There are three separate costs in a planning application and they get muddled constantly: the council's statutory fee, the drawings, and whatever professional help you take on. They are paid to different people and only one of them is ours.
1. The council's application fee
Every planning application carries a statutory fee set by government, not by the council and not by us. It varies by application type — a householder application, a full application and a Lawful Development Certificate are all charged differently — and the figures are revised periodically.
Because they change, we do not quote them. Your local authority publishes the current fee, and the Planning Portal has a fee calculator that will give you the exact figure for your application type. Check it there rather than relying on a number in a blog post, ours included.
2. The drawings
This is our part, and it is fixed and published up front.
- Standard Planning Pack — £650. A full householder application set: location and site plans, existing and proposed elevations, existing and proposed floor plans, with unlimited revisions during the design stage.
- PD Compliance Pack — £650. Eligibility assessment plus the drawings and application for a Lawful Development Certificate.
- Enhanced Planning Pack — £899. Everything above, plus we come and measure the property ourselves, fast-track the drafting and produce 3D imaging. The survey covers 25 miles around Retford.
Why we do not charge a percentage
Architects commonly price as a percentage of build cost. The effect is that a larger extension produces a larger drawings bill despite being, in every meaningful sense, the same drawing set — the same elevations, the same plans, the same conventions. We have never managed to make that logic work, so we charge a fixed fee and a bigger project costs the same as a small one.
3. The things that are sometimes needed
Depending on the site and what the council asks for, a project can pick up extras. A structural engineer if you are removing anything load-bearing. A tree survey if there is a protected tree nearby. Bat or ecology surveys on older or rural properties. A design and access statement on some applications. A separate building regulations application, which is its own fee and its own process.
None of these are universal and most householder projects need none of them. But they are real, and a quote that pretends they never happen is not being straight with you.
What it usually adds up to
For a typical householder project: the statutory fee to the council, £650 to us for the drawings, and often nothing else. That is the honest shape of it. Where costs escalate it is usually the extras above, or a percentage-based fee on a large build — not the drawings themselves.
There is more on what you receive and how long it takes, the full pack comparison if you are weighing routes, and the extension drawings page if that is your project. Tell us what you are building or ring 0114 463 0090 and we will tell you which pack you need before you pay anyone anything.