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informing the council of work starting, what's next?


hallega

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Bit green regarding this issue, always done conversions rather than a new build.

OK. so we have to inform the council of starting work becasue of the CIL one month before anything is carried out.

Do I have to give them a set of building drawings? I intend to use a private company and not the council's recommended building control, can anyone advise me on the next move, it's really quite unclear what happens next.

Cheers everyone.

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You submit a CIL commencement note, not a BR note. Basically, you submit your Self Build exemption form, wait for a response from the council in writing, and then crack on. You don't need to tell them you have started.

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25 minutes ago, PeterW said:

You submit a CIL commencement note, not a BR note.

 

Must be different here (Scotland) as you are not supposed to start without getting the building warrant, ie the council has approved the building plans. 

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9 minutes ago, PeterW said:

@newhome agree however Scotland doesn't have a concept of non-LABC Building Control.

 

How do you know if the plans will be acceptable then if you start without someone agreeing or approving them? 

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59 minutes ago, newhome said:

 

How do you know if the plans will be acceptable then if you start without someone agreeing or approving them? 

 

English BRegs means you can either work on the basis of plans approval or using a Building Notice, which means you can start with 24 hours notice, and the inspector approves by stage. It is no cheaper, but it allows more rapid progress. The downside is that if the inspector spots something as you go, you could end up with costly rework - OK on an extension but wouldn't want to do that for a full new house build !

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3 hours ago, hallega said:

OK. so we have to inform the council of starting work becasue of the CIL one month before anything is carried out.

 

You mean you have sent them Forms 7 (part 1) and are about to sent Form 6...

https://www.planningportal.co.uk/info/200126/applications/70/community_infrastructure_levy/5

 

Make sure they have granted the exemption and you get some sort of acknowledgement that Form 6 has been received. Ideally I'd want both in writing before starting any work on site.

 

 

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We have been granted the exemption and I have the confirmation of this, I know I have to inform them that I am starting work and give them 1 months notice, it's the building regs I'm confused by, I have the structural engineers plan, do I need anything else?

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If you are using a private BCO they should tell the council BCO about the work. Speak to the private BCO you plan to use and ask him for a list of what he needs from you to get started.

 

I would recommend the going down the "Full plans" route which involves providing him with a set of construction drawings and other info and waiting for them to be approved before starting work. They will probably come back to you ask for additional information or questions on the drawings several times. If the approval process seems to be dragging out you can ask your private BCO if he will allow you to start work prior to him granting full approval. He may do that if he is only waiting for minor things to be resolved.

 

Depending on the site and how keen the BCO is he may want you to get some test holes dug to check the ground conditions and/or a percolation test to see if soakaways will work and how big they need to be.

 

Typically the next thing he will want to do after approving the drawings is inspect your foundation trenches before you pour concrete in them. Don't order concrete until he has done that inspection as he might see something he isn't happy with and tell you to dig deeper. The NHBC may also want to do an inspection at this stage.

 

Every time you have a meeting or visit from the BCO/NHBC I recommend making a list of any issues raised and what, if anything, they tell you to do about them. Before they leave ask at what stage you should call him back for the next inspection and how much notice they want (some BCO only want 24 hours notice). After they have left write them a letter/email listing the issues that were raised and confirming what you have agreed to do about them and finish by stating you will call him back for the next visit when you have reached the point agreed. 

 

You should consider the BCO a friend, so try and keep on their good side and they might get you out of a hole. Our BCO spotted that a window wasn't wide enough. It would have been a nightmare to fix as we have external oak framing. He allowed it provided we upgraded the fire rating of the door on that room and that was a lot easier than fixing the window. 

 

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Dear Temp, thank you so much for this detailed description it is much appreciated. Our "designer" wants £5000.00 for full plans, is this really neccessary, he mentioned that the finishes and the juctions between the different products used would look "shit" if we didn't have it done! Surely I can go elsewhere for less, it's difficult knowing exactly what full plans have on them, if we could see some we would know whether they were essential or not. Didn't realise that the BCO got in touch with the local BCO and then they got full approval, that's really helpful to know. cheers. 

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Who is your “designer”?, I am not a fan of architects generally (but I am sure there are some good ones out there, somewhere?). I designed our build but got an architect to put it on CAD and send to the council (I heard on the grapevine that our local planners don’t like people doing it themselves, plus I use pencil and paper ?) the architect, despite my pencil drawings got so many things wrong and charged me £1800, I wish I had done it myself. Architects tend to design what they want not necessarily what you want (and you are paying for it). Hunt around for a recommended architect or architectural technician. You will know when you meet a good one.

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 Joe 90 He's actually a Archtectural  technician, with my own plans (this query is for my daughters) I aslo drew them up myself on homebyme and then passed these onto a Cad operator who did them professionally to submit to the council, it cost me £3000.00 I was quote 30 thousand, 15 just to ask the council and then another 15 for the finished product to submit to the planning!

The costs never stop, I now have to submit plans for a soakaway and 100 year flood thingy even though I have had a house on this site for the past 50 years.....ludicrous!

Our structural engineer gave me access to the Cad darwings and I've been altering them ever since, if you never meet up with the Cad op you really are floundering around in the dark with e mails backwards and forwards and getting nowhere, no one but yourself knows exactly where the sun comes up and in what windows how you live in a property etc., they seem to have all their own ideas and really don't want to know anymoe else's thoughts do they!

 

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For a complicated project you might need TWO sets of drawing/documents...

 

Building Regs drawings: these provide information the BCO needs to be sure it will meet the regs. Plans will need to be to scale showing things like the interior layout, details of the foundations, cross sections through walls, calculations for structural elements (beams, roof members etc), calculations for insulation, drainage plan, specification for materials (example density of blocks).

 

Construction drawings: these tell a builder what/how to construct the building. They may be based on the building regs drawing plus others. For example they might specify a make of bricks, roof tiles, windows or provide a list of floor coverings or figures that you want the builder to use as place holders in the quote (eg for the kitchen units and appliances). The builder should base his quote on this drawing package. You might even pay a Quantity Surveyor to draw up an estimate for you based on the construction drawings to compare with the builders quotes.

 

Obviously you may not need construction drawings if you are planning to manage the build yourself or it's a simple project with no complications.

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