General Building
Being property owners and managing a large portfolio, in addition to carrying out our own development projects we have become experienced and developed an understanding for individual requirements and expectations. As well as offering constructive, friendly and impartial advice we are in a position to provide and offer a range of general building services to our clients within the Home Counties.
We aim to provide the best quality service possible, and with our own reputation to consider you can count on honesty, integrity and reliability with delivery on time and on budget.
Services overview:
• General Building (New Builds, Extensions, Conversions & Renovations)
• Home Improvements
• General Maintenance & Repairs
• Brickwork, Paving & Landscaping
• Plumbing, Heating & Electrical
If you are interested in obtaining our services, please do not hesitate to contact us and we will be happy to provide you with a free no obligation estimate or quote for any job big or small.
Project Support
Making the decision to renovate, extend or build a property is just the first step in what could often be a daunting task for an inexperienced person. Many people don’t usually know where to start with having plans drawn, applying for planning permission or budgeting for a building project.
If you are thinking about carrying out your own project and need some friendly advice and support, why not get in contact with us. Having gained vast knowledge of all aspects of building and construction we have access to experienced professionals and consultants that can assist are gear you in the right direction from start to finish.
Services
Stage One
Following an initial site visit and consultation, general advice on the feasibility and estimated cost of a project can be provided and provisional sketches can be drawn for your consideration and discussion. Advice can also be provided on potential and foreseeable planning problems that may arise and how they could be overcome. General ideas and suggestions can also be provided that may not yet been considered - such as how you can achieve a better and larger living space, or how you can add value to your property. Furthermore, at this early stage advice can be provided if there is a possibility under extraordinary circumstances where planning permission would be turned down outright, for example this may include inappropriate change of use (often in the case of farm land) or if your property is in a designated Area of Outstanding Beauty.
Stage Two
Prior to commencing the project for the building work, suitable architectural drawings need to be drawn to provide information for building companies to follow and also for a planning application submission for building consent to your Local Authority Building Control (LABC). During this stage, and depending on the project type, it will be necessary to deploy the services of a various professional bodies to assist with compiling the application to provide specific information:
Structural Calculations - required to ensure that the specification which will be submitted to the LABC with the Building Notice is fully compliant.
Topographical Surveys - are used to map the shape, form and features of a site and are used to provide information such as ...
Boundary features details
Surface changes and ground levels
Physical structures
Trees and vegetation
Drainage details
Environmental
Air Quality, Noise Impact & Energy Surveys– to determine the viability of a development, various pre-planning assessments are required to enable planning authorities to consider the environmental impacts of the proposal in full.
Archeological Briefs –This requirement is often applied by planning authorities or statutory agencies where there is potential for archaeological remains to be disturbed by a development.
Ecology Surveys - Local Authorities are required to base decisions on up-to-date baseline information about the environmental characteristics of an area, including the presence of, or potential for, protected species of wildlife or their habitats
Arboricultural Surveys - Tree Preservation Orders (TPO’s) will not prevent planning permission being granted for development. However, the planning authorities will take the presence of TPO trees into account when reaching their decision.
Useful information
Rear single storey extension A single story extension could be built without planning permission under permitted development if the following criteria are met.
1. The proposed house extension should not project more than 3 metres from the rear face of the original house on terraced or semi-detached properties and no more than 4 metres for detached properties.
2. The maximum height of the extension should not be greater than 4 metres;
3. The proposed house extension should not cover more than 50% of the land around the ‘original’ house;
4. The proposed extension should not be forward of the principal elevation or side elevation;
5. If the extension is within 2 metres of a boundary, the eaves height should not be greater than 3 metres;
Stage Three
Once Planning Permission has been granted you can choose how you wish to proceed. If you would like Chiplime to carry out the work and manage the project we will plan a suitable scheme of work and agree on the project cost, these would have been identified and discussed at the preliminary stages and by the time you reach this stage you will have already developed a good working relationship with us. However, if you require only the first two stages of our services and much rather prefer to take over the project yourself, you are welcome to do so.
