Process FAQ
How quickly can you start?
Site survey usually within 5 working days. Drawings to you 2-3 weeks after survey. Submission to council after your sign-off.
Site survey usually within 5 working days. Drawings to you 2-3 weeks after survey. Submission to council after your sign-off.
Survey visits are normally available within a week. Drawings follow in 14 to 20 working days for the Essentials and loft packages, and 20 to 28 working days for the Complete package covering planning and building regulations together.
Week one, the survey and existing drawings. Weeks two to four, proposed drawings and your review. Then submission, one to two weeks for validation, and eight weeks for determination. Building regulations run alongside, with a full plans application decided in five weeks.
For a permitted development scheme certified by a Lawful Development Certificate, the same eight-week determination applies but the outcome is far more predictable.
Waiting on decisions about the layout, which is the biggest single variable and entirely within your control. After that: an incomplete submission that fails validation, a neighbour objection that triggers a committee referral, and pre-commencement conditions that have to be discharged before work starts.
Party wall notices should be served while the drawings are being finalised — the notice periods are one month for a party structure notice and two months for an excavation notice, and serving late is the commonest cause of a delayed start.
Structural design can begin as soon as the layout is fixed, and the building regulations submission does not have to wait for the planning decision unless the scheme might materially change.
After the decision notice, after any pre-commencement conditions are discharged, after the building control application is in, and after the party wall notice periods have expired or awards are agreed. Skipping the last of those is what produces injunctions.
A worked Kensington and Chelsea example of how quickly can you start?: with 38 conservation areas — the Kensington Conservation Area and the Chelsea Conservation Area among the best known — Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC Planning) sees how quickly can you start? constantly, and an Article 4 direction is in force there, so permitted development cannot be assumed. Where how quickly can you start? pushes a Kensington and Chelsea scheme out of permitted development, the route becomes a £548 application decided in 8 weeks rather than a £249 prior approval in 6 weeks. is governed by the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, the GPDO 2015 and the Building Regulations 2010.
| Survey availability | Usually within a week |
|---|---|
| Essentials and loft drawings | 14–20 working days |
| Complete package | 20–28 working days |
| Planning determination | 8 weeks |
| Full plans building control | 5 weeks |
| Party wall notice | 1–2 months depending on section |
The drawing stage can be prioritised; the statutory periods cannot be shortened.
While the drawings are being finalised — the notice periods run in parallel.
No. They can run in parallel unless the scheme is likely to change materially.
Pick a slot that suits you. No obligation and no sales pressure, just straight answers on your planning route.
