I am going to do my own loft conversion - Building Notice vs Full plans?

[Jammydodger77]

Thank you, in my previous comments to him I did say that I'm happy to deal with with BC, so I don't think that includes him submitting the application. Is it a lot of extra time for him to do that if I ask? I guess he will be used to it unlike myself!

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

I would expect him to submit to Building Control and liaise with them if they have any queries, otherwise you'll be paying him extra to make any amendments if necessary. It's not much extra work, only an hour or sop and he should take it on the chin if he needs to make any changes to get the plan approval.

Will he be liaising with the structural engineer and arranging their quotes/appointment on your behalf? He should be incorporating their details/beam sizes etc into his own drawings.

You can ask to see what he does for a Building Regs application, you don't want to end up with some basic plans and sections with some generic notes he's cut and pasted from the last loft job, he should include a sheet of key details.

Presumably that doesn't include the Local Authority fee?

 

[Jammydodger77]

Thanks fmt, no doesn't include the LA fees. I've already got all my calculations from the structural engineer, so I'm good to go on that side of things. I'll clarify that the drawings are proper working drawings with the details incorporated etc. Thanks for your advice, super appreciated!

EDIT: If BC have any queries, surely he would have to sort the plans accordingly as he was paid to draw compliant plans to start with? I don't have an issue with liasing with them myself as I'm fairly confident (and flexible) on the building side of things, so I'm wondering if is really is better to have the him do this?

 

[Jammydodger77]

As a side note, you guys on this forum are bloody great. Very helpful and friendly. I've often avoided forums as you can get a lot of snide comments, people arguing for no reason! So, thanks again for all the advice, much appreciated!

 

[robinbanks]

If BC have any queries, surely he would have to sort the plans accordingly as he was paid to draw compliant plans to start with?

Indeed, that's the job; you don't ring up Ford and buy a car, then a month later they deliver you a transit van with a missing wheel

Your architect will have spent a lot of time in his career back and forthing with BC departments; they'll have enough experience to make very few decisions BC disagree with/need to amend

 

[Jammydodger77]

Thank you, yes that's what I thought. I was confused when fmt said about paying extra for amendments

 

[mikeey84]

people arguing for no reason

There's plenty of that in certain sections of the forum!

 

[Jammydodger77]

There's plenty of that in certain sections of the forum!

Haha, I'll avoid those then

 

[Wolfhere]

One thing that hasn't been mentioned is with the new building control system following the Building Safety Act you have to have a Principal Designer and a Principal Contractor.
It sounds like you can do the PC role but you should make sure your plan drawer is taking on the PD role.

 

[Jammydodger77]

One thing that hasn't been mentioned is with the new building control system following the Building Safety Act you have to have a Principal Designer and a Principal Contractor.
It sounds like you can do the PC role but you should make sure your plan drawer is taking on the PD role.

Thanks for that, he is going to submit the application for me so I'll presume he will do so, hopefully the council don't moan too much if he doesn't. I'll have to take that role if so