answers and revised drawings to the authority as your agent, with your authority.
If the plans were rejected
A notice of rejection must give the reasons. Those reasons are your brief: each one is either a point the drawings must now cover or a point where you and the officer disagree about the rule. We separate the two. For the first kind we amend the drawing and say where the fix is. For the second we write a reasoned reply that points to the requirement and the detail that meets it, and we tell you plainly if we think the officer is right.
A rejection is not a verdict on the project. It means this application, as drawn, was not enough. The route afterwards is to correct the drawings and apply again, and a clear answer to each reason makes the second look easier for everyone.
On a Full Plans application the authority must notify you of the outcome within five weeks of receiving it, or within a longer period that you and it agree in writing.
If the plans were approved with conditions
A grant with requirements is only possible if the applicant has requested it in writing or consented in writing, so check what was agreed on your behalf. The requirements usually take one of two forms. Either the plans must be modified in a way the authority specifies, or further plans must be provided before work to which those plans relate starts.
That second form is the one that catches people out: nothing stops you ordering the steel, but the details it depends on have to be in front of building control before the work they relate to begins. We list every outstanding item, draw what is missing, and give you a dated checklist so the builder knows what must be sent and when.
The five weeks, and what silence means
On a Full Plans application the authority must notify you of the outcome within five weeks of receiving it, or within a longer period that you and it agree in writing. If it does not, the regulation says the failure is not to be treated as a grant of the application or a rejection. Silence is therefore not approval. Do not start the work on the strength of it; ask building control for the outcome in writing.
If you are waiting on a decision and not yet holding a letter, you will not need this service yet. When the letter arrives, or the officer rings with a list of queries, send it to us.
What the fee covers
The £245 covers the comments in the letter you send us: reading them against your plans, writing the answers, amending the affected drawings and issuing the revision. When the building regulations drawings are ours, the answers cost nothing, because a comment on our drawings is ours to fix.
Some comments cannot be answered with a drawing alone. A beam size is an engineer's figure, and an energy figure is an assessor's. We tell you at the start which comments need that, and we coordinate structural drawings and calculations or SAP calculations at their own fixed fees. Nothing is added to the bill without your agreement.
Before you submit next time
Most comments are cheaper to prevent than to answer. If you are about to apply with a set drawn elsewhere, a building regulations drawings review checks it against the regulations first. The building regulations reports page lays out which report fits which stage, from drawings to regularisation.
Sources
Every figure on this page, where it comes from and a link to the original.
| Figure | Source | Link |
|---|---|---|
| reject the application | Building Regulations 2010 reg 14A(2): where full plans are defective or show a contravention, the authority (source wording: "may reject the application") or grant it subject to modifications to the plans or further plans before the work starts | www.legislation.gov.uk |
| not sufficiently detailed | Building Regulations 2010 reg 14A(1)(b): the authority need not grant an application that (source wording: "is not sufficiently detailed in any respect to allow the relevant authority to determine whether the proposed work would contravene any applicable requirement") | www.legislation.gov.uk |
| before work to which those plans relate starts | Building Regulations 2010 reg 14A(3)(b): an approval can require (source wording: "such further plans as the authority may specify must be provided before work to which those plans relate starts") | www.legislation.gov.uk |
| consented in writing | Building Regulations 2010 reg 14A(4): a grant subject to those requirements is only possible if the applicant (source wording: "has requested in writing" or "has consented in writing") | www.legislation.gov.uk |
| five weeks | Building Regulations 2010 reg 14A(6): the authority must notify the outcome (source wording: "within five weeks beginning with the date the application is received"), or a longer period agreed in writing | www.legislation.gov.uk |
| not to be treated as a grant | Building Regulations 2010 reg 14A(7): a failure to notify in time (source wording: "is not to be treated as a grant of the application or a rejection of the application") | www.legislation.gov.uk |
| must give the reasons | Building Regulations 2010 reg 14A(8): a notice of rejection (source wording: "must give the reasons for the rejection") | www.legislation.gov.uk |
Questions people ask
My plans were approved with conditions. Can I start work?
Why did building control say my plans were not detailed enough?
What if I disagree with a comment?
Does the fee cover a second round of comments?
Is it free if I used you for the drawings?
Photographs: Derek Harper (CC BY-SA 2.0); Tim Green from Bradford (CC BY 2.0).
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