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Building Control Cost

Barney12

By Barney12
in Building Regulations

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Barney12 Advanced Member

Barney12

Posted
Posted

I've just received my quote from my local council building control.

·        Issue of a Decision for Full Plans Applications

·        Full site inspection service

·        The issue of a completion certificate

All for £725 inc VAT.

 

I don't know what I was expecting but it was much cheaper than I had envisaged.

 

 

ragg987 Regular Member

ragg987

Posted
Posted

I added it to my warranty with Self Build zone, it was a bit over £200 on top of warranty cost. The inspector's visits covered both aspects. Tip from my Architect. A stand-alone quote for BC (private, not council) was about £1,000 (from memory, which is not the greatest at this point).

Jeremy Harris Advanced Member

Jeremy Harris

Posted
Posted

Seems prices have risen!  I think we paid under £500, for the lot.  IIRC it was £485, and that was with our LABC, a full plans submission, with four or five inspections, including the completion inspection and certificate.

dogman Regular Member

dogman

Posted
Posted

Number of Dwellings   Full Plans Plan Charge      Full Plans Inspection Charge           Building Notice Charge
1                                  £366.00                             £549.00                                            £1006.00
 

Might go with full plans and hope they are quick as my start date is pencilled in as 6th March

ProDave Advanced Member

ProDave

Posted
Posted

Building warrant in Scotland is slightly different (and more expensive) it's based on the value of the building work, so I guess Jamie convinced them it would be a lot lower than they thought it would be.
 

TerryE Advanced Member

TerryE

Posted
Posted

Ours was ~£450 IIRC and that was from a private firm, JHAI. The government changed the rules some time ago so firms like JHAI are licensed to carry out building control and most of their inspectors are ex-Local Authority inspectors.  Based on a sample of one, I'd go with a private every time.  Our inspector has been ever so helpful, and not an irrational pain in the arse as is the case with the planners and planning enforcement.

Stones Advanced Member

Stones

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, ProDave said:

Building warrant in Scotland is slightly different (and more expensive) it's based on the value of the building work, so I guess Jamie convinced them it would be a lot lower than they thought it would be.
 

 

Nearly £1500 for us...

PeterW Advanced Member

PeterW

Posted
Posted

£900 for ours but it's part of the warranty. If I had taken just the warranty then that goes up by £550 so the BC is effectively £350...

Stones Advanced Member

Stones

Posted
Posted

We (in Scotland) don't have any choice but to use local authority building control.  The price differential being referred to in this thread is really quite astonishing. 

Tennentslager Advanced Member

Tennentslager

Posted
Posted
6 minutes ago, Stones said:

We (in Scotland) don't have any choice but to use local authority building control.  The price differential being referred to in this thread is really quite astonishing. 

It is different but I've a different thought...is there any other regulatory LA function that's outsourced? Seems like a straightforward conflict of interest to me. BC should have no contractual relationship with the subjects of their *independent* inspection and approval function.

 

jamiehamy Advanced Member

jamiehamy

Posted
Posted
36 minutes ago, Stones said:

We (in Scotland) don't have any choice but to use local authority building control.  The price differential being referred to in this thread is really quite astonishing. 

I couldn't believe how much they charged. And whilst our BCO has been really helpful and supportive thus far,  I've not idea where the fee goes,or why cost of build bears any relevance. I did 'negotiate'  our fee and my argument was accepted but I still wanted lower. The argument was that whilst our labour was 'free',  from a BC fee perspective a value had to be put against it. 

Tennentslager Advanced Member

Tennentslager

Posted
Posted

My last MOT cost less than £30=property regulated and comprehensive...yes?

Trust it, yes. Try getting the range of calibrated testing anywhere else in the world for that price. Likewise BC...is it so...soo expensive given what you are getting? Can you trust the results?

I'd say it's a subsided service and if property costed would be much more expensive than the charged cost.

jamiehamy Advanced Member

jamiehamy

Posted
Posted

But I don't see the value-ad @Tennentslager. Floor design - signed and certified off by SE. Walls - SE. Roof - SE+architect. Windows - relying on me making sure they are the right standard. Electrics - certified by Spark. Plumbing? Cylinder connected and approved by plumber. Drains test? Involves me doing it and the BCO standing watching for a few minutes until he gets fed up watching. 

 

Okay, so I'm getting my house approved in the end - but I feel it's a tick box exercise - everyone else did the work and checking. It's not £1500 worth imo. 

 

But you're right about MOT - tremendous value for money. As is road tax - £245 for access to tens of thousands of miles of road. I never grudge my RFL! But then - I love driving. 

 

 

  • 2 months later...
Incipiens Mox Member

Incipiens Mox

Posted
Posted

My structural engineer has recommended using a private contractor for the Building Regs mainly because they respond much faster than the local authority. The quote came back at £2,100 which compared to the plan and inspection service that the LE are offering for just under £800, seems pretty steep.

True, the LE have quoted 3-8 weeks turnaround to check the plan but as my build is not likely to start for quite sometime I'm not too bothered by the delay. Are there other considerations than cost though? Might it be a false economy to go with the LE in the long run?

PeterW Advanced Member

PeterW

Posted
Posted

Paying £900 but that is also subsidising the cost of the warranty (£1400) inspections so £2300 all in.

 

And they are very good !

Jeremy Harris Advanced Member

Jeremy Harris

Posted
Posted

Our Local Authority Building Control were great, very helpful, responded very quickly to questions and were good value.  I guess there will be regional performance variations, but that may well be the same with the private building control providers, too.  Over £2k sounds exceptionally expensive to me.

Redoctober Regular Member

Redoctober

Posted
Posted
On 03/02/2017 at 18:59, Stones said:

 

Nearly £1500 for us...

 

On 03/02/2017 at 19:31, Stones said:

We (in Scotland) don't have any choice but to use local authority building control.  The price differential being referred to in this thread is really quite astonishing. 

 

Also in Scotland - paid £1480.

 

PW.

Ferdinand Advanced Member

Ferdinand

Posted
Posted (edited)
On 03/02/2017 at 19:31, Stones said:

We (in Scotland) don't have any choice but to use local authority building control.  The price differential being referred to in this thread is really quite astonishing. 

 

Is it not the case that Architects and others  in Scotland can certify their own building design by being on the Register of Approved Certifiers for Building Structures?

 

see http://www.certificationregister.co.uk/ApprovedBody?SchemeTypeId=1&SchemeId=SC001&LocalAuthorityId=5&Postcode=&SearchButton=Search&test=

 

I do do not understand the scope and overlaps but it seems to be a Competent Persons type self-approval scheme applied to Design. That seems to me to be a subset of the English BCO approval setup, and a partial choice.

 

Edited by Ferdinand

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