Arkiplan or similar online drawings - any recomendations?

[Pabbles]

Hi everyone. This is my first post after my intro, so here goes.

 

We're completing on a new property in two weeks and we need to hit the ground running. The most urgent requirement is to build a large garage (as all our classic cars are going to be in storage at quite some cost until its complete).

 

I've designed exactly what I want and have drawn it all out, to scale, in TinkerCAD (a basic 3D CAD package, meant for kids, but does the job here) and we have been and marked out the ground with canes. It is being placed in the corner of a very large (>0.5 acre) garden, 2m from each boundary. The ridge height is 4m and the eaves are 2.5m from natural ground level and the footprint is very large at 12m x 9m. I believe this will fall under Permitted Development with Building regs, surprisingly given the scale, but I'm not counting my chickens on that until I have applied for a certificate of lawfulness. I have heard mention of buildings >30m2 automatically needing planning permission (in addition to building regs) in some areas but this isn't mentioned on any council planning documents I've seen so far.

 

I have two options:

 

1) Get a steel building with portal frame. This is easy - they do the designs for me and its quick to assemble. But where this used to be a cheap option, the quotes are coming back very high.

2) Build in block with steel rafters/roof beams. The steel beams are essential as I need to maximise the internal clear roof height under the ridge to let me install a car lift for maintenance, so traditional triangulated timber trusses are out.

 

I would really prefer rendered block walls rather than a steel construction, both aesthetically and from longevity. The steel building prices are coming in at such a level (£28k supplied insulated + £10k erection + £? groundworks/slab + VAT) that I feel it could be comparable to a single skin breezeblock built building with piers.

 

The problem is that I am in something of a catch-22. I can't get an accurate quotation from a builder (or if I split the works, from a groundworks firm, bricklayer, roofer and door/window supplier) without a set of drawings. Yes, I could use my childish 3D model to get a Certificate of Lawfulness and an outline quote, but I really need a firm price (plus contingency) before committing as the funds will need to be retained from my current place prior to completion.

 

So, what I'd like to do is to get some inexpensive drawings made to let me accurately quote up the block-built option.

 

I feel it would be overkill to employ an architect for such a simple construction - so would like to work with a technician to convert my sketch into a set of plans that could be used for quotation, planning and building controls.

 

My gut instinct (as no site visit is needed - the new garage being placed in the corner of an open, flat piece of land) is to use an online draftsperson to produce the plans as inexpensively as possible. The first one I've found that will generate a clear price is called ArkiPlan. From them the prices quoted are:

 

Planning drawings suitable for basic quote (including free local authority submission) - £799.

Full building regs drawings - £1049.

 

Just seeing if anyone knew of any alternative routes or a local (Cheshire East) one-person-band draftsperson? As I may end up backtracking and going with steel, I don't want to sink too much into the block building plans... but do want to be able to get detailed quotes (completely contradictory, I know).

 

Thank you very much.

Edited January 5, 2023 by Pabbles

[Pabbles]

in the end we used a local architect to produce some inexpensive outline plans, which were used for a block quote which was compared with steel buildings quotes and both were far higher than a lovely oak building - so we've gone with the latter which includes drawings from the designer.