Design and Build in Hessle

East Riding of Yorkshire Council. Although Hessle sits immediately west of the Hull city boundary, it is in the East Riding, so applications go there rather than to Hull City Council. Getting the authority right matters, because they publish different local plan policies.

No. Some clients want stages one to five only, taking a full technical set to their own builder, and that is a perfectly reasonable appointment. The reason we recommend running through to stage six is that the sixth stage is where a design usually gets quietly diluted.

Sometimes. On a straightforward rear extension in a post-war part of Hessle, usually not. On anything unusual, anything near an older property, or anywhere a comparable scheme has recently been refused, an officer's written view before you commit to drawings is generally cheap insurance.

It depends on the flood zone the site falls into, and given the town's position relative to the Humber that is worth checking rather than assuming. Where an assessment is required it is a normal part of the submission, though it can influence floor levels and finishes, so we check it at survey stage.

At the end of stage five. Once the building regulations package is complete, the structure, the build-ups, the drainage and the specification are all decided, and only then is the construction priced. That is why the build quoted initially is the build we stick to.

Planning permission tells you what you are allowed to build, not how to build it. Stage five turns the approved scheme into a buildable one: beam sizes, foundation design, insulation strategy, drainage layout and fire separation. It is the least visible stage and the one that decides whether the price holds.

Yes. North Ferriby, Swanland, Brough, Kirk Ella and Anlaby are all within our normal working area and mostly fall to the same authority. The policy framework is shared, but the character of each place differs enough that the design argument has to be made locally.

The practice does. Trades are appointed and programmed by us and work to our drawings and our sequence, with the architect who designed the scheme on site. That is what removes the interface where variations normally appear.

Some things genuinely cannot be seen until a floor comes up. What we do is identify the risks at design stage and tell you what the possibilities are before work begins, so you are making a decision rather than receiving a phone call about one.

Yes. The submission, the inspection bookings, attending them and the completion certificate at the end are all part of the appointment. You are not chasing an inspector or wondering whether a stage was signed off.

The design and approvals stages generally run a few months, with the eight week planning determination the largest fixed block. Construction depends on scale, from weeks for a single storey extension to months for a two storey scheme. A programme comes with the design.

The building control completion certificate, electrical certification, commissioning records and product warranties, handed over as one pack. It is worth more than it looks, because it is exactly what a buyer's solicitor will ask for later.