The project always begins with us understanding and listening to your requirements and what you would like to achieve. By understanding where your home is located, budget and the restrictions attached we can advise if your project is feasible from the outset. We are happy to meet at your home for an initial consultation free of charge, or a telephone conversation if you live further from us. Some projects can even be dealt with remotely so please do not be put off by our geographical location.
Before we progress with works on your home, we will always agree our fee in writing beforehand so there are never any surprises down the line. We would then undertake a measured survey of your home and produce ‘as existing’ drawings to enable us to work up some design proposals. We will also take a formal brief from you as to your requirements. However, if you are confident in measuring up your existing home we can discount our fees for this stage. We then produce a series of designs and feasibility studies for your review which we continually work up until you are happy with the final result. This is the fun and interactive part where you would start to see your project come to life.
You may not need planning permission depending of the nature of the project as some alterations and extensions can fall under Permitted Development, however, we always advise that a Certificate of Lawfulness is obtained to ensure there are no issues if you ever come to sell your home at a later date. Once we have established the best route to take, we work up the design proposals into a useable scheme ready for consideration by your Local Planning Authority. We will also submit the application on your behalf and monitor it throughout the 8-week duration period keeping in close contact with the planning officer to hopefully secure a positive result.
Once we have secured any planning permission or obtained a Certificate of Lawfulness the proposed designs need to be worked-up technically so that they can be physically built in real life. It’s a legal requirement in the UK that all works must gain approval under Building Regulations documents to ensure they comply with the Building Act 1984. A lot of architectural practices often fail at this stage as this part of the project is complex, technical and hard to navigate successfully. This stage is also critical to iron-out cost issues and to ensure the correct specification is used. At House Alterations, our experience will easily ensure your works comply and we can even take on previous planning drawings that you have had commissioned elsewhere.
Our works up to this point are only ever as good as the builders building-out our designs! You may already have a builder in mind that you wish to use and our high-quality approved Building Regulation drawings will be more than adequate to use. However, if you have a bigger and more complex project you may wish to explore the competitive tender route to secure the best possible price for the building works. At House Alterations, we can put together a complete tender package for builders to accurately price-out the work and the fees we charge for this stage of the process will always save you considerable sums from the outset. An often-over-looked part of the building process; this stage allows for a higher level of information to ensure nothing is missed that requires pricing.
This part of the process comes down to how involved you, as the home owner, would like to be during the building process. If you are more hands-on and have the skills to project manage, deal with technical queries, selecting the correct specification, understanding compliance with building regulations and payment procedures then this stage of the process can save you additional fees. However, this process can be complex, so we are here to take the stress away and we are confident that you will receive a better end product by using someone trained in design overseeing the project from start to finish. You may require full management or a partial service from us at stages you are unclear about but we can certainly tailor a service to suit, so please contact us as early on in the process as possible.
