How long does a project usually take? 

As a general rule, we expect a renovation and extension project to take around a year to start on site. This would include the design stages, gaining planning permission, building control approval, tendering the project and signing contracts with the chosen contractor.  

We tend to find buildings in conservation areas or listed buildings tend to take longer than the average project, due to the extra complexities involved. Similarly, new build projects also tend to take longer in the planning permission stages than renovation and extension projects.  

These timelines assume everything is addressed one stage at a time, for example, waiting for planning permission to be granted prior to starting work on Building Control drawings. It is possible to speed up the process by overlapping stages, however this comes with at risk to the client, as we can never guarantee planning permission will be granted without design revisions being required. If you are considering this approach, we can discuss this with you to ensure the risks are understood.