The advantages
The services of a designer are not essential.
Once the application has been submitted you need only wait 48 hours
before starting the work, avoiding any time delays which are
typical of the full plans application process.
The disadvantages
As no plan is needed you will obviously never
receive the protection and reassurance that an Approved Plan would
give you. The whole process of making sure your work complies with
the Building Regulations is carried out at the site inspection
stage. This has one major disadvantage, if a problem is found it
will usually be after work has been carried out and therefore
involve a degree of remedial work.
With the building notice application you are
effectively taking the whole risk of making sure the work complies
with the Building Regulations on your own shoulders. You need to be
very sure that you or your builder is familiar with all the
relevant regulations and you will need to prove that the works
comply when one of our building control officers visit the
site.
Whilst perhaps not strictly a Building Control
issue, the existence of a plan can form the basis of a contractual
agreement between you and your builder and hopefully avoid any
fundamental disputes at a later date.When submitting the Building
Notice the total fee for the work has to be paid when the
application is submitted. There can be a high risk factor with this
type of application and it would be perhaps more suitable for
simpler projects.