LA building control or private/independents?

[10phil79]

Hi - we're at the gathering quotes stage for our loft conversion. so far 5 firms have pitched up and provided quotes.

3 out of the 5 firms state they use independent building control companies, rather than the LA.

How common is this?

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Perfectly common, it doesn't really matter. Personally I prefer contractors who use the LA rather than independent. But them I'm a bit cynical! You can insist they use whoever you like though if you're that bothered, if they don't like it they don't get the job

At the end of the day doing your research and investigation into your chosen contractor and making sure you end up with a decent one is far more important than who signs the certificate. Don't be afraid to ask for references etc etc etc.

 

[10phil79]

But them I'm a bit cynical!

Same here - this is why i asked.

One of the firms is on good terms and very familier with the LA building control and I feel more confortable with this. But, agreed that it is probably more important to choose the right guys for the job over everything else.

Thanks

 

[mikric]

Not saying it could be the case in your instance but I know for a fact that some independent inspections are done via builders sending photos We have known AIs from London doing very small jobs in our area, cant see them visiting very often
Also I note your job is a loft conversion, some AIs will allow and pass multifoil insulation on its own = saving on materials , your LA will not.

 

[architecturedirect]

Personally we always operate on using the Local Authority. Local Authority's have a tendency to be very pinickity about everything however you have more security by going through the Local Authority so I would strongly advise using them.

 

[^woody^]

I had some dealings with an independent last year when his builders had done a loft conversion and they had not served a PW notice on the neighbour, and the neighbour was concerned on other things

I asked if he had initially advised the builder or client that a PW Notice should have been served ... "err, no that's not my job"

I asked if the steels had been checked that they had been installed properly .... "err, no I visited afterwards and the correct steels were in place"

What about the bearings .... "err, well I did see that they were on the correct padstones"

What about the bearings ... "err, well everything seemed to follow the SE's design"

Can you confirm that the bearings were adequate ... "err, well the wall was made good, so I could not actually check the bearings, but everything seemed fine"

So you had not checked the bearings ... "No"

So you would not have see that the steels were not actually built in, were just gobbed up, and were not sitting properly, and the holes to the party wall were not actually made good to any of the five beams, or where the purlins have been removed ... "Really? Oh, its all been signed off now"

 

[jeds]

The jury's out for me. My experience so far is that they do things from a distance - visiting site very little. On the other hand a colleague of mine had a big dispute with one who got very officious over whether a lift was needed in a commercial building. In the end one was not needed but the job was delayed considerably by the negotiations. Having said that I'm just about to instruct one on a fairly big mill conversion so we'll see how that goes.

On the other hand local authority inspectors are hardly the most efficient. On some jobs I've had three or four different inspectors and they never keep adequate notes. What really does my head in is when they visit site in my absence and one of the more persuesive contractors gets at them. When that happens they'll allow almost anything through.

You can also never get them on the phone and their offices won't give out their mobile numbers or email addresses. It's like dealing with the secret police. They often also do not understand the regs themselves so you end up doing a lot of on the job training. Not all of them mind you. Unlike planners some of them are from the planet Earth and do know the score but those are the rarer ones.

 

[mikric]

[quote="
You can also never get them on the phone and their offices won't give out their mobile numbers or email addresses. It's like dealing with the secret police. [/quote]
WTF Definitely not the case with us, they are a disgrace IMO

 

[nervous123]

I had some dealings with an independent last year when his builders had done a loft conversion and they had not served a PW notice on the neighbour, and the neighbour was concerned on other things

I asked if he had initially advised the builder or client that a PW Notice should have been served ... "err, no that's not my job"

I asked if the steels had been checked that they had been installed properly .... "err, no I visited afterwards and the correct steels were in place"

What about the bearings .... "err, well I did see that they were on the correct padstones"

What about the bearings ... "err, well everything seemed to follow the SE's design"

Can you confirm that the bearings were adequate ... "err, well the wall was made good, so I could not actually check the bearings, but everything seemed fine"

So you had not checked the bearings ... "No"

So you would not have see that the steels were not actually built in, were just gobbed up, and were not sitting properly, and the holes to the party wall were not actually made good to any of the five beams, or where the purlins have been removed ... "Really? Oh, its all been signed off now"

Sorry Woody, your expertise notwithstanding, but I cannot hold myself back from recounting a very similar experience I had with LABC regarding my extension built last year.

Me: 'Do you have any notes on the steels in my extension?'

LABC: 'Er let me check...no...we seem to have asked your builder for engineer's calcs but he never sent them in so we assumed you weren't fitting RSJs {this in an open plan kitchen with the upper bedroom clearly visible through the rooflight} and therefore the inspector didnt check any'

'So you have no idea what size steels are in place, if they are sufficient to support the back of my house, what the bearings are like, etc ?'

'Er no..but if it's been standing for a year it's probably okay. Anyway, you have your Certificate so the inspector would have had to been happy with it to have signed it off (i.e. I dont know what the hell happened here but Im not going to admit it)'

Not very confidence-inspiring at all. Your thoughts?

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Every profession has the some bad eggs and things don't always go as they should.