Guides
The questions we get asked before anyone is ready to enquire, answered properly. Every regulatory fact is checked against the source that publishes it, and the source is linked on the page.
For homeowners and landlords
Before you build
What the rules actually say, what they cost you if you find out late, and how to check the person you are about to pay.
- Article 4 directions and licensing in Leeds and Bradford Where the directions apply, what each one actually removes, and why Bradford's matter more to a builder than Leeds's.
- Building control: full plans, building notice, and what changed The two routes, the Approved Documents that apply, and the duties the Building Safety Act put on every client and contractor — not just tall buildings.
- How to check a builder before you let them start The checks that take an afternoon, in the order worth doing them — and the payment pattern that should end the conversation.
- What the rules actually allow in a loft conversion The volume allowances, the head height that decides the whole thing, and the fire rules people find out about late.
- Party wall notices: when you need one and what happens next Which works trigger a notice, how long each one takes, and why silence from a neighbour is worse than an objection.
- Do you need planning permission for an extension? The permitted development limits, the prior approval route for a deeper extension, and the things that remove the right altogether.
- What actually drives the cost of building work Why two quotes for the same job differ so widely, and which variables genuinely move the number.
For commercial and public sector clients
Before you contract
The duties that sit with you rather than with the contractor, how construction payment works in law, and what a buyer assesses at pre-qualification.
- What CDM 2015 makes you responsible for The duties that sit with the client and cannot be delegated, the notification thresholds, and what a competent contractor should be asking you for.
- Payment, notices and the Construction Act Payment notices, pay less notices, the right to suspend, and the 28-day adjudication that makes the whole thing enforceable.
- What a pre-qualification questionnaire actually asks for What buyers actually assess before they look at price, and what the Procurement Act 2023 changed about how you supply it.
How these are written
Every regulatory statement on these pages was checked against the body that publishes it — legislation.gov.uk, GOV.UK, the Planning Portal, HSE, or the council concerned — and each page carries the date it was checked and links to the sources it used. Nothing is written from memory and nothing is copied from another builder's website.
They are general guidance, not advice on your property or your contract. Designations change, thresholds move and every building is different. If something here has gone out of date, tell us and we will correct it rather than leave it standing.
Start a conversation about your project
Tell us what you are planning. We will come out, look at it properly, and put a written quotation in front of you.