What types of floor plans should I commission?

If you’re thinking about extending or converting your home, the best place to start is with a set of floor plans. In fact, you can’t build without them!

Before you specify the types of floor plans that you need, you should start by finding out if your proposed house extension or loft conversion falls within permitted development rights. If you’re not sure, you can book a free consultation call with our friendly architectural experts and we’ll find out for you!

Many house extensions and loft conversions can go ahead without planning permission under permitted development rights, but you should still apply for a lawful development certificate. This is a similar process to a planning application, and is highly recommended, as it will protect you when you need to sell your home.

For either a planning application or lawful development certificate application, you’ll need to have the following floor plans drawn up by a reliable architect:

Existing floor plans

You can’t build (and accurately cost!) an extension or conversion without understanding your existing layout. Your architect may need to appoint someone to conduct a measured survey of your property, but it might also be possible to put these together remotely based on existing floor plans.

This is a great way to save money, as you’ll just need to check a few dimensions with a tape measure rather than paying for a contractor.

Design floor plans

These are the architectural floor plans that show your proposed extension or conversion. They should be drawn up based on a combination of your person taste, your functional requirements for the space and your architect’s insight into the layout that will add the most value to your existing home.

Many people think they need to use a local architect, as they assume they have a better sense for homes in the area. However, it's often better to find a residential architect that has worked on a wide spread of projects nationally, as this gives them even more experience to draw from!

Elevations

Think of these as a type of floor plan for your walls! They can be external, showing how your extension or conversion will look from the outside, or internal, if you’re planning on adding a new set of kitchen cabinets.

Whatever types of floor plans you need, at Resi.co.uk we can put together an affordable set of high quality drawings with an ultra-fast turnaround time. Give us a call today!