A meeting with Building Control saves 5 weeks and hundreds of pounds, which are much needed in the kitchen, or so it seems...
|
Met with the Building Control Officer responsible for our area this morning. I would recommend that more people do this. It's kind of a way of getting around having to wait 5 weeks for plans to be approved. If you have concerns about your scheme being passed by Building Control, make extensive sketches and supporting notes and go down and discuss your case with a Building Control Officer. It could save you the need to consult a surveyor.
In our case the Officer specified inspection points along our soil pipe run and an inspection chamber where we plan to connect on to the existing drains. Knowing this upfront is a lot better than starting work and having to change your plans halfway through. Plus it means we can use the 48-hour notice scheme instead of submitting full plans and then sitting on our hands for as much as 5 weeks.
After Building Control it was time to find out how realistic our budget for the kitchen really is. Kitchen specialists were quickly discounted as way outside our budget. Looks like it's going to be Wickes, MFI or B & Q. We'll have to accessorize like mad and go for best quality finish, to achieve the tens-of-thousands look (as opposed to the couple of thousand!). MFI designed it while we waited, Wickes do it for you and then post plans and with B & Q you need to phone first to make an appointment. Don't forget to take your measurements down, including the size and position of doors and windows.
Things were looking great with the kitchen planning, until the cost of (even heavily discounted) appliances was added on. They cost almost as much as the kitchen itself The offshoot is that the WC and basin in the downstairs cloakroom are just going to have to be recycled. Oh, and the washing machine has to go under the stairs to free up enough space for our kitchen-diner scheme.
|
|