the_r_sole

Generally you will have to have storage if you don't have a pond or suitable watercourse - the last one I did which was storage was 6000ltrs (you have to get building standards to consult with SFRS) and they were very specific about getting the correct valve specified on the stamped warrant drawings!

Tbh most of the time it's nothing to do with the actual project type, we've done a lot of building types over the years and have some very experienced staff but a lot of the time we try to look at whether it's actually worth doing, whether we can do it, and whether doing it is right for the business - being all things to all people isn't a good business strategy imo

We do, on a daily basis! If we can't add any value and our skills aren't needed or suitable we pass work on to others who might be a better fit

Our building regulation drawings will state the relevant regulations in the spec whereas the construction drawings will have specific products specified, building reg dims are generally internal room dims, construction are to structure, loads more details added for construction stage Sections for building regs will show a typical wall, we'd add more specific section details for construction Window/door details for construction would be updated for specific manufacturers once they've been selected detailed finish layouts, setting out etc internal elevations we have a lot of energy calcs to go with building regs drawings usually due to people wanting loads of glass, so that needs to go with the regs but there's zero point in showing that to a contractor. you could add all that to a building regs pack (sometimes when we're working with a self builder we'll do a building regs + set which gives a lot of that detail) but in our experience a building control officer only wants to see compliance, if you swamp them with information you make their job harder - clearly everything needs to comply with the regs but there's a point of "reasonable enquiry" to illustrate compliance. Different drawings for different purposes - when a planning drawing shows a timber clad wall, you wouldn't expect it to tell you the fixing details for it - it's an iterative process where you add more and more detail as you go - we recently did an application over in Ireland where the building regs set was 6 sheets and the tender set which then went on to construction was 38!

To show compliance with the building regulations, in a similar way that planning drawings show the information relevant to planning, building regulation drawings show information pertinent to building regulations - there is no other purpose for building regulation drawings. Construction drawings are used for construction - the name gives it away... There might be information which can be extrapolated from any set for construction purposes, but that isn't the intent of the drawing The point is, it can only be accurate at the time of the survey. Believe me when I say, lots of clients don't even want to pay for a single day to do a survey and draw it up. We have also seen times where we've done a survey for say a ground floor extension and only done a basic layout of the upper floor as it's not within the scope of our project, later the client will ask to make alterations on that level and not understand why we are saying we need to do a more detailed survey of the area...

Why should they? The drawings should have all of the relevant information to show compliance with the building regulations, that's it - yes you might be able to use them to get all the building components and build from, but that's not the purpose of the drawing My survey drawings would be as accurate as possible on site, but I'd be making loads of assumptions as to what wall build ups are, where floor levels might run through from room to room, how plumb walls are etc - once a building has started to be opened up you get more information so you shouldn't expect that the new state of the building is exactly as was measured when it was in a different state - if you had someone who could do a 100% accurate xray survey at the start of project before any design had been done, they'd be worth a fortune! We've even had point cloud surveys done which are mm perfect on projects and you still have to make assumptions on the bits you can't see! If your expectation is that nothing changes from drawings to site work and you can assume all the drawings are mm perfect, you end up in a scenario like the op - building work, especially extensions, isn't an exact science, there are too many variables for nothing to change from the start to the end of a project, if you understand and accept that you'll get a much better result at the end of the process

That's not a UK view, that's a very English view, Timber kit is by far the most common construction method in Scotland for domestic work - get an engineer that knows timber frame. It's a very small extension, but with all the complexities of a big one, so trying to get cheap quotes at the moment is probably very difficult, when there's so much work for builders at the moment, they're all taking the easy ones!

No matter the scenario, planning drawings, building regs drawings etc are not construction drawings - there may be enough information on them for a builder to take on to construction but that's not the purpose of those drawings. With any set of drawings they should however be as accurate as possible, but with existing buildings it's absolutely critical for a contractor to do a dimension check as they start to open things up. There should be notes on any drawings stating the purpose of the drawing and advising that all dimensions are site checked - no one would ever pay us to go and re-survey a property once it's been opened up and redo all the drawings, it has to be a coordinated effort to report any differences between the assumptions made at the initial survey and the reality on site (although 200mm is quite some way out!!)

you only need one accessible entrance, so no one will mind about the back door

don't bother with the garage, you're realistically never going to use it as a garage I wouldn't want the only wc down stairs to be through the kitchen, through the utility and through the garage, it's not really user friendly, I know you have one at the top of the stairs but what is granny going to do!?

Do you need the full 3 acres surveyed? Probably not - what you want is the house site and access surveyed as a minimum. "relatively flat" over site could still mean a reasonable change in levels

Have you tendered any projects in the last couple of years? Fixed price and better prices? Might be possible on paper but it's not reflected on the ground at all!

If you've highlighted it to the planning officer they will advise that you need to go back through the planning process - it will also mean you have no option at indemnity policies etc if you sell the house

makes as much sense as most refusals I've seen!

Submit the information to discharge the conditions, if they don't look at it timeously then that's not your fault.

If it's a new build, how have you go to this point so far? What's the constraints on the site and what's your brief? There's lots of decisions in this one which are hard to understand so maybe some more background would be useful for anyone making suggestions

I would still have a door at the top of the stairs into the kitchen/diner, you don't want your sitting room to be a corridor, especially on a rainy day when you're carrying shopping up the stairs and around the house, I don't think the stair position is very helpful in the layout, your coming up the stair to a pinch point facing the only private space with all the social spaces behind you. Is this an extension project with certain things in place already?

I usually have to talk clients out of too much glass... The approved elevations are miles better than the revised ones, although there might be other poor houses around that should be the bar - but the approved elevations are definitely hurting your application because there's more detail in them.

In an upside down house you really want to have a big, generous, stair, with a low pitch too

do you need an actual soffit board like that or could you just leave exposed rafter ends?

It looks less massive than your current proposal! If you look at the details in that design you can see how it looks better in the elevation, maybe it's just an exercise in drawing a proper elevation and making it look better without changing much

vitral used to do a nice looking one, been a while since I've looked at them right enough

get dew point analysis done, it's generally not a good idea to insulate both sides of anything as you'll trap moisture into the structure

there's no mention of overall U-value, it absolutely drives me crazy that window suppliers try to make their products look very energy efficient by showing only the glass u-values, you need to confirm the overall values before knowing if they are suitable and good value.

It's not a pretty elevation at all, can't imagine there's many areas that would fit in with! I would have a discussion with the planners first - there's 6 different window geometries on the front elevation, looks like it could be easily rationalised, the proportions of the walls around the windows is also very clunky looking, is this style something that you've asked for but isn't necessarily what the architect usually does? Strikes me as a bit off in terms of the detail and style...