Building Regs - Private or Council?

[JoeMar]

Hi Guys

are there any advantages/disadvantages for chosing one over the other - other than price?

thanks

joe

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

I'm not sure there are any one way or the other. They're shouldn't be any in theory. A lot of private practice ones are ex-council anyway. I always use council but then I've worked with my LA for a long time so know them all quite well and have developed a rapport so hopefully get an easier time. Guess it could work the other way if I'd worked with the same private inspector. Can't see it making a difference with a one off. Personally I'd stick to LA at least you know he'll have a superior if you need to go higher!

In my experience the LA are competitive on price.

 

[JoeMar]

thanks Freddy.

my architect is suggesting a private guy and he is a bit cheaper than the council's own.

i guess if we do run into problems i could always go back to the architect.

 

[DevilDamo]

I've always used the LA for Building Regulations until recently where we have had problems with one particular (Assistant) Building Inspector so if we are proposing works in his "area" then we will be using an Approved Inspector. The AI has worked out slightly more expensive but he will not give us as much hassle as the LA Building Inspector would.

There are pro's and con's of both but you "normally" find the AI's are a little more expensive but the LA's will have local knowledge.

 

[jeds]

It's got no problem with LA inspectors - most are good people, knowledgeable and generally very helpful. But they work under some crazy rules. You can never contact them because they're not there or are in meetings. If you ask for a mobile number or an email address your told (by admnin staff) that 'they're not allowed to give them out'. Nobody has ever been able to give me an explanation as to why not? I recently had to wait on a closed site nearly all day because they won't give you a rough visit time. A private inspector we've been using over the last year or so is available on his mobile whenever you need to speak with him and he will visit site or attend site meetings at any prearranged time. I find this much more convenient.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

I have a list of all of all of my LA surveyors and their direct numbers + mobiles. Guess it depends on the LA.

 

[Nickam]

It would be nice though if most LAs would drag themselves into the 21st century and use mobile phones and email (some do, I know). I find they also won't ring you on your mobile which is annoying when you work on your own and are out quite a bit. Maybe we should all start using the private companies and that will make the LAs give us what they term as 'best practice'.

 

[DevilDamo]

When I used to work in Building Control for a LA, we were told to never give out mobile numbers. And the majority of LA BCO's I use now... do not reply to emails. It's so frustrating. Planning aren't a lot better but they do seem to be on their *rses more than BCO's. But that's only because BCO's head out on site from 10am-3pm'ish so catching up on paperwork and then replying to emails is very time consuming.

 

[Nickam]

I just had one BCO reply to an email that I sent him 3 weeks ago with some amendments to tell me that he had just put the attachments (drawings) on record. I then pointed out that I didn't want him to 'put them on record' I wanted the Notice of Approval.

 

[mikric]

Well I am sorry you all have such Tossers in the LA to deal with.
We readily give out mobile numbers and have no problems calling before to let anyone know what time we are coming.
I am even phoning in a completion tomorrow am before I get back in to the office and officially sign it off (if it passes! snagging list given today), for admin to fax certificate to builders solicitors so hand over and £ changes hands and they can move in Sat or be homeless.
Although that is a bit above and beyond even for me
There is no excuse for bad customer service but sometimes a BCO will have had 20 or so jobs in his head that day while customers/builders only have one, it can take me 10 mins just to get me head around a job before I even get out my car and face a barrage of questions.

 

[Nickam]

Wish I was working in the Licolnshire area then mikric. Well done you for realising that we are all working in the real world.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

My LA (Plymouth) seem all to be well aware that they're working in the real world. Usually happy to give a discount too for a decent sized job

 

[DevilDamo]

sometimes a BCO will have had 20 or so jobs in his head that day while customers/builders only have one

That may be the case for customers and "some" builders depending on the size of their company, but not for engineers, architects, etc... who also deal with several jobs at once.

And I think the people who have replied to this thread have said the "majority" of BCO's, not all. You may therefore be an exception.

 

[mikric]

sometimes a BCO will have had 20 or so jobs in his head that day while customers/builders only have one

That may be the case for customers and "some" builders depending on the size of their company, but not for engineers, architects, etc... who also deal with several jobs at once".

Fair point well made
An architect/engineer I would imagine would have the luxury of hopefully in the not too distant past of having sat for an hour or even a day drawing the details and would have a fair recollection of the job in hand.
It is certainly easier for me if I have done the plan check on a job.

 

[DevilDamo]

It is certainly easier for me if I have done the plan check on a job.

Well yes... obviously. But BCO's make notes on files so if another BCO was to pick up a job, the notes should be more than enough to pick up from