Advice regarding restrospective & independant building regs
Discussion
My wife and I are having a garage conversion done and the builder has done an extremely poor job on the internals. He has gone AWOL on another job and so I will likely need to start court proceedings and have another builder rip up a lot of the kitchen/bathroom/flooring and fit again from scratch.
My issue is, the original builder was supposed to get building control certification. I don't know lots about this process however he said it would be better for us to do a retrospective application once the conversion is finished, as he will be documenting evidence (photos/videos) of the structural components of the conversion throughout to satisfy an inspector when he comes to certify the works.
Naively, I agreed to this as I trusted him, but in hindsight, and due to the standard of worksmanship, I probably should have done more research on the matter and had him create a building control application from the very beginning through the council.
So my question really is, am I fine to have another builder come in and work on replacing a lot of the internals (kitchen, bathroom, skirting, potentially plumbing) before I have the original builder come back to get building control signoff? When this will be I don't know. He is very unreliable and goes missing for periods of time (I suspect he is doing another more lucrative jobs).
I feel we are quite stuck. Im not really sure how to progress from here. I could ask him to send the evidence to conduct the application myself? I feel its a very delicate situation that needs handling carefully.
Thanks for any advice or help!
My issue is, the original builder was supposed to get building control certification. I don't know lots about this process however he said it would be better for us to do a retrospective application once the conversion is finished, as he will be documenting evidence (photos/videos) of the structural components of the conversion throughout to satisfy an inspector when he comes to certify the works.
Naively, I agreed to this as I trusted him, but in hindsight, and due to the standard of worksmanship, I probably should have done more research on the matter and had him create a building control application from the very beginning through the council.
So my question really is, am I fine to have another builder come in and work on replacing a lot of the internals (kitchen, bathroom, skirting, potentially plumbing) before I have the original builder come back to get building control signoff? When this will be I don't know. He is very unreliable and goes missing for periods of time (I suspect he is doing another more lucrative jobs).
I feel we are quite stuck. Im not really sure how to progress from here. I could ask him to send the evidence to conduct the application myself? I feel its a very delicate situation that needs handling carefully.
Thanks for any advice or help!
https://www.labc.co.uk/homeowners/what-type-buildi...
You are also supposed to notify them when you start
You are also supposed to notify them when you start
Yeah, i've done more digging since the relationship broke down with the builder and it seems this is the normal protocol. As he has done several conversions in the past and he suggested this is the best approach, I just believed him. I do blame myself for not doing more research myself.
Retrospective building regs is not in any way normal.
As above you pre notify. Depending on the works they will approve the plans and then visit a number of times at key stages.
Then there will a final visit. You then produce sap calculations and any other certs etc they need and then you get sign off.
To get retrospective regs the inspector will need to satisfy themselves that the building was built to regs which may involve invasive works such as proving foundation depth etc
Find a new builder. Explain the mess and see if he is willing to get involved. Most builders don't want to pick up another's job.
As above you pre notify. Depending on the works they will approve the plans and then visit a number of times at key stages.
Then there will a final visit. You then produce sap calculations and any other certs etc they need and then you get sign off.
To get retrospective regs the inspector will need to satisfy themselves that the building was built to regs which may involve invasive works such as proving foundation depth etc
Find a new builder. Explain the mess and see if he is willing to get involved. Most builders don't want to pick up another's job.
As others have said your original builder is a cowboy, I suspect they reason they 'Recommended' retrospective building control is because they never intended to submit anything!!
The problem now is to get building control depending on what works you have done may need onsite visits for the inspector to check on foundations, insulation etc. it's almost impossible to do this once the building is up unless you have taken lots of photos. It's all a complete headache to do retrospective as you need to contact the council and go through everything, without building control sign off your house insurance is almost certainly invalid.
Your best hope is to explain the situation to the new builder and see what they suggest, but it's going to take someone time and effort to sort out, which sadly means more £££.
The problem now is to get building control depending on what works you have done may need onsite visits for the inspector to check on foundations, insulation etc. it's almost impossible to do this once the building is up unless you have taken lots of photos. It's all a complete headache to do retrospective as you need to contact the council and go through everything, without building control sign off your house insurance is almost certainly invalid.
Your best hope is to explain the situation to the new builder and see what they suggest, but it's going to take someone time and effort to sort out, which sadly means more £££.
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