Measured building surveys in West Drayton, UB7
A measured building survey in West Drayton is a laser-measured record of your property's rooms, openings and heights, drawn up as existing plans you can design from. DrawingsDirect's starting fixed fee for a laser-measured building survey with existing plans is £200 with no VAT to add.
Fixed fee from £200 · all prices
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What you get from a measured building survey, and what you do not
Searches for building surveyors in West Drayton turn up two quite different jobs. One is a condition report on a building, the kind a buyer or a landlord commissions. The other is a dimensional record: how long, wide and high everything is, drawn to scale. This page is about the second. We measure the property on site with a laser distance meter and hand you existing plans, so an extension, loft conversion or internal change can be designed against the real building and not against an estate agent's sketch.
A measured survey tells you what is there and where. It does not grade the state of the roof, damp or defects, and it is not a dilapidations schedule. If you need a condition view as well, treat it as a separate instruction from a separate professional.
What we record on site
On every level we take room dimensions and floor-to-ceiling heights, the position, width and height of each door and window, wall thicknesses, and the stair and its headroom. Outside we record the footprint, the roof shape and pitch, chimney breasts and the building's relationship to its boundaries. Where your project calls for it, we also note ground levels and drainage runs.
The measurements go into existing floor plans, elevations and sections. Those drawings are the base layer for everything that follows, whether that is a set for a house extension, a loft conversion or a layout record you simply want to keep. Because the survey is done once, the same data can feed the next stage without anyone returning to measure again.
In the Planning Inspectorate casework data for decisions from 2021–2026, 415 householder-development appeals in Hillingdon were decided, and 43% of them were allowed (our analysis of the Planning Inspectorate Casework Database).
Why an application for a West Drayton home starts with accurate existing plans
West Drayton sits in the London Borough of Hillingdon, so Hillingdon is the council for householder applications at a UB7 address. National planning practice guidance says plans and drawings must be drawn to an identified scale and must show the direction of north. A survey that gives you true dimensions makes that straightforward: the existing sheets are drawn from measurement, and the proposed sheets are drawn over them.
The same guidance says a location plan should typically be at a scale of 1:1250. That plan is separate from the measured survey. Our planning drawings service puts the existing and proposed sheets together as one coherent set.
Hillingdon householder decisions in numbers
Over the four quarters 2025 Q3 to 2026 Q2, Hillingdon decided 1,147 householder applications, counting prior approvals, and granted 90% of them (our analysis of MHCLG planning application statistics, table PS2). Leaving prior approvals out, 94% of its householder decisions were made within eight weeks.
These are borough-wide totals for householder work. They describe what has happened across Hillingdon, not what will happen to a particular UB7 address, and they say nothing specific about surveys. We quote them so you can see the scale of householder activity your drawings will join, and nothing more.
Appeals and lawful development certificates in Hillingdon
Not every householder application ends in a grant. In the Planning Inspectorate casework data for decisions from 2021–2026, 415 householder-development appeals in Hillingdon were decided, and 43% of them were allowed (our analysis of the Planning Inspectorate Casework Database). Those are borough-wide counts and say nothing about any one property, but they show appeals are a real part of the picture, and drawings built on measurements you can stand behind are a sound starting point.
Hillingdon also decided 1,136 certificates of lawful development over the eight quarters 2024 Q3 to 2026 Q2 (table PS1). A certificate application for a house is supported by plans of what exists or what is proposed, so if you are working towards one, a measured survey gives you the existing sheets. Our lawful development certificate drawings page covers that route.
Check designations before you design
Hillingdon has 42 live conservation-area entries on the Planning Data Platform (our analysis of the MHCLG conservation-area dataset, bulk snapshot retrieved 14 Aug 2026). We have not matched your address to any of them, and a survey does not do that either. Look up your property on the council's map or the national platform before you settle a design, because a designation may affect your plans.
Once you know the constraints, the survey is the practical next step. Our building regulations drawings build on the same existing plans, so one site visit serves both applications.
Fee and next steps
A laser-measured building survey with existing plans starts from £200 as a fixed fee with no VAT to add, from our published price list. The final figure depends on the size of the property, the number of floors and the complexity of the roof and layout,.
To go ahead, send us the address and tell us what you plan to build. Our wider measured building survey service explains the process in more detail, and the Hillingdon measured survey page sets out the borough picture.
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, with no VAT to add, 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 |
| 1,147 | Our analysis of MHCLG planning application statistics, table PS2 (district open data table) (released 24 Sep 2026, quarters to 2026 Q2) | www.gov.uk |
| 90% | Our analysis of MHCLG planning application statistics, table PS2 (district open data table) (released 24 Sep 2026, quarters to 2026 Q2) | www.gov.uk |
| 94% | Our analysis of MHCLG planning application statistics, table PS2 (district open data table) (released 24 Sep 2026, quarters to 2026 Q2) | www.gov.uk |
| 415 | Our analysis of Planning Inspectorate Casework Database (released 1 Oct 2026 (Casework Database 2609)) | www.gov.uk |
| 43% | Our analysis of Planning Inspectorate Casework Database (released 1 Oct 2026 (Casework Database 2609)) | www.gov.uk |
| 42 | 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 |
| 1,136 | Our analysis of MHCLG planning application statistics, table PS1 (district open data table) (released 24 Sep 2026, quarters to 2026 Q2) | www.gov.uk |