Questions we get asked

Often not. Many single storey rear extensions fall under permitted development, and deeper ones can go through the larger home extension prior approval route. You are more likely to need a full application if the property is in a conservation area, is listed, has already been extended, or sits on an estate where the original permission removed permitted development rights. We check your specific address at the first visit.

Planning permission is about whether you are allowed to build the thing at all, and what it looks like from outside. Building regulations are about whether it is built safely and properly: structure, insulation, damp, ventilation, drainage, fire safety and electrics. They are separate approvals from different parts of the council, and most building work needs building regulations even when it needs no planning permission.

It is the law covering work on or near a shared boundary or a shared wall. It usually applies if you are cutting into a party wall, building right up to the boundary, or excavating close to a neighbour's foundations. You have to serve notice before starting, and your neighbour has a period in which to respond. Started early it is a formality. Left late it delays the job.

As a rough guide, allow 12 to 16 weeks on site for a single storey rear extension, 8 to 12 weeks for a loft conversion, three to five weeks for a garage conversion, and nine to eighteen months for an individual new house. Add time before any of that for design and approvals, which is often the slower half.

Yes. We come out, look at the property, talk through what you want and what is realistic, and send a written itemised quote. There is no charge, no obligation, and we do not do the sit down sales visit.

We keep the core trades in house, so the same team is on your job throughout. Where a job needs a specialist, such as a structural engineer, we bring in someone we have worked with for years rather than whoever is cheapest that week.

Yes, we carry public liability insurance and will send the certificate before you appoint us. Bell & Collier Construction Ltd is registered in England and Wales, company number 14131831.

For most extensions, loft conversions and garage conversions, yes, and most of our clients do. For a whole house renovation it is usually faster, cheaper and far less stressful to move out for the main phase. We will be honest about which weeks are genuinely disruptive so you can plan around them.

Because when you sell, the buyer's solicitor will ask for it. Building work carried out without building regulations approval can hold up a sale or knock money off the price, and a loft room without one cannot be described as a bedroom. We handle building control and get the certificate into your hands at the end.

Guildford, Merrow, Burpham, East Horsley and Albury are all in the Guildford Borough Council area. Godalming and Bramley are in Waverley Borough Council. The postcode is not a reliable guide: East Horsley is KT24 with a Leatherhead post town but applications go to Guildford, and Albury shares GU5 with Bramley despite being in a different borough.