The inspection stages and technical areas that shape an extension programme and its cost.
Extensions are assessed under building regulations regardless of whether planning permission is required. It is a staged process with inspections at defined points.
Understanding those stages helps you read a build programme and spot a quote that has skipped something important.
Building control will look at, among others:
Typically: excavation before concrete, foundations, damp-proof course and oversite, drainage before covering, structural elements, insulation before closing up, and a final completion inspection. Each stage has to be booked, and skipped stages cause delays later.
The completion certificate, electrical certification and any structural calculations are what a future buyer's solicitor will ask for. Store them with your deeds.
We'll be straight with you about scope, sequence and what the regulations require.
Yes, entirely. Some extensions are permitted development and still require full building regulations approval.
Normally the contractor or your appointed agent, but confirm in writing who is responsible before work starts.
We carry out extension work and are also frequently engaged for the glazing package on someone else's build. Either is fine — tell us which you need.