Measured building surveys in Purley and across Croydon
A measured building survey in Purley, Sanderstead, Thornton Heath or anywhere in Croydon costs from £200 with DrawingsDirect, a fixed fee for a laser-measured survey with existing plans. MCIAT chartered architectural technologists do the measuring and the drawing, so one team carries your plans from survey to submission.
Fixed fee from £200 · all prices
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One borough, many neighbourhoods
Croydon runs from the suburban edge at Purley and Sanderstead to the denser streets around Thornton Heath. The council is the same for all of them, so the planning figures below apply across the borough, while each house gets its own survey.
We measure on site with a laser and draw the existing plans to scale. If you only want the scaled plan of each floor, our floor plans in Croydon page covers it, and the pricing page lists the other fees.
What Croydon decides
Our analysis of MHCLG planning application statistics, table PS2 (released 24 Sep 2026, quarters to 2026 Q2) counts 786 householder decisions by Croydon over the four quarters 2025 Q3 to 2026 Q2, including prior approvals. Of those, 87% were granted.
Excluding prior approvals, 95% of householder decisions in the same period were made within 8 weeks. Both are borough averages across every kind of householder work.
Lawful development certificates start from existing plans too: our analysis of table PS1 counts 1,005 certificates of lawful development decided by Croydon across the eight quarters 2024 Q3 to 2026 Q2.
A record of appeals, and conservation areas to check
Our analysis of the Planning Inspectorate Casework Database (released 1 Oct 2026, Casework Database 2609) found 287 householder appeals decided for Croydon in 2021 to 2026, and 39% were allowed. That is history, not a forecast.
Our analysis of the MHCLG Planning Data Platform (bulk snapshot retrieved 14 Aug 2026) finds 20 entries on the national register of conservation areas for Croydon. Look up your road on the council's own conservation area map before you design anything.
Why the survey comes before the drawings
Government planning practice guidance says plans and drawings must be drawn to an "identified scale", and that a location plan should typically be at 1:1250 or 1:2500; read it on GOV.UK. A survey is what makes the existing plans trustworthy.
Once the survey is done, the same plans feed our planning drawings, and our London measured survey page describes the service across the city.
Lawful development certificates start from existing plans too: our analysis of table PS1 counts 1,005 certificates of lawful development decided by Croydon across the eight quarters 2024 Q3 to 2026 Q2.
Sources
Every figure on this page, where it comes from and a link to the original.
| Figure | Source | Link |
|---|---|---|
| £200 | DrawingsDirect starting fixed fee for a laser-measured building survey with existing plans, from the published price list | drawingsdirect.co.uk |
| identified scale | Planning practice guidance, Making an application, paragraph 023: plans and drawings must be drawn to an identified scale and plans must show the direction of north (source wording: "must be drawn to an identified scale") | www.gov.uk |
| 1:1250 | Planning practice guidance, Making an application, paragraph 024: a location plan should typically be at a scale of 1:1250 or 1:2500 (source wording: "The scale should typically be 1:1250 or 1:2500") | www.gov.uk |
| 786 | Our analysis of MHCLG planning application statistics, table PS2 (district open data table) (released 24 Sep 2026, quarters to 2026 Q2) | www.gov.uk |
| 87% | Our analysis of MHCLG planning application statistics, table PS2 (district open data table) (released 24 Sep 2026, quarters to 2026 Q2) | www.gov.uk |
| 95% | Our analysis of MHCLG planning application statistics, table PS2 (district open data table) (released 24 Sep 2026, quarters to 2026 Q2) | www.gov.uk |
| 287 | Our analysis of Planning Inspectorate Casework Database (released 1 Oct 2026 (Casework Database 2609)) | www.gov.uk |
| 39% | Our analysis of Planning Inspectorate Casework Database (released 1 Oct 2026 (Casework Database 2609)) | www.gov.uk |
| 20 | Our analysis of MHCLG Planning Data Platform conservation-area and article-4-direction datasets (bulk snapshot retrieved 14 Aug 2026) | www.planning.data.gov.uk |
| 1,005 | Our analysis of MHCLG planning application statistics, table PS1 (district open data table) (released 24 Sep 2026, quarters to 2026 Q2) | www.gov.uk |
Questions people ask
What does a measured building survey cost in Purley?
Do you survey in Sanderstead and Thornton Heath?
Is a measured building survey the same as a floor plan?
How many Croydon householder applications are granted?
Photographs: Dr Neil Clifton (CC BY-SA 2.0).
