PP granted. What next?

[patp]

The plans that gained us permission were ones that the architect designed himself for that purpose. At first we were not going to live in the bungalow but the planners asked us to move it from beside our house to behind our house, a much better position,  so now we are going to build it for ourselves rather than sell it. This means that we want some things changed to suit us.

These things are - Moving the driveway to the other side of the existing house making use of a farm track that we have shared use of, changing the orientation of the bungalow to take more advantage of a South and West facing aspect. Moving the room order around for the same reason i.e. so that the living area gets the most light and so that we have a boot room that is accessed immediately from the outside rather than off the hall etc.

Is this going to add to our costs much? We realise that we will have to ask permission of the planning department for these changes.

 

When do we dispense with the services of the architect? Chris, my husband, can work from plans. We are thinking of employing trades such as brickies ourselves. Chris can do most things (knees allowing). He is, however, getting on a bit so would laying a floor be a huge job physically? Would brickies lay a floor or is it the job of a plasterer. He is going to treat himself to a mini digger/tractor which he is probably more excited about than anything else!

 

Have others found it difficult to find tradesmen? We hear on the grapevine that they are like gold dust. How far in advance should we be booking them and which ones first?

 

I have to add that these are all my worries. Chris is not phased by any of it but he is not a planner. He waits for things to go wrong and then reacts. I want to be ahead of the game if I can.

[scottishjohn]

you start off by saying you have PP,but now want to change it 

so the answer to your question about architect   is keep him on side to make the alterations to planning  you require  as he will know better than you ,or should what they will allow .

  and until all this is sorted you will need architect and maybe a structural engineer at some point,depending on changes you wish to make .

your architect will be the man to ask about  planning the trades  and in what order  ,he might even know of local good trades

[Carrerahill]

4 hours ago, patp said:

The plans that gained us permission were ones that the architect designed himself for that purpose. At first we were not going to live in the bungalow but the planners asked us to move it from beside our house to behind our house, a much better position,  so now we are going to build it for ourselves rather than sell it. This means that we want some things changed to suit us.

These things are - Moving the driveway to the other side of the existing house making use of a farm track that we have shared use of, changing the orientation of the bungalow to take more advantage of a South and West facing aspect. Moving the room order around for the same reason i.e. so that the living area gets the most light and so that we have a boot room that is accessed immediately from the outside rather than off the hall etc.

Is this going to add to our costs much? We realise that we will have to ask permission of the planning department for these changes.

 

When do we dispense with the services of the architect? Chris, my husband, can work from plans. We are thinking of employing trades such as brickies ourselves. Chris can do most things (knees allowing). He is, however, getting on a bit so would laying a floor be a huge job physically? Would brickies lay a floor or is it the job of a plasterer. He is going to treat himself to a mini digger/tractor which he is probably more excited about than anything else!

 

Have others found it difficult to find tradesmen? We hear on the grapevine that they are like gold dust. How far in advance should we be booking them and which ones first?

 

I have to add that these are all my worries. Chris is not phased by any of it but he is not a planner. He waits for things to go wrong and then reacts. I want to be ahead of the game if I can.

First of all, keep your architect for now, it sounds like you need him A, for his knowledge and B, because he will have all your CAD drawings, and unless you have these in dwg format and and a copy of ACAD and can work ACAD software who is going to draw it all up for you? You could get a draughtsman to look at it or an architectural technician but to be honest I would just keep your architect for his professional services here and he may not give you the ACAD drawings in DWG format anyway. People are often all to quick to dump the architects and designers and consultant engineers then something ends up badly detailed or doesn't coordinate onsite and it ends up costing you more than the fee of the service to put it right.

 

As for planning, I think your proposals may be beyond a variation, you may need to resubmit. I would speak to the architect or your appointed planning officer and ask them. 

 

On your comment re. trades who would lay floors, I am confused, as to what type of floor you mean, the sub-floor? the concrete slab? the finished floor? Brickies put up walls, plasterers plaster and render walls. Depending on what you need you either need concrete workers, joiners or a flooring contractor for the floor. Again not knowing what what you mean I cannot comment on hos arduous it is, but if Chris has bad knee's I would suggest he stays clear of any flooring actives as much of it involves being on your knee's!

 

What type of build are you putting up, block, ICF, timber frame etc. etc.

 

 

Edited April 12, 2019 by Carrerahill

[patp]

Thanks for the response. We weren't planning on any moves away from the architect until all the plans are submitted and approved. It is just that I see some people consult them all the way through and thought that this might not be necessary?

 

It is a traditional brick built bungalow so I would imagine it will have a solid floor or, perhaps a wooden one?  Architect is coming next week to discuss our options. It was a complete surprise that it would be positioned where it is so we did not get too involved in the initial plans. When the Planning Officer suggested it be moved behind our house we were amazed and the architect just used the same drawing but re positioned it. In hindsight we might have suggested a few changes then but were amazed at what the planning officer suggested!