Building Control, what is this?

We are independent Surveyors here to help with all your property issues

If you need help and advice with regard to structural surveys, building surveys, engineers reports, defects reports, including things such as cracking, dampness, condensation, foundation problems, etc., please free phone 0800 298 5424 for a friendly chat.

Compare our comprehensive Building Surveys but don't compare Apples with Thursdays

If you require a Building Survey or a Structural Survey on a home, house or commercial property we believe as Building Surveyors we have a wealth of experience and knowledge that we can utilise to help you.

We are more than happy to send you examples of our Surveys that we have carried out on comparable properties to yours and pretty much have always carried out a survey on similar property to the one that you are looking at while we do appreciate that all properties are unique.

We truly believe that you should see what you are getting in the form of an example Survey before you purchase a property. What is more is that we are so confident with our higher than average standards that we believe that there is no other comparable survey available in the UK property and surveying market.

Our Executive Summaries make things simple, clear and easy to understand

Our Good, Bad & Ugly Surveys! In addition we would also like to introduce to you what we entitle our Good, Bad and Ugly survey which is a building survey, sometimes known as a structural survey, and is something that we have developed over many years, in fact several decades. We have listened to feedback from our clients and amended and altered our building surveys to make them easy to read and describe issues plainly. The key factor we believe is that our surveys are easy to understand in plain English.

Rear extension

Numerous photographs and surveying sketches

We include throughout our survey reports to make them as understandable as possible many photographs and surveying sketches. Whilst the emphasis will at all times be on encapsulating the Good, Bad and Ugly within our Executive Summary section words are enhanced with photographs from a very powerful optical zoom camera. We also have our own unique set of survey sketches to make the property problem crystal clear. We literally have commissioned hundreds of our own survey sketches developed over many years depicting property issues.

Extension to house

Property database

We have our own property database known as XHouse which helps us identify the typical problems that are present in every era of property. The property database is designed around the age, type and style of the property and we have literally been building this database for over a decade. Again this property database is unique to our Building Surveyors.
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What do the circles and ovals mean in our building surveys?

In our building surveys and structural surveys the circles and ovals are a system that we used to highlight property problem areas so that you are not left wondering what the property problem is. In addition to this if the survey photographs do not we believe explain the property problem enough together with our survey report we also add in one of our own survey sketches.
	Black mould to walls

Why have an independent building survey?

We always recommend having an independent building survey as this will bring to light any property problems. Caveat emptor means buyer beware and is why you need to have a building survey to find out if there are any problems within the property; the estate agent surely will not advise you of any.

Consider the building Surveyor that you employ will be the only person working for you with your interests at heart.

Planning Permission and Building Regulations

When you have your building, albeit a house or commercial property, amended and altered you are normally required to meet various requirements that the local authority have in place via Planning Permissions and Building Regulations. Probably the only thing that will stand the test of time to say about Planning and Build Regulations is that they change and evolve over time.

In general we would define Planning Permission as;

Planning Permission looks at the aesthetics and how this is appropriate for the area with such things as additional windows at the gable end.

Building Regulations and Building Control as; Building Regulations looks at the safety and the standard of building such as the adding in of the structural steels and the windows.
	I beams added to roof structure

How do we get in contact with Local Authorities with regard to Planning and Build Regulations?

You can use a search engine to find your Local Authority and Planning Permissions and Building Regulations department. In our experience as Independent Surveyors they all have direct phone numbers and tend to have technical and non- technical people answering the phones depending upon how detailed your questions are.
	Adding ventilation to roof space

Do we need to pay for this service?

Yes there is a fee for both Planning Permission and Building Regulation services. This is generally based upon the cost of the work that you are carrying out.

Will we get fined or get into trouble if we have carried out building work without contacting them?

It is possible depending upon the extent of the work carried out but on the whole we have found Planning Permission and Building Regulations / Control very reasonable and they look to help you to find a solution, especially where you have not caused the problem.

We have, over the years as independent Building Surveyors, been involved with loft conversions that have been carried out without permission, extensions that have been built on other people's land, extensions that have not been built to Building Regulations and indeed in some cases where the Builder did not know what Building Regulations was!

Obviously the Local Authority Planning Permission, Building Control and their private equivalents do not encourage you to carry out building work without seeking permission and some would say they actively discourage you.

Are there other permissions that we need to seek?

Can you arrange this for us?

Yes as part of a project we would be more than happy to organise all of this and all you have to do is sit back and let us do the work as we are experienced and knowledgeable independent Surveyors.

We highly recommend you always make sure when you have a survey your meet your Surveyor at the property.

We are happy to email you examples of our structural surveys

If you are interested in having a Structural Survey we can email you examples of our structural surveys please call us on free phone us for a friendly chat on 0800 298 5424.

We would also be happy to email you some examples of our tailor made reports, Schedules of Condition, Structural Surveys and Property Reports. We can send you examples of Structural Surveys on, we believe, every type of property and era. Property eras are most typically Tudor and Elizabethan, Georgian and Regency, Victorian and Edwardian, War Years, Post War Years, Modern and New.

We have example surveys of every type of commercial property including shops, offices, industrial buildings, leisure buildings such as pubs, sports centres, places of worship and institutional buildings.

Independent Surveyor Advice

If you have a commercial property, be it leasehold or freehold, then you may wish to look at our Dilapidations Website at   www.DilapsHelp.com   and for Disputes go to our Disputes Help site   www.DisputesHelp.com   .