Planning Consultant Fees

[Thorfun]

afternoon all,

 

just a quick question to see if anyone knows the going rate for a planning consultant? I've had an hourly rate from one and would like to know how it compares. Based in South East England as I'm sure that will make a difference.

 

tia.

[Russell griffiths]

Ours was about £75 hour, all in they had about £4000 from us, worth every penny in my case. 

[Tom]

Ours was close to double that (in the south west) and was frigging useless. Prefer not to think about the thousands...

Reminds me, final invoice for 2k due, groan

[Thorfun]

thanks guys. interesting difference in costs! ours is around twice what @Russell griffiths paid but he's offered us a fixed fee that seems pretty reasonable compared to the amounts you both paid. I just need to confirm what is included in the fixed fee as if it's everything including any potential appeal then it's a bargain. I guess the fixed fee is just a simple insurance policy to cover us in case things overrun. 

 

also, a fixed fee would incentivise the consultant to get the job to resolution quicker I guess? although, that could go the other way and once the fixed fee becomes less that he'd earn hourly would he then put the work in?

 

it's all a lottery and a gamble! I'll just have to roll the dice and see what numbers come up.

[Big Jimbo]

One of my local blokes wanted £1500 just to look at it.......

[Thorfun]

4 minutes ago, Big Jimbo said:

One of my local blokes wanted £1500 just to look at it.......

 

I assume he didn't get the job then! 

[Big Jimbo]

Just now, Thorfun said:

 

I assume he didn't get the job then! 

No.

[dpmiller]

Our guy discounted heavily off his standard rate as there was loads of waiting time and not so much doing.

[Thorfun]

1 minute ago, dpmiller said:

Our guy discounted heavily off his standard rate as there was loads of waiting time and not so much doing.

 

was that standard rate near @Russell griffiths's rate or @Tom's?

 

I think this is what this guy has done as his fixed fee works out at just over 7hrs of work at his hourly rate. I don't know how long it'll all take as that depends on the length of the piece of string the planning officer is using but from what @Russell griffiths said his total costs were that's a lot more than 7hrs of work!

[dpmiller]

yep, kinda like @Russell griffiths IIRC. Can't put my finger on the invoice just at the moment.

[AliMcLeod]

26 minutes ago, Thorfun said:

also, a fixed fee would incentivise the consultant to get the job to resolution quicker I guess? although, that could go the other way and once the fixed fee becomes less that he'd earn hourly would he then put the work in?

 

I wonder if anyone has ever managed to get their consultant do as results-based costing. ie. Get the planning through, get a bonus, don't get it through, the fee is less.

[dpmiller]

...just found our invoice. £100/ hr, but at the end of the day (including fees for mapping and some additional printing and stuff) less than two grand total.

[Ferdinand]

44 minutes ago, Thorfun said:

 

was that standard rate near @Russell griffiths's rate or @Tom's?

 

I think this is what this guy has done as his fixed fee works out at just over 7hrs of work at his hourly rate. I don't know how long it'll all take as that depends on the length of the piece of string the planning officer is using but from what @Russell griffiths said his total costs were that's a lot more than 7hrs of work!

 

Make sure you are clear about the end point plus a washup included.

 

Mine was up to the Planning App decision notice, though I got some feedback at the end.

 

I had agreed that an Appeal would also be handled, which we needed and won.

 

3 hours ago, Thorfun said:

just a quick question to see if anyone knows the going rate for a planning consultant? I've had an hourly rate from one and would like to know how it compares. Based in South East England as I'm sure that will make a difference.

 

I would place hourly rates as incredibly variable, depending on whether the PC is in Short Trousers or really wants the job, or is more like a Senior Consultant / PMer of a team.

 

I would say anything between £30 and hour and £250 an hour.

 

Mine was at a level where he routinely testified in High Court hearings, so chosen to be able to make a complex argument successfully, from experience in winning similar apps in the same area.

 

57 minutes ago, Big Jimbo said:

One of my local blokes wanted £1500 just to look at it.......

 

I would expect any professional to do an initial meeting / assessment in order to be able to quote. I got a phone call plus digesting documents plus an hour of conversation from mine before we made a decision. What you get depends on what you ask for, and how well prepared you are. You should probably get digesting whatever matrial and questions you send through plus a meeting, at which you get to ask more. Plus possibly a followup phone call.

 

39 minutes ago, AliMcLeod said:

I wonder if anyone has ever managed to get their consultant do as results-based costing. ie. Get the planning through, get a bonus, don't get it through, the fee is less.

 

Mine had standard terms which included a "x% of the value uplift" (x <5) success fee as a standard feature. Also was amenable to a degree of risk sharing which would reduce his fee, which was one of my day 1 queries - I did not use that in the end. The total fee was 10k+, plus the bonus. That does not include the fees for all the other 7 or 8 consultants, from SUDS draft design to a chap who did a Visual Impact study (perambulate around the horizon and viewpoints taking photos then report).

