Architects and building regs

[curlyrebel]

We went to an architects to draw up plans for a single storey rear extension to our house. They've provided their fees for a site visit and sketch design, but they've also added fees for building regulations at £2k. It looks like this includes the technical design which l guess is needed for the application. I'm not sure if the application fee is included in this.

Is it normal to use an architect for the building regulations phase? Is there any way around this? Given that the application is around £700 and we're already paying over £1k for the sketch we really don't want to be spending more than we need to.

You don’t need the building regs / structural drawings for the planning application but you will to do the build and get people to quote properly for you.

Our extension will be within the permitted limits so didn't think we needed to do a planning application, just the building regs one. Or do we still need to apply to planning?
Do we need technical drawings for building regs?

You need technical drawings for building regulations. And builders quote on the drawings approved by building control. Also building control will have your file open once your plans are approved and the builder uses this to liaise with them. If you don’t use an architect you still need the building control drawings done.

You do we’d technical drawings - so the builders know how deeps the founds should be and what pitch the roof should be etc etc.

you might also need a structural engineer. I didn’t need planning permission but needed technical drawings for building control and for the builder. I also needed a structural engineer to input for the beams. It cost £2k including the structural engineer and took about two months.

The architect did ours and same price I think. These are the important detailed drawings.

That's helpful thank you all. We were actually quoted more like £4k for a site visit, sketch design and building reg drawings. This didn't include structural engineer costs.

We've spoken to another architect today who has quoted more like £2k which seems a lot more reasonable!

Those fees are ridiculous. We had full planning drawings followed by building regs once planning approved for all under £2k. They were not the cheapest. Was a large single storey extension but with complexities

That was our thinking too @MarieG10! But at first we didn't know if this was usual or not. The quote was put together in such an odd way.

Must be chancing it. We also paid £450 for full engineering drawings and spec

Where are you? I paid £5k all in for designs, planning permissions for two applications (ground floor extension and loft extension) and building reg drawings. My architect also connected me with my builder who I loved. I would recommend these guys
www.hometales.co.uk