What we do
Householder work, start to finish.
Extensions, loft conversions and garden buildings for homeowners in Northampton and across the East Midlands — from working out what you are allowed to build, to the drawings that get it built.
Extensions & alterations
Single and two-storey, rear and side. We establish what the original house was before anything else, because that is what the permitted development limits are measured against — not what stands there today.
Loft conversions
Dormers, hip-to-gable and rooflights. The volume allowance is cumulative and the eaves setback catches more schemes than any other condition, so both get settled before the design is fixed.
Garden rooms & outbuildings
Home offices, studios and workshops. The dimensional limits are straightforward; the test that decides most disputes is whether the use is genuinely incidental to the house.
Planning & lawful development
Whether you need permission, and the certificate that proves you did not. Certificates are refused more often for imprecise drawings than for breached limits.
Surveys & BIM models
An accurate model of what is already there. Everything downstream — the volume calculation, the compliance check, the building control package — is only as good as this.
Building regulations
Technical drawings and specification for building control: construction details, wall build-ups, and drawings annotated to the clause rather than to a general impression.
Visualisation
Modelled, so you can see it.
Everything is modelled, so 3D views come out of the model as standard and are included in the fee.
Photoreal renders — materials, lighting, something closer to a photograph — are quoted separately as a fixed fee agreed before we start. Either way they are there to help you picture the finished thing and settle a decision: they are not a specification, and not a promise about materials, colour or light. Most householder projects do not need the photoreal version, and we will say so if yours does not.
Scope
What we don’t do.
We would rather tell you now than at the point it holds your project up.
We do not carry out structural calculations, act as a party wall surveyor, or provide services reserved to registered architects. We do not inspect construction on site or administer building contracts.
Where your project needs one of those, we say so early and tell you what to look for. We do not take a commission for a referral.
How it runs
Four stages, priced separately.
You do not have to take all of it. Some clients want drawings for an application only; others want the whole route through to building control. Each stage is quoted as a fixed fee in writing before it starts.
Your project
Tell us what you want to build.
Send photographs, the address and a description. You get a written view of what looks likely, which route applies, and what would need checking properly before you spend anything.