Building plans costs.

[Daftness]

We are hoping to extend our current home to create a 4th bedroom with en-suite above the garage. We will remodel the kitchen at the same time and also create a downstairs loo and utility. We may or may not build the garage out beyond its current footprint and the extension above). So, we are trying to get plans drawn. So far we have approached one company and the quote for plans was £1650.00 plus any fees. We were shocked at the cost. Are we just out of touch or would you say this was overpriced? What did you pay? We are based in the Midlands.

Is that an architect? Does it include any design element? Structural engineer's input?

Unless they are literally just drawing up plans from your designs (i.e. you've decided exactly what you want / dimensions etc) that sounds pretty reasonable. In the NW here and have had 3 quotes for planning drawings - ranging from £1300 to £1700 I think for drawings and liaising with the LA. Fees on top.

@Daftness we've just paid a similar amount to submit designs for planning permission to build a room on top of our garage. Alas, just had planning turned down for the second time, but every plot is different

Thanks for the reply's. Yes it is an architect and the fees are broken down to include site survey and CAD of current site, designs of proposed plans of elevation (more than one option), electronic purchase of OS Super Plan (whatever that is?!) and the building regs full submission excluding any necessary structural calculations or Inspector Fees. So I'm not even sure what additional fees we will have to pay apart from £206 for building regs.
It does seem that the amount on our quote is in the right ball park. Thanks for your help.

@didireallysaythat - hope you don't have to modify too much for approval to get given. 🤞

I’m an architect and that seems like a good price, we would defiantly charge more than that from what you said it includes. The OS map is a digital location plan that is needed for planning submissions to show your red line boundary.

*definitely

The structural engineer fees excluded will depend on how many beams etc you need as these will have to be calculated to take the correct loading, an architect isn’t qualified to do this.

@Daftness it's clear we won't get get permission - planning considers the space above the garage as important to the streetscene and won't entertain anything being built on there as it is over developing the site.

Thanks so much @Bigdreamer9 - I feel reassured and informed from reading your comments. I actually really want to use the company we have had a quote from, I felt confident in them and I "liked" them. It was only the price that shook us a bit.

@didireallysaythat - how disappointing, so you've spent all that money for nothing? The reasons you state are a worry for us too then. I feel like I'm just stepping into a rollercoaster!

That’s okay, you mentioned the quote includes “ the building regs full submission” which I assume to be working drawings/technical drawings that the contractor would build from. You seem to have concerns about not achieving planning permission and have wasted money, it would be worth confirming with the architect how much of the fee is for the planning drawings and submission with the remainder for the working drawings. As if you don’t get planning permission granted you will not need to proceed with working drawings and then will have lost a smaller amount of money. The fee for building regs should not need to be paid until planning permission has been granted and you instruct the architect to start on working drawings. Hope that makes sense

@Bigdreamer9 yes I think it does make sense. Which set of drawings do builders base their quote on? Planning or Working? I don't know if we can afford the full monty dream extension plans or need to down scale and go for more affordable plans. So I assume we need to get builders quotes before submitting for planning permission? I was hoping we could apply and appoint a builder while the plans are being processed.

@Daftness that's the way it goes. You get the architect to draw it up and get the plans submit. Normally you'd wait until you get them granted, then get the detailed plans draw up and get a structural engineer. At that point you can get a builder to quote - you don't know how much steel or foundation work is required until the structural calcs have been done. So at this point we're only out of pocket for the plans and the council. We withdrew and resubmitted (although it was a long shot) so the planning fees are only one set.

Builders can price of either planning or working (technical) drawings. If they price of planning drawings it may be more of an approximate cost as items such as finishes etc will not be priced for exactly but if you gave an idea of materials they could put together a fairly realistic price from that and planing drawings. They could then revisit their quote once the working drawings have been done.

Your architect may also be able to give you a rough idea of build cost when designing the extension so it’s worth telling them the build budget. This is the route I would advise you to go down as if you submitted a scheme for planning, received approval, instructed worked drawings and then went out for a build cost and it came in too high. The architect would charge additional fees to amend the drawings and resubmit.

Also, if you get planning refused you get what is called “a free go” so you can resubmit a revised scheme for no additional charge although the architect will charge their fee to revise drawings.

It's all very interesting really. Just takes a bit of getting your head around it all I suppose. I'm going to speak to the architect again on Monday and take it from there. Thanks again for all the information.

For what it's worth our builder said he couldn't give a price until.he knew if he was going to have to put steels into support the building or if we were going to have to put an internal layer of block work. And some of that depended on whether the neighbour would accept scaffolding on their land. We did get a price for the shell, roof, plumbing etc and it's easy to get quotes for windows etc but the ground works are always the bit builders can't guestimate without a structural engineer. You could do a few test digs and ask the builder to gaze into them.

We have had two builders look at the house/garage as it stands with a view to taking in the work. Both said they thought the garage would need taking down to foundations etc as it wasn't built for two stories. So both said if we were having to do that then we may as well expand the footprint (there's about 3 meters of room to the side) and make the garage and upper floor extension bigger. Both said they couldn't quote without plans. Then when I spoke to the architect he said "builders will always say it can't be done" and he mentioned steels. I'm torn between a cheaper smaller extension and a larger more expensive extension. The usual heart over head decision!

The ‘additional fees’ would normally be those payable to others. So the OS map as already mentioned is what is required for Location, Block and Site Plan drawings to be put together to accompany the Planning application. Again and as mentioned above, the structural engineers’ fees would depend on what structural items are needed to be calculated, which include both timbers and steels.

The additional fee of £206 you mentioned is the Planning application fee, not Building Regulations. The Planning application fee would also be increased by £25 as that’s the Planning Portal service charge for them handling the payment.

You will also be required to pay the Building Regulations application fee, which your architect should be able to advise upon.

The price quoted does seem reasonable. Mine would actually be more and VAT would also be added on top. You saying you think it’s overpriced, what are you comparing it to as I assume you don’t have another quote? I have some clients say the same but again, they have nothing to compare it to. In any line of work, how can something be seen to be expensive if you’re not actually in that field or don’t have comparable quotes!?!

@DevilDamo thanks for the information, I'm definitely getting a better understanding of what's involved. I only wondered if the fee quoted was overpriced, hence my post on here. I see now that it isn't. It was just my initial reaction with no prior knowledge. I'm learning though! Thanks again.