 

However, you need to appreciate that my project was to get Outline Permission on a smallholding to sell to a developer. The PC provided contacts for the team to do all the aspects of the project, as used on previous projects, and PMed all of the application submission -s o it would be a number of weeks of work.

Ferdinand

 

Edited April 27, 2020 by Ferdinand

[Red Kite]

Ours had a £1000 uplift if we won the appeal - we did  so it seemed well  worth the extra - I think the appeal fee was about  2,5k 

 

 

[Bluebaron]

Just reviving this old topic. 
 

I’ve recently had a refusal for a 4 bed house. Main reasons were not submitting a tree/water report, two small errors on the plans and a very general note saying my proposal was “cramped and overbearing”. 

im pretty sure I can resubmit with the corrections myself but my designer has recommended a planning consultant at a cost of £3200+vat.  Now I have no doubt this guy is very qualified and will get me across the line but the resubmission does seem very straightforward.

 

i basically have a report from my refusal and a nod from the planning department that all I need to is correct the errors on the original application.

 

Am I being cheap here or maybe over confident? Should I stump up the £4000 and let someone else take the strain?  
 

someone did suggest ask for a review of my planned resubmission for an hourly rate (£300?).

 

thoughts?

 

[Big Jimbo]

To be totally honest, there is no doubt that my planning consultant added value to my application with his design and access statement. However, in truth my wife and I wrote most of it, and we were not very happy, and felt it was a bit lightweight.

Where the consultant really came into his own, was responding to the 27 page objection that my delightful neighbour had a planning consultant prepare and submit on her behalf. 

Reading the objection, you would think I had no hope, but my blokes Cambridge education ment he responded elequently, shredding the objection, and any planning points made. He led the planning officer to the conclusion that the application could be, nothing other than passed. This is where I think the value, and his fee was so valuable. Although waiting for my S106 agreement, I have had a verbal Yes, from the head of planning. 

Other than the "small errors" you describe, I think you will need to address the, cramped and overbearing comment made by the planning officer. If that hadn't been a problem, I think you are more likely to have got a call saying "agree an extension of time, get me the couple of bits of missing info, and I'll get that written up for you"

In my opinion, you will be making a big mistake, if your new application does not address the cramped, and overbearing comment. It allows for your application to be refused again, for exactly the same reason. 

[Spinny]

I'd have thought the architect should assist.

[LnP]

I know some people use their architect, but you'll pay either way. If there's anything at all tricky about your application (conservation area, objections from neighbours, challenging configuration ...), my view is that you're better off using someone with the correct core skills, a consultant town planner. Ours used to be head of development and control at our LA. You can find suitable local ones from the RTPI web site and get quotes. The one we're using has a fixed fee for the preparation and submission of the planning application and that covers dealing with whatever issues arise. When we started with our application (2021 and not done yet 🫤) it was £2160. Ours has dragged on so long and taken so many turns I actually told him he needed to invoice us for more money - he hasn't.

 

He's also been useful in providing references for other professional services, e.g. ecologists for the bat survey, BNG etc. Useful as he knows which ones are "helpful" and which ones to avoid...

[Bluebaron]

Thanks, 

 

I wouldn’t say there was anything tricky about it. The designer made a few errors on the plans and dropped the ball responding to the lpa. 
 

The main issue was the comment  “overbearing”. I was considering going to a 3 bed but this will cost me more as the roof redesign will be complex . The value here will be if the consultant can get the house over the line as is. Then he has earned his fee I guess. 
 

 

[AshleyFae]

It's definitely a balancing act in terms of risk and complexity of what you're doing, IMO. I recently had to submit an application to vary conditions (S73). For us it wasn't complicated, but it was high risk. Quotes to have someone fully do it for us were over £1k, which felt too expensive for what we were doing. 

 

In the end we did this:

 

1. Scoured the planning portal for similar applications to get a sense of what documents were included, what their planning statements looked like, etc.
2. Put together a first draft.
3. Fed ChatGPT the research we gathered to give it a sense of style / wording to emulate (for the planning statement). Then gave it our draft and asked it to make revisions. This just made the wording sound a lot more professional.
4. Then hired a consultant and paid £150 to have them "sanity check" our application (rather than doing the whole thing themselves).
   1. Additionally a second consultant actually just took a look for free. I'm sure if he found issues with it he then would have started to charge us to revise.
5. Then we submitted and managed the actual application ourselves.

I think the lesson there is it's a lot cheaper to ask a consultant for a sanity check vs having them do the entire work for you.

[Bluebaron]

as a follow up.

 

The planning consultant has agreed to drop his fee to £3300 (inc vat). He has stated that he is  confident he can get the original plan over the line (no guarantee`of course). This will save me a lot as the build cost with changes would be high due to more complex roof and also going from 3-4 bed.

 

Its always a gamble but lets see how i get on. Thanks for input.