DIY architect plan for planning permission

[vivimimi]

Hi,
Has anyone tried to do their own Architect plans and submit for planning permission. Hows been experience.
Its costs £2000 - £2500 to hire architect. But I have already created a rough floor plan on excel. I'm wondering if I can spend bit more effort during the lockdown then I can probably create the rest on my own.

1. floor plans - present and proposed
2. elevation plans - present and proposed
3. Location & site plan - can be purchased online
4. anything else required.

What planning tools have you used. Any inputs.

We asked my father to do ours for the planning application as he's a civil engineer and so could use CAD. I saw lots of basic drawings submitted by other people on the Planning Portal for our local council.

Saying that, when it got to the actual building phase we had to employ an architect to produce proper plans and specifications, so we didn't save any money.

Wouldn't your builder need to use the plans so he knows what he's building? Ones you've sketched up on excel won't be detailed or accurate enough.

The person who did ours wasn’t actually an architect but he had good references and experience, plus I really liked him and he seemed to understand what we wanted
It cost around £700 with as many revisions as we wanted. He will also be submitting the planning and liasing with The Council, then introducing us to a minimum of 3 builders. If we want him to PM the job he will charge extra

EXCEL?! The council will kick them to the curb.

You can get a draftsman to do them but really, an architect is worth the money albeit expensive.

We had a quite basic extension on the back of our house and my husband did the plans for the permission ( lawful development) but he is good at that sort of thing and very precise .

I did mine for Listed Building Consent, copying professional ones done previously. If an email can laugh uproariously that’s what the Council did to my application. I ended up using the architects. Plan for one small window cost £1000 with detailing you would not believe.

My husband drew ours and they passed without any corrections.

Be aware though that drawings for planning permission are focused on appearance and materials, they don't need to go into the same level of construction detail as those that will be acceptable for building regs or enable a builder to build from them

What planning tools have you used. Any inputs.

Missed this bit. My husband essentially used a pencil and paper.

For planning you have to remember that you are essentially paying for an architects time and experience rather than the plans themselves.

There are many complex rules and regs that you will not be aware of like drainage, structure, conservation, context, height and length of the extension, etc. Services coming in and out of the building. At planning stage some councils will ask the architect to liaise with the water company. The council will also not look at whether your plans will pass building control - so even if you get planning permission - your extension may not be buildable.

By trying to save some money, you are risking of losing both time and money as planning applications are expensive and if yours gets refused this will down value your property as it sets a bad precedent.

Remember you get what you pay for.

Thanks all for the wonderful inputs.
Sounds like best to engage an architect and not cut corners on this crucial piece of work.

My excel model will probably help the architect to understand what kind of modifications we would like to have i.e a starting point.

@Hoppinggreen would you like to share (PM) contact of the person you engaged. Thank you.

I would just have a go with a scale paper , a friend did and got it passed okay . Read up on permitted development . You might need some help with the building regs to get the builders to price to the same set of drawings.

I never heard of planning permission being refused then down valuing a house . Everything is buildable you just need the money to do so